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Nov 03, 2011

Lyndsey rated it:

So, Melody and Harmony are our two main characters. And guess what - they're twins! Naw....really?!

Not that they are bad names, but twins named Melody and Harmony?! Cliche much?

The similar names also made it very difficult to keep straight on who was who. The perspective jumps back and forth between the two of them just about every couple pages or so. The breakneck speed of the switches makes it difficult to develop a connection to the characters or keep track of what in the More...

59 comments like (110 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2011

Vinaya rated it:

Wha-wha-WHAAT? What just happened there?

Okay, let’s start at the beginning. Bumped is a ‘dystopian’ novel set in 2035 where a virus has wiped out the ability of every person over the age of eighteen to reproduce. (Why eighteen? How eighteen? Does the virus come built-in with an age-o-meter that tells it when to strike?) The population is rapidly declining, leaving only one section of the planet capable of procreating. The teenagers. At the point at which this novel starts, it is alr More...

34 comments like (66 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Reynje rated it:

I suspect that for some, the amount of enjoyment and/or engagement they experience while reading Bumped will be directly proportional to the manner in which they approach it.

It’s just a theory, and I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I do think that an analysis of Bumped needs to take into account the angle a person has chosen to read it from. Taken at face value, there is content and style to the story that some readers may find problematic or even objectionable. Read as a sat More...

5 comments like (22 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Misty rated it:

2.5
I did another video review for this one (and if you want to watch it, you can here.) But if you're not into video reviews, here's a brief written review, in the language of Bumped:

It was like, rilly rilly all about young girls pregging for money. Like, for seriously young. But it was okay, 'cause they were being, like, patriotic, and all the hot girls go Pro anyway, and it's just a delivery, so who cares? And if creepy old guy agents are making you major bank on that preg More...

20 comments like (46 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

Holly rated it:

BUMPED is the first book in a long while that has lived up to my expectations, I read it in it's entirety over a weekend which is very unusual for me. It's a captivating book set 35 years in the future where teenagers are idolized due to a virus that causes infertility in anyone over the age of eighteen. The chapters are shared amongst Harmony and Melody, identical twins who are meeting for the very first time having grown up in very different worlds - Harmony in a religious sect that has a boar More...

9 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Katya rated it:

This is a CD cover for one of Korn's albums. I'm putting it up here because it adequately describes the feelings this book brought up for me.

Disclaimer: I love Megan McCafferty's books. This review may be biased.

You have been warned.

I won't deny it - I've been waiting to get my hands on this piece for ages. I've been reading about it for months now, the good and the bad, (more of the former, less of the latter for obvious reasons) and knew perfectl More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2011

Phoebe rated it:

Talk about going in with preconceived notions of a book’s quality. 40 pages deep, and I was completely ready to pan Bumped.

Megan McCafferty’s long-awaited follow-up to the Sloppy Firsts series is a tongue-in-cheek satire about a future where only teenagers are capable of reproduction. At the outset, the science fiction is hammy and laid on thick, full of FutureWords™ and sketchy world building. As I neared the end of the first part, I already had the bulk of my review worked out in m More...

5 comments like (19 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2011

Victoria rated it:

In a society where a virus has taken away the fertility of adults, teenage guys and girls have become more important than ever for carrying on the human race. “Bumping” has become a global phenomenon for teenagers to sell their bodies, and children, to the adults who have been affected by "The Virus.”

I’m going to be honest...This book was not my cup of tea.

For me, I was hard to get past the weird, made-up words in every sentence, but that's just my logical, n More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2011

Mara rated it:

Interesting concept, but I couldn't make it through the first part (ie. the first fifty pages). Only a scant few sentences manage to squeak by unscathed by slang that is both over the top and unconvincing. It's obvious that all of these words have been dreamed up by one person instead of a massive, fertility-crazed society. What's more, if this book is supposed to take place a mere twenty years in the future, I have a hard time believing the word "bump" is going to suddenly become so i More...

