Monday, December 10, 2012

Middle Ground by Katie Kacvinsky


Middle Ground is the second installment in the Awaken series by Katie Kacvinsky.  In the first book we met Maddie, who is the daughter of the founder of Digital School.  She is not happy living a digital life and has gotten into a lot of trouble over the years.  When she met Justin, the leader of a group of rebels fighting for a life that is "unplugged" or less digital, she finally found a place where she fit in. 

At the beginning of Middle Ground, Maddie is living in Los Angeles with her brother and some friends just tyring to complete her last year of digital school.  In typical Maddie fashion, it did not take her long to stir things up in LA.  She causes a disturbance at a "digital club", which ultimately ends up landing her in a detention center. 

During her six month sentence, she gathers evidence about the detention center to help bring down digital school once and for all.  The detention center was an awful place, but Maddie did what she felt was necessary for the benefit of the cause.  Fortunately, she did not have to work alone.  She becomes friends with Gabe, a staff member at the detention center.  He grew up in a community that was completely unplugged and can relate to Maddie.  He contacts Justin and helps coordinate weekly meetings between Justin, Maddie, Molly, Pat, and Claire. 

Justin and Maddie's relationship continues to grow throughout this book.  She comes to realize that she loves her family, but she belongs with her friends.  In the final book in this series we should find out if there is a way for her to have both, or if the differences between Maddie and her father will be too much to overcome.     

By now, you should all know that I am a HUGE fan of Katie's work.  I have read all four of her books and I have LOVED them all.  Once again she has some great quotes scattered throughout the story.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

"One in three people is crazy.  And the other two are liars." 

"Your only normal friends are the ones you don't know very well."

Middle Ground was actually better than Awaken and will leave the reader satisfied, but curious about what is yet to come.      

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