Title: Awaken
Author: Katie Kacvinsky [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: ebook
Source: Publisher (via Net Galley)
Parental Advisory: language, alcohol, criminal activity, sex
Teachable Moments: digital literacy, group think, independence, government control, online education, freedom of choice

“Out of the hundreds of thousands of people I’d met online, I could count on one hand how many I’d met in person.  I could make friends around the world without stepping out my front door.  But people stretched themselves so thin, they started to lose shape.  Online we were all equal.  Social status wasn’t important.  Money and looks and jobs and clothes almost become obsolete.  So who cares what my real name is?  It’s just a label, like a particular brand of person. Who cares who sits behind it when we only meet in waves of space?”

Summary (from the publisher):
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.

Opinion:
To say I loved this book would be a giant understatement.  It was so fan-freakin-tastic I think every one of you should put it on your must have list.  Seriously y’all it was a great dystopian read that was beyond thought-provoking.  Loads and loads of discussion worthy topics like digital literacy, independence, group think, oppression, and oh so much more.

So let me lay it down for you.

Maddie is a young girl who lives in a time where the majority of the population leads their lives almost entirely online.  The central focus of this digital culture began with how people were educated.  The Digital School was created (by Maddie’s father no less) to provide a safe place for children learn.  This initiative was undertaken as a result of escalating violence — in school and eventually outside — against children.  Parents squirreled their kids away to learn online which then, over time, reached out to include social actives and then ultimately to lives being lead almost entirely through digital means.

The setting was relatively simple for a dystopian it didn’t have too many fantastical world building elements to it.  People still lived in the typical house, though the appliances were a bit more futuristic to accommodate the whole digital culture scenario.  I will say, however, there was a definite synthetic feel to everything.  Nature was being stripped away in lieu of allergy-free plastic and metal trees,  travel was done primarily through public transport and cars were an uncommon luxury.  It had a definitive feel for the future but not so far off that everything was completely out of touch with our current reality.  The setting simply and completely added to the tone of the story without being overbearing.

The characters in Awaken were spot on perfect.  Maddie as the heroine oppressed by her father, yet still desperate for his approval, is equal parts heart warming and frustrating (in the best possible way).  She’s rebellious — and I won’t spoil you on how that is demonstrated — and dedicated and loyal.  Fearful of the unknown she’s also inquisitive and courageous enough to jump into it with both feet.  Most of all she’s committed to doing what she believes is the right thing despite the hurdles she must overcome to do so.  Longing for change and despite trepidation she is one of few that steps outside the comfort of her digital safety net and starts interacting with real live people.  Knowing that it is contrary to her father’s wishes she starts spending time outside the house with Justin and his friends.

Justin is another well drawn character.  The complete opposite (to many degrees) of Maddie.  He’s fearless and outspoken.  He too fights for what he believes in but what that is is divergent from what Maddie believes she wants.  There in lies the rub….is what Maddie wants really true or is she just holding her place until such time as something better comes along.  I’d argue that Justin is the something better in a variety of ways.  Justin is the kind of character that has the potential to sidetrack a story with his enthralling presence.  Yet Kacvinsky was able to mold him in such a way that he didn’t.  There was almost equal focus on him individually but it complemented Maggie’s story in a way that allowed for continued progress and focus in the story.

I don’t want to forget the secondary characters — Maddie’s family, Justin’s friends, and random players here and there — each of them is positioned and created in such a way to facilitate the overall plot yet still maintains their individual identity throughout. They added a diversity and variety of personality that enhanced Maddie and Justin’s existences.  The best example of this is Clare, a young girl part of Justin’s group of friends who brings the fun and friendship to Maddie’s life.  She’s a girlie girl and makes Maddie think about things she wouldn’t have ordinarily considered prior to their meeting.  her role was small but significant as is the case with most of the secondary players.

Lets talk about love baby.  Naturally, there is an instant connection between Maddie and Justin, one thats not of the insta-love variety either.  It was a slow build up with a good deal of push and pull plus no shortage of family drama on both sides.  I enjoyed the fact that I never really truly knew whether Maddie and Justin would find their way to be together or not.  To me, this is the best part — the stolen moments, the fighting to find a way — that make the romantic elements of a story an enhancement not the actual point.  Good stuff!

Awaken is a story that made me wonder and feel as though what transpires could really happen in the here and now.  In fact I can see our culture making it happen almost every day.  Many of us lead our lives online through Twitter, Facebook, our blogs and other social media channels.  We communicate almost entirely through email and text message.  Heck, I write so infrequently at this point that my penmanship has suffered to a level that my written word is almost entirely illegible.  But that is just another thing that makes this book so great, the realistic elements.  The idea that this situation could, in fact happen to us.  And we’re not talking 100 years down the road, we’re talking sooner than later.

Kacvinsky has constructed a fantastically balanced story.  Action, intrigue, romance, it’s all there but each supports the other in a well crafted and easily read story that provokes the mind.