Perfect by Cecelia Ahern
Disclaimer:
I was kindly sent an e-ARC of this book by MacMillan publishers. All opinions are my own.
What's it about?
Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine's life has completely fractured; all of her freedoms are gone. Since Judge Crevan declared her the number one threat to the public, she became a ghost on the run with Carrick, the only person she can trust. But Celestine has a secret; one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing. Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself, or risk her life to save all Flawed people? And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human is to be Flawed? - Goodreads Synopsis
My Thoughts:
First of all if you haven't already read my review for Flawed, read it first. If you've already read that, you'll know that Flawed was one of my top reads of 2016, and Perfect will likely be a favorite of 2017.
This book was phenomenal. I loved being back in Celestine’s world because Cecelia Ahern completely thrusts you into the world with very little introduction and very little backstory (which I love in a sequel). She gets right to the point!
Characters:
Celestine- Honestly, she really irked me in the first half of the first book because she only conformed to society instead of thinking for herself. But in Perfect, she made a complete 180° change. She finally became her own person, stopped caring about what society thought of her, and did what was morally right.
Carrick- I didn't know what to think of Carrick in the first book because to me, he seemed quite unimportant. But in this book, you saw way more of him, thus allowing his character to truly develop in front of you. You're able to understand more about him and what makes him so mysterious.
Crevan- I feel like we did not see nearly as much Crevan in Perfect as we did in Flawed and I'm content with that. While he did add more conflict to the storyline, he is just downright obnoxious! He is the perfect villain in all the wrong ways. Because quite honestly, he reminded me a lot of politicians in our own society. This made the book all the more believable because while the dystopian society may not exist, Crevan's personality definitely does.
Storyline:
I don't know how Cecelia does it, but this is one of the very few books that is captivating throughout its entirety. There's absolutely NO lulls in the storyline. There's constant conflict, always something going on, and the book is nearly impossible to put down. Even from the very beginning, she just launches into the story. There's nothing worse than having a writer slowly get into the plot, especially in a sequel (when you already know about the characters AND the last book left you on a major cliffhanger).
Connection to Nazi Germany:
What made this book so eerily realistic was its similarity to Nazi Germany. Flawed wore armbands that announced their status everywhere they went. They were branded "Flawed" with a permanent mark as a reminder of their inferiority. Crevan was a dictator who solely seeked complete power. He used propaganda to scare people into “behaving” as the perfect human race. The Flawed were seen as disgusting human beings who had curfews, limitations, and less rights.
All of this is exactly what Nazi Germany was, and despite this book being fiction, this dystopian society is far from fiction. Something like Nazi Germany can happen again. There will always be other attempts to “Make the World Perfect Again.” I believe what Ahern was getting at is that although this may unfortunately happen again, it is by no means necessary for it to come to war as it previously has. It can be done peacefully and within the society. We are not that different; we are all human, and we are all flawed. Together we can overcome anything that plagues our society as long we unite as one.
All of this is exactly what Nazi Germany was, and despite this book being fiction, this dystopian society is far from fiction. Something like Nazi Germany can happen again. There will always be other attempts to “Make the World Perfect Again.” I believe what Ahern was getting at is that although this may unfortunately happen again, it is by no means necessary for it to come to war as it previously has. It can be done peacefully and within the society. We are not that different; we are all human, and we are all flawed. Together we can overcome anything that plagues our society as long we unite as one.
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