The Selection

The Selection

by Keira Cass

Published by HarperTeen, 2012

(From the book flap) For thirty-five girls the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. 

Expectations: I was completely expecting dribble. I had heard things about this book and I know there was a drama involving a Goodreads review and the author herself.

Reality: There are three immediate problems with this book. First there is the cover, I mean, look at it. It's gorgeous. That is perhaps the best cover I've ever seen in YA. How could you not want to read that book? Second problem is the book flap itself. Firstly, there are too many sentence fragments in the book flap summary. The third immediate problem was the main character's name: America Singer. Really? What kind of a name is that? And with a last name like that, is it any wonder she happens to be a musician? 

All of the set-ups in this book are painfully obvious. Young girl doesn't want to be a part of the competition, signs up for it because her family and secret boyfriend encourage her to anyway, and gets selected against all odds. She's the only girl out of 35 who doesn't want to be there, so guess who gets the most attention? She sasses the prince because she "doesn't care" and of course he admires her for it. The worst part of this really is America herself. She's completely unbelievable as a character, and damn it she is a Mary Sue if I've ever seen one. 

She's beautiful but doesn't know it, which is the most annoying character trait that ever existed. Really, do authors think that if a character has a good awareness of their own looks it makes them vain somehow? This false humility they are trying to instill in characters is horrifying. Let me supply you with a direct quote as proof of this annoying fact.

"Please don't call me gorgeous. First my mom, then May, now you. It's getting on my nerves." By the way Aspen was looking at me, I could tell I wasn't helping my "I'm not pretty" case. He smiled.

Doesn't she sound like a peach? Because she's the only girl who "doesn't care" she does things like smile at lowly peasants and treat the servants nicely and magically becomes everyone's favorite through no direct actions of her own. If someone pointed these actions out to her she was "surprised" that it was a big deal and she's just oh-so-accidentally-wonderful. 

America's secret, pre-competition relationship with her childhood friend, Aspen, is another point of annoyance for me. Cass obviously designed the timeline so that we never get to know Aspen as a character, and so we immediately root for Prince Maxon because we have about 250 more pages with him. And then there is the fun part where Aspen freaks out on America because she made him food and he's mad because he's supposed to provide for her. Woe! Poor wittle boy can't provide because he's poor and little. Grow up. It was a forced love-triangle that isn't a love triangle because America is a drillbit of epic proportions. How so, you ask? Let me tell you. (mild spoilers)

America straight up tells Maxon that she doesn't want to be there, she's not interested, she loves someone else, and she's at the competition for the money it gives her family. Maxon is all like, oh okay can we be friends then? I have no friends. America doesn't see the problem with that except that EVERYONE ELSE CAN because it is a common known fact that a guy and a girl who are friends eventually must sleep together. But guess what? America is going to take her sweet little time figuring out how she feels about Maxon because Harper Collins really wanted to get at least one more book out of this storyline. 

Prince Maxon is a completely unremarkable character. He's handsome, but America never wants to admit that he's handsome. America originally believes him to be stuffy, but lo-and-behold when she actually gets to know him he's, GASP, a nice guy who listens to her opinions about politics in the country?! Say it isn't so!

Oh, Cass tries to make Maxon seem stuffy and educated in comparison to America, but she does a shitty job at it. Here is my favorite quote from the book, the first line of dialogue is Maxon's FYI, hooray for context!

"That is an unfair statement. You are all dear to me. It is simply a matter of discovering who shall be the dearest."

"Did you really just use the word 'shall'?"

He chuckled. "I'm afraid I did. Forgive me, it's a product of my education."

"Education," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Ridiculous."

Oh no! How dare he use the word "shall" in a sentence? How dare he flaunt his wealth in front of her like that? The nerve of some people.

Then, there are the other girls in the competition to talk about. Firstly, with thirty five contestants we don't really get to know a lot of them. There are a few staples in the cliche line-up: the nice one, the small and weak one, the gossipy one, and the mean ring leader. The mean one, Celeste, is so full of herself and mean she is practically a caricature of every mean girl from high school. But Cass isn't even consistent with the character. Celeste spends most of the book glaring at America from across the room, and then as if Cass decided that Celeste needed some more screen time, there is a rather unbelievable confrontation between the two of them that America never reports because she's the main character and is too good for that or some shit. And of course when America tries to tell Maxon that Celeste is a bitch, he doesn't believe her because he is somehow blind to it all.

The dystopian world this takes place in is beyond unbelievable. There's some shaky caste system that makes little to no sense, and who's origins are never explained. There are some random rebels on the North and South and we never really gather why they are upset. And like all dystopian novels, we immediately get the sense that there is something the government is hiding and one of the rebel groups is after the truth and in one of the future books they will be the good guys, OMG PLOT TWIST. Not to mention that my feminist principals were ruffled when it was made clear that girls have no control over their bodies and that virgins are more valuable then non-virgins. It's actually against the law to sleep with someone before marriage in this book. I wonder if THAT is going to be a problem in book two?!?!?! 

It's been said of The Selection that it is like a combination of The Hunger Games (that comparison is gag worthy) and The Bachelor. It TRIES to be like THG by giving us a reality show format with a sassy show host a'la Ceasar Flickerman, but fails massively. Oh, and there are makeovers with more sassy beauticians who are disappointed that America, who doesn't think she's pretty, is the only one who wants to look "natural" and wouldn't wear any makeup and wanted to wear simple clothing. This also added some kind of tone that if you wear makeup and care about wearing nice clothes that you are lesser, somehow. 

Lastly, the grammar and writing style itself. I think this book was first person present tense. I say think because there were about twenty times (especially in the beginning) where Cass switched to past tense. She didn't seem to understand how to write about something that happened in the past, and then make a seamless transition back to present. It's a rookie mistake that should have never made it past the copy-editors. 

I have mixed feelings about this book, despite all of the sass above. How many times to you go to the movies, buy tickets for a chick flick, and enjoy it even though it technically sucks? Often. It happens often. Chick flicks  (and I hate to use that term, but I can't think of a better one) feature unbelievable characters, obvious set ups, and last minute declarations of love, but we still have fun watching them. So you can imagine my horror when I noticed that I was invested in America's journey because despite all of the horrible things about this book, I still wanted her to win despite it all. I'm not sure if you can call that compelling writing, but it did manage to make me read this book cover to cover in less than 24 hours. 

Verdict: I wouldn't say don't read it, because from a writing and publishing standpoint it is interesting to read and discuss. But for the love of God don't read it and tell me it's amazing. You are blind and naive if you do.