Tags
book, book review, dystopia, future, review, romance, survelience, technology, young adult
Scored (2011)
by Lauren McLaughlin
Hardcover Edition
Publisher: Random House
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.
Set in the future when teenagers are monitored via camera and their recorded actions and confessions plugged into a computer program that determines their ability to succeed. All kids given a “score” that determines their future potential. This score has the ability to get kids into colleges, grant scholarships, or destroy all hope for the above. Scored’s reluctant heroine is Imani, a girl whose high score is brought down when her best friend’s score plummets. Where do you draw the line between doing what feels morally right and what can mean your future? Friendship, romance, loyalty, family, human connection and human value: all are questioned in this fresh and compelling dystopian novel set in the scarily forseeable future.
My Thoughts:
Scored, although considered a dystopian novel, isn’t quite a dystopia…yet. Imani, the protagonist, lives in a trial city where the people are incessantly monitored by digital “eyeballs.” These eyeballs analyze behavior and raise or lower that person’s “score” based on a formula. While the high scorers are given full scholarships and ample employment opportunities, the low scores are left struggling. Fortunately, Imani’s home is only a “trial,” and there are still unscored amongst the majority of the scored. The unscored are treated as outcasts while the scored struggle to maintain or rise from their scores.
