Monday, August 31, 2009

Book Review: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape—and to survive.

The premise of this book was what drew me in, and I couldn't set this down! After the Heartland War (between pro-life and pro-choice advocates), unwinding has become a common-day occurrence. In fact, it was agreed upon by both parties, and became a peace-treaty of sorts. What is unwinding? Well, after conception a child has to be raised to age 13, but at that point they can be unwound...meaning all their body parts are harvested for transplant. At first I thought, "neither side would agree to that!", but Shusterman makes it believable. He sets this up by explaining that pro-life activists were murdering doctors who performed abortions, and women were selling their fetuses to science for money.

The three main characters have all be chosen for unwinding, although each has different circumstances leading up to it. After they escape their fate, they are forced to deal with various different obstacles, including dealing with feelings of betrayal, guilt, and confusion. In the end, they all have to make major decisions which could start the investigation into what unwinding really is. I felt for these characters, I was frustrated, upset, and I detested the act of being unwound.

The book, for me at least, was less about the characters, and more about the big picture. It leaves the reader wondering about what happens to a person's personality, and what would happen to a soul during the process of unwinding. In fact, there's a section of the book which graphically describes what a person actually goes through during unwinding, and it isn't pretty. In fact, it actually disgusted me, which rarely happens to me in books. It was definitely an interesting read, and I was actually satisfied with the ending. I'll definitely be reading more from Shusterman.

Unwind
By Neal Shusterman
Published by Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing
352 Pages (Hardcover edition)
Rating: B

12 comments:

Andrea said...

Weird. My mother in law was just telling me about this book and now you are reviewing it. Maybe that means I should read it too. Thanks.

Krista said...

Awesome review! This looks like something I might like, thanks.

Tales of Whimsy said...

Sounds like a socially charged interesting read. Great review.

Unknown said...

Great review. Now you've got me really interested in this.

Mandy said...

Great review. I just read this a month or so ago and really liked it! Shusterman's Everlost is a gripping read too!

Cecelia said...

I've got this sitting in my mountainous TBR pile...hoping to get to it this month sometime! Good review.

Jessica B said...

After hearing two friends RAVE bout the book, I got it from the library. I haven't read it yet, but I think it's what I'll be reading next. Awesome review!

shutupimreading.blogspot.com
Jessica

Anonymous said...

I've had this book in my hands several times to buy, but it's one that I'm pretty sure I can't put in my classroom library for my 7th graders (the whole prolife etc issue).

I want to read it tho, so I may just have to pick it up for myself! I can always book mooch it after!

Thanks for your review.

Alexia561 said...

This book sounds amazing! Not sure why I haven't heard of it before, but I just put it on my wish list. Thanks for a great review!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Good post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you as your information.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering, is Neal Shusterman Pro-life or Pro-choice?

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