A Book A Week

I recently backpacked across Europe with a group of sorority girls. One night, our conversations turned to reading. "You have to read The Selection," they proclaimed. They promised that it was an addictive tale of love in a dystopian future. I usually stay far away from this kind of young adult fare, but I trusted these girls' opinions.

A few weeks later I was back in the US and ready to read something new. As I begrudgingly began listening to the audiobook of The Selection (I borrowed the book from my library because I wasn't about to spend money on it) I easily became entranced by the story. America Singer lives in a world that is divided by castes. She is a caste five who is secretly in love with Aspen who is a caste below her.

The prince of their world, Maxon, has reached the age where he is prepared to find a wife. This is achieved by a process called The Selection. In true Hunger Games fashion, girls from the various castes are allowed to submit their names to be drawn at random for the possibility to become the princess. America's heart belongs to Aspen, but she knows that her participation in the selection could lead to financial stability for her family and even see her move into a higher caste. Reluctantly, America submits her name into the drawing, and as luck would have it, she is chosen to be one of the thirty-five young ladies to take part in the contest.

Despite all of my hesitation about reading The Selection, I couldn't help but be sucked into the story. I hung onto every word of this book. The Selection never aims for the kind of world building or complexity of similar books in the genre, but I don't really think that is the goal of it.  Author Kiera Cass has written a novel that mimics the best aspects of reality television to maximum effect. The book is at times almost laughably silly (I mean this girl's name is America Singer!), but it easily captures the soap opera drama of all the best "must watch" television shows. Against my better judgement, I fell in love with this rags to riches story. My only complaint is that the book ends rather abruptly with the promise of the drama to continue in book two. You can bet that I'll be listening to that one soon!

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.

(2017, 18)