5 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2010

Steph Su rated it:

Megan McCafferty is the author of the Jessica Darling books, hands-down my all-time favorite contemporary series. The dystopian novel BUMPED is a huge departure from her legacy, but if you tone down your instinctual desire to compare it to the Jessica Darling books, it is a fantastically complex story that will provide fodder for thought for multiple rereads.

BUMPED is an example of a dystopian society that is so fully realized and self-sustaining that it becomes very difficult for us o More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

Kate rated it:

Saying that Bumped is not for everyone feels inadequate. In fact, it's been a long while since I've read a book that left me more certain that only a select number of people would receive it well. Having, by choice, majored in sociology in college, I tend to geek out a bit more than most while reading books like this. I have this natural inclination for analyzing social problems, no matter how strange. And Bumped is very strange.

Though I'm sure you already know. The premise behind B More...

11 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Tina rated it:

Original post at One More Page

When I first heard that Megan McCafferty of Jessica Darling fame is coming up with a YA dystopia novel, I kind of squee-d. I wasn't sure if I was squee-ing because it's a dystopia novel, or because it was written by Megan McCafferty -- probably both, so it was one of my highly anticipated reads for 2011.

It was the year 2036, and teen girls are the most important people in the world. Girls under the age of 18 and are fertile, that is, after a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

What happens when adults become infertile. When sex-ed is taught in schools to encourage kids to have unprotected sex. When giving birth in middle-school increases your chances of getting into the right college. When being 16 and pregnant makes you the most important person in the world.

This is the America—in the not so distant future—where identical twins Melody and Harmony grow up. Separated at birth, Melody is taken in by a wealthy New Jersey family while Harmony is raised in a Pe More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Heather rated it:

This book was crazy good. The writing is just stunning at times. BUMPED is the story of twins-separated at birth, Melody and Harmony, in a near-future where a sterility virus makes it impossible to get pregnant past 18 years of age. Most of the novel hinges on a single day of mistaken identity, a day that changes both twins' lives. A premise like that sounds unmanageable. But everything was so well-written, so perfectly plotted and paced that I just found myself saying YES! That is exactly what More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2011

Ana rated it:

Bumped / 978-0-061-96274-5

In a futuristic dystopia that seems strangely similar to our own modern-day culture, an under-class of underprivileged women are compelled by society to be the breeders for an upper-class that has been ravaged with infertility. In this culture, sex is not about love, but rather about pregnancy, and fertile women are expected to put their own feelings aside for the 'good of humanity' and the survival of the human race.

If it sounds like I'm describing Margaret Atwood's c More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 13, 2011

Danny rated it:

This one so took me by surprise! This is most definitely a unique take in the dystopian world. Normally, when I read Dystopian I expect darkness, end time feeling and such, not that I want it, but this is how nearly all dystopian novels I read lately are.

Bumped is so different!!

In Bumped Teens are the most valued people on earth because they are the only ones that can still have kids. A virus that most people catch around 18-20 makes them all infertile so Teens are the More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Aurora added it

Bumped is an interesting tale of a future society when people become infertile after their teenage years, and so teenagers are encouraged, and paid, to have children for older couples. It is told through the eyes of two teenagers, Melody and Harmony, who were separated at birth and adopted by two separate families. When they turned 16 they opened their birth records and found eachother. One is a contractual birth-mother waiting for a "male contributor" before having her first pregnancy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2011

Ann rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Shanan rated it:

In A Nutshell:
If I had to put my thoughts about Bumped into a single word, that word would be under-whelmed. There was not a lot about this book that I liked. I thought the characters were superficial and annoying who only gained any depth or interest in the last 20 pages of the book. I had misgivings about the concept from the beginning, but the cheery, happy tone of the book felt out of place in a dystopian novel and heightened my misgivings even more.

Review:
In Bump More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 18, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I'll be honest. I've been DREADING writing this review.

I was SO looking forward to this book. I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I loved McCafferty's Jessica Darling series and I couldn't wait to read her first attempt at Dystopian fic, one of my favorite genres. Imagine my absolute delight when I received an Advanced Review Copy of this bad boy.

