Awaken - review

Awaken

Kate Kacvinsky

published May 23,  2011

source: NetGalley

summary from Goodreads:  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.

The Year is 2060

Dystopia ... ah, one of my favorite genres.    Awaken covers this well.    I  see Maddie's world approaching soon.   Two weekends ago,  I was at a women's conference.   Four of us shared a hotel room.  I laughed -- there we all were sitting in bed or on the sofa, each of us texting or reading email.  I said, "Five years ago, we'd be sitting here chattering with each other."

Why did Digital School spread out  in Maddie's world?  Very sobering to find out the reason, M28.  Shudder.    I'm not going to tell you what M28 is.  Come shudder along with me.

Need a break from shuddering?  Maddie falls hard for Justin; she gives many descriptions of how hot he is.  You'll start drooling soon -- his lips, his arms, his....  It is not all romance -- there's some thrilling high speed chases too.

I kept highlighting sentences throughout Awaken.  Doesn't this sound realistic and possible today?  "I had over a hundred new messages since I checked it (my mail) this morning.  A dozen new clubs to join, twenty free offers, thirty comments, twenty chat invites, twenty new contacts my computer thought I would get along with.  Zero messages from the one person I was craving to talk to.  Figures."

Author Kacvinsky's comments keep getting better and better.    "That's what our culture had become, bodies moving mindlessly between digital worlds."  

And online, do you blog readers really know me?  Do I know you?  Another quote:  "It's like living inside a reality show all the time.  We edit out the scenes so we can appear a certain way.  it makes me wonder if I really know anybody."   Once or twice, I had to pause and think "What wisdom!"

Let's wake up and make sure our children and grandchildren don't live in a world like Maddie's.

note:  the quotes were from a review galley and may differ from the actual final book.