Crossed – Ally Condie

“Whenever I was going to put this book down to do something productive, I found the chapter that I was about put down too seductive to release indefinitely.” – Miss Remmers

Release Date: November 1st, 2011
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Challenges: Off the Shelf, 100+ Reading Challenge, Dystopia Challenge

“In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky – taken by the Society to his certain death – only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

It feels like this review has been a long time coming. As many of you know, last year at BEA 2011 this was the prize book that was stolen – the one book I was really upset about. I’m over it and have moved – but it was still bitter sweet opening this book again for the first time. You see, after receiving this book I went to stand in line somewhere else and I began to read it while in line. But when I realized I was behind a blogger I knew, I put it in my bag of books instead of my purse. That movement still haunts me – if only I had put the book in my purse (to be read later)! But anyway, the past is the past and I’ve finally completed this book.

Lately, “Matched” and “Crossed” have been on my mind for other reasons (you know, rather than their awesomeness). Last month I talked about Cursive: The Lost Art Form and how I connected the loss of creativity to a not-so distant dystopia. And now, as I’ve finished “Crossed,” I have so many more thoughts and questions.

First of all, it took me a long time to get into this book but I think it’s mostly because I didn’t really remember what went on at the end of “Matched.” I read “Matched” in September 2010, that’s a long time to remember something. I trudged through the murky remembrance of details (on my part) and slowly the story came back to me. A few times I had to rely on the help of Twitter friends to sift through the details (such as: what did the three pills stand for?). This didn’t completely put me off this book (as it was more my fault than fault of the book’s) but I wish (unrealistically) I could have remembered more prior to starting “Crossed.”

Once the details came back to me, I couldn’t put this book down. I finished it in a day while my students had meetings with the counselors in regards to college preparation (talk about a great day!). I will mention that the last chapter of this book did completely baffle me – I’m assuming the ambiguity was purposeful. But I still felt like I was missing something and that it didn’t necessary flow well with the rest of the novel.

As for the characters and plot, there were enough surprises and twists to keep each chapter exciting. Whenever I was going to put this book down to do something productive, I found the chapter that I was about put down too seductive to release indefinitely. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can’t wait for the final installment of this novel.

Also, anyone but me hoping the final novel cover will be red to continue the theme? But if it is, what can that mean!?!?!

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To the FTC, with love: Loved and Bought

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Related posts:

1. Matched – Ally Condie

Miss Remmers is 24 years old and an educator. She currently teaches English 10 and 12 in Bismarck, ND. Miss Remmers is working on her masters in Library Information and Media Technology and will graduate in December 2013. When not blogging, Miss Remmers could most likely be found on Twitter, reading, or watching reality television.
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