::sigh::

As you've probably guessed by now, this book was a huge disappointment. McCafferty's writing is s More...

6 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

Krista rated it:

I knew as soon as I finished this book I would need some time to think about how to review it. And I found myself kinda speechless. And I was really glad to find that I was not alone! But here we go: My first impressions while reading where shock, disgust, humor, and sad. I think the thing is this is a dystopian novel, although the world where your selling your body as a surrogate is not completely unknown to us but the immense inhumanity that came through the way it was handled disturbed me. Ot More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Kristy rated it:

I have mixed feelings about this book. When I read the description, I thought it had the potential to be quite eerie. I enjoyed the storyline, and the characters. What dragged me down was the goofy, over-the-top slang the author created for the characters & the society as a whole. It was too 'punny' and very distracting to me. I think it hurt more than helped her overall story, and could have been toned down immensely. Also, it reminded me a bit of Scott Westerfeld's "bubbly" spe More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2011

Karyn rated it:

Really 3.5, and I reserve the right to go up to 4, but I want to think through the underlying statements about sex and choice. I get the idea, but not sure the premise always works on the satiric level I think it's meant to hit. Also, Melody and Harmony were both a bit lacking in depth. Mostly, it's not Sloppy Firsts. Which is unfair. So-- interesting premise, skillfully delivered, but perhaps a bit surface. Wondering if there will be another volume since so much is left unfinished at the end in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2011

camilla rated it:

While I found the idea of a futuristic society where everyone over 18 is infertile so young teens become prized for their reproductive abilities to the point that some are professionally employed breeders interesting, Bumped just fell flat. The characters Zen and Melody seemed somewhat well rounded and for a bit I was genuinely interested to see what would happen between them, but in the end their counterparts in Harmony and the awful Jondoe were so one dimensional and unrealistic that I couldn' More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2011

Lisa added it

I loved Jessica Darling. I was excited to read Megan's first "offical" young adult book, but I hate, hate, hate made up slang. It was one of my big problems getting into Feed...I don't know if I can handle this. So far I've read two chapters, and I'm just annoyed..

Is it worth seeing through?

Also, I just realized that the title says Bumped #1...which means there's going to be sequels..why can't anyone just write a book anymore?? More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Tara added it

I liked the premise of this book as a 'lighter' dystopian, but ultimately this was one of those books that made it crystal clear to me that I'm nowhere near a young adult anymore. The constant use of slang will probably appeal to the age group this book is intended for, but it was annoying to me. I liked Melody, but Harmony was flat out annoying, and I decided that I didn't care about Melody enough to finish the book. I'm bummed that Bumped wasn't for me, but I have no doubt it'll be a huge succ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 08, 2011

Riley added it

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Book Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (April 26, 2011)

"When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food. More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2012

Amanda rated it:

I pushed myself and managed to finish this one, but it was definitely a struggle. I can’t honestly recommend this book to anyone and I certainly wouldn’t consider it good for young adults. This country faces an enormous problem of teenage pregnancy and unplanned babies. Yes, I do understand the genre is dystopian, but I believe the message teens would come away with is more pro-teen pregnancy than not. It seems as though McCafferty is heading in that direction in the sequel to this, but I wi More...

0 comments like

Feb 10, 2012

Lisa rated it:

To be honest, at first I had no plans to buy or read this book. The premise just didn’t interest me. Then I read Jessica Darling. I LOVED the first two books in the series. Even though I didn’t like the next two books nearly as much and pretty much despised the last one, I still enjoyed Megan McCafferty’s writing. I have to admit, she is one talented lady!!

So, with the combination of reading Jessica Darling and spotting an awesome deal to get the ebook for 99 cents, I bought Bum More...

0 comments like

Jan 27, 2012

Angela rated it:

A really interesting look at the commodification of women's bodies. The viewpoint characters are twins separated at birth. One is raised by a wealthy couple, trained in sports, arts, tutored and educated, preparing so that her genes will be in demand as a surrogate mother for the highest bidder. