Review - Awaken by Katie K

Title: Awaken
Author: Katie Kacvinsky
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publish Date: May 20, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages

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Maddie is a girl whose father is the leader of technology school, an online only society he invented to help prevent disease, pregnancy and other atrocities being dealt to the youthful kids. Maddie has a secret, a dark past that still haunts her. She meets Justin online and he invites her to a face-to-face interaction and she is instantly hooked, even though her father has people watching her all the time. There is just something magical about meeting and talking to people without the computer involved. They are more real and she is more real. The more she hangs out with Justin, the more she is pulled in to the society wanting a change. The change to go back to the way things were before all the computer control. But will Maddie be able to go against her family and what is Justin really wanting from her, a friendship or giving up her father's secrets?

This was a fantastic book. I really enjoyed this book not only because Maddie has to struggle against what she wants, but what everyone else wants for her too. It is the most difficult thing as a child to rise above all the voices and hear your own, and worse when what you want may not be best for you. I thought Katie Kacvinsky did a fantastic job showing what society and interaction would be if we went to a technology society only. The secrets, the unknown, the trouble with trusting people and add to the fact, the people who are underground and want face to face interaction brought back.

Summary -
Maddie lives in a world where everything is done on the computer. Whether it’s to go to school or on a date, people don’t venture out of their home. There’s really no need. For the most part, Maddie’s okay with the solitary, digital life—until she meets Justin. Justin likes being with people. He enjoys the physical closeness of face-to-face interactions. People aren’t meant to be alone, he tells her.

Suddenly, Maddie feels something awakening inside her—a feeling that maybe there is a different, better way to live. But with society and her parents telling her otherwise, Maddie is going to have to learn to stand up for herself if she wants to change the path her life is taking.

In this not-so-brave new world, two young people struggle to carve out their own space.