Practicing costs time - time that would be spent doing other things, like having a part-time job. This seemed weird to me for several reasons, but the one I'm going to get into now is that performing arts are an activity of leisure generally associated with those who are middle to upper class. I was trying to figure out the professions that went with this system, because one of the girls who works on the farm is a four, manual laborers (like movers) are six, and America's family, a bunch of performers and musicians, are fives. For some reason, the United States has also become striated by a rigid caste system that starts with one (royalty) and ends in eight (homelessness). America, the heroine, lives in a bizarre version of the United States that has been invaded by both China and Russia, and is now called Illea after the general who saved the country and later became king.because reasons. THE SELECTION, on the other hand, is basically The Bachelor set in a very tame, very unfrightening 'Hunger Games lite' universe. When done properly, it can be an excellent way to highlight the flaws in a society by taking a reductio ad absurdum 'what if?' scenario to show how our many excesses and our hidden or subtle cruelties can destroy us. Nearly every aspect of the book held some sort of flaw for me, from its stilted dialogue all the way up to its shelving as a dystopia. It didn't make me sizzle and pop with rage, although after reading it, I'm a little puzzled as to why it's so popular.

So, what did I think? I have so much to say, it's hard to figure out where to start.

But then my library got a copy of THE SELECTION, and I thought, 'Why not? Let's give it a whirl.' My friends' opinions are split pretty evenly on this book, with half shipping it and even participating in role-playing games about it, and the other half expressing a strong desire to use it for kindling in the fireplace. Case in point, I only just this year reviewed BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, and that ship sailed a looong time ago. But whenever a book gets this popular I tend to back off, because at that point, most of what needs to be said has been said - and by reviewers who are far more creative and hilarious than me. People have been asking me to review THE SELECTION for years.

The one selection book