Unwind

Text read: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Number of pages: 335

Number of reading days: 1

Why I read this book: While browsing the stacks of the Marysville Public Library, Charley picked this book up and shoved it in my face: "It's so good! Read it!" Perhaps I'm exaggerating.*




*Nope.

Thoughts:

After discovering 19th & early 20th century British literature, my interest in the young adult section of the library slowly diminished over time. Now I really only read young adult novels by John Green. But during middle school and the beginning of high school, I read as many teen fantasy, sci-fi, and romance novels as I possibly could. Everything was Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Eragon, The Giver (series), The Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, His Dark Materials, I Am Morgan le Fay, Uglies, The Hunger Games, and even Twilight (I know, I know... it was 2006 & I was 14..).

Reading this novel felt a little like going back to my roots. Or at least some of my roots (I was also reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Jane Austen and some Dickens during those adolescent years. Strange combination but honestly, explains a lot). Even so, I was little skeptical and my expectations were low when I began reading. Because I've read a lot of novels set in a dystopian society, I was worried that the world of Unwind would appear cliche or obvious. I assumed there would be a few young people running around rebelling against the current climate; there would be a love interest and probably some sort of betrayal/redemption situation. At the end, there would be some sort of temporary or complete upheaval of the system, depending on whether the book was the first of a series or not. (As it turns out, Unwind is the first in a trilogy... so now I have to read the lot.)

But I was surprisingly thrilled with Unwind, and with several aspects in particular.

• The specific characteristics of its futuristic dystopian world:
• Takes place after the Second Civil War-- a war fought over reproduction rights
• "Unwinding" -- a sort of retroactive abortion. Between the ages of 13 and 18, a child can be unwound if they are too hard too control or not worth keeping alive (bringing into question the importance and value of human life). The unwinding process involves harvesting all of the child's organs for future use. According to this system, the child does not die because every part of him or her lives on in someone else.
• "Storking" -- if a baby is unwanted, the mother may leave the child at any person's doorstep. If the mother isn't caught during the storking process, then the new family is responsible for rearing the child.
• References to contemporary debates about reproduction, abortion, and religion. For example, one of the main characters is born solely for unwinding. According to the main religion, 10% of everything a person owns should be given up; as the tenth child of a wealthy and religious family, Lev is born and raised as a Tithe.
• Lev was my favorite character. He had more character development than Connor or Risa, both of who felt a little one-sided. I also loved the side story about Lev's experience with Cy-Fy. Probably one of the most moving sections of the novel.
• The betrayal/redemption sequence, while still present, was not as obvious as I thought it might be.
• Structure -- The book is set up in parts, which begin with a quote from either real or eerily verisimilar articles and books. These parts are then divided by point of view. Most of the time, we see through Connor, Risa, or Lev's perspective; occasionally there are small sections set in the pov of minor characters or characters who only appear once throughout. I liked this use of subjective omniscient third person.
• The chapter describing the unwinding process
• The side story about Humphrey Dunfee, which I will not write about because spoilers. I think I may have loved the side stories better than the actual plot.

I have to admit, reading Unwind rekindled my interest in YA novels. They don't take long to read and they're usually rather enjoyable and interesting. Also, keeping tabs on YA and Children's lit is important for a future public school librarian.

For more about YA novels, see the newly released results of NPR Books' Best Ever Teen Fiction Poll here: Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels. So many wonderful novels.

Favorite Passages & Quotes:

"Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up."

"There are no wrong thoughts, only thoughts that need to be worked through and overcome."

"Suddenly she's feelings strangely at ease with Connor. She marvels at how that could be. If their argument had been entirely real, she'd be on guard against him. If it had been entirely a show she'd be on guard too, because if he could lie so convincingly, she'd never be able to trust him. But this was a mixture of both. It was real, it was pretend, and that combination made it all right--it made it safe, like performing death-defying acrobatic tricks above a safety net."

"It's like playing the piano; you just have to know which keys to strike in people."

"'Write a letter to someon you love. Make it as long as you want, or as short as you want; I don't care. But fill it with everything you wished you could say, but never had the chance. Do you understand?'
'What if I don't love anybody?'
She purses her lips and shakes her head slowly. 'You Unwinds are all the same. You think that because no one loves you, then you can't love anyone.''

"...and you don't just go to somebody and say, 'I'm a better person because you're in my head.'"

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For other books I'm reading this summer, see: Summer Reading List 2012