Book Review- Awaken

I just finished reading Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky for an Around the World Tour.

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. 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.

First off, the premise of this book is creepy, eerie.  Most dystopian novels that I've read, you know that the world isn't really going to become like that.  But in Awaken, I can see the world becoming just like Katie Kacvinsky wrote it.  Our world is becoming so digital that I can easily see technology taking over and there being no face-to-face contact anymore.  Such a scary thought!

I really liked both Maddie and Justin.  Besides being super-smart, Maddie seemed like a normal girl.  She went through a rebellious stage and is now figuring out just what her life is going to be like.  But enter Justin, and everything changes.  I liked that Justin brought out a different side to Maddie and I liked what he was doing to try to change what he thought was a ideology that he felt was wrong. 

The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking about how real it could be and that kept me engrossed in it.  And surprising enough, I loved reading about the technology of the future (or ideas for what it could be, anyways). The only thing I didn't really like was the ending.  It wrapped up nicely and neatly, and too quickly, for my taste.  But this was fun dystopian novel that wasn't too, too dark, and I enjoyed it!

I gave Awaken a rating of 3.5/5.

Awaken will be released on May 23, 2011.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 A to Z Challenge: K
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 35
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 30
2011 Debut Author Challenge: 12
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 27

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.