Matched by Allie Condie

So I'm reading this book called Matched by Ally Condie [I keep calling her anaconda in my head] and it's about this girl named Cassia who lives in a perfect society--and I mean, like, pretty damn perfect. I would almost not mind living there--where almost everything is chosen for her based on mathematical equations and predictions. Including the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with, called your Match. There is this ceremony that everyone goes through in your 17th year to learn who your Match is, and a subsequent courtship until both of you reach the age of 21, when you get married. Supposedly, the girl gets called up and sees the face of her Match on a screen. But when Cassia is called, her Match is her best friend Xander. Everything is great. Perfect, fairytale ending. Except later, when she's logging on to her computer or whatever to read some rules about courtship [Or whatever] another face flashes across the screen; another boy she knows named Ky.

I'm only 100 or so pages in, but I already know where it's going. She's going to angst about Ky and Xander, and have to deal with the Society and break free of shit as she falls in love with Ky and a) she's going to run away to live happily ever after in the Outlands with Ky, or b) she's gonna overthrow the Society and somehow show everybody that life would be better with out them. [Yeah, okay lady, good luck with that] It's not even like it's really well written or anything. In fact, I would say that Condie is really not such a great writer at all. Cassia come across as wishy washy and a slow, almost dumb which makes me know that Condie was paying way too much attention to making the words pretty when she should have been realizing the effects of her language on her character. It's really just a book you read for novelty. Like the dystopia version of a trashy romance novel.

Anyway, it made me start wondering about the... stereotypes of romance. You have your classic Prince Charming: Everything perfect, sweet, brave, smart. When I think of Prince Charming, I think Peeta Mellark, of Hunger Games fame. I think Disney. I think Will Turner at the beginnings of the Pirates Movies. Anything beautiful, anything perfect. Prince Charming doesn't even know what 'flaw' means.

You've got your Bad Boys. The renegades. The Dangers. Remember Warren from Sky High? He's a Bad Boy. Remember that dude with the motorcycle who turns into a wolf? Possibly a Bad Boy. Gale could be a bad boy. Draco is a bad boy. Irial from Wicked Lovely is a Bad Boy. That ass-clown Heathcliff from The-Book-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named is a Bad Boy. Bad Boy's make your heart race and usually sometimes hurt your feelings.

Then there are your Doofs. Everything that isn't a Prince Charming or Bad Boy falls into this category. Basically. Like Finnick. And Howl [I think] from Howl's Moving Castle. And for comedic purposes, Edward Cullen. (Because let's be honest. He isn't necessarily Prince Charming because Prince Charming has zero danger potential, and he isn't necessarily a Bad Boy because well... he isn't.)

But it's kind of frustrating because in the end, everyone turns into one of those. You could even force the Doof's into being Prince Charming's if you really wanted to because most of them will do whatever you say, either that or they were heading towards perfection anyway. All romantic ideals come down to those main stereotypes and it's kind of annoying. It's annoying to know exactly what a character is going to do when I'm reading their stories, but at the same time it can be really annoying when they do something off the beaten path that I really didn't want them to do/wasn't expecting.

And also, on a personal note, the tragedy that things don't work out this well in the real world. Things keep happening. You never get to put it down and go do something else. There is no nice wrap up where the girl gets the guy and they live happily ever after. There really isn't anyone perfect, it's just a series of connections and experiences and happy moments interspersed by uncomfortable ones.

... I don't know. Then I went on YouTube and lost my train of thought.

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

I think the thing I love about Card's books the most is how realistic, and while fantastical, and extremely logical they are. None of the characters do anything thats questionable. All of their thoughts are explained or implied in such a way that the reader always knows what the character is thinking or means, even when their train of thought is wrong. It's like physically being the character, having an inside look into their heads.

I love that this particular series is very well rounded. It's not a science fiction book only about space ships and aliens. Card developes the universe that his humans have come to live in. Card writes about everything that would influence a human being-- economics, society, religion, politics-- in just the right way. Lesser writers would try to include these things and be admirable for trying, but simply wouldn't be able to pull it off. It isn't world building, where the new things about this world that he wants to show you are obvious-- everything is tasteful. Mentioned only when the story calls for it. He's very true to the story too, which makes plot-lovers like me very very happy.

Except in this case, at the end of Xenocide.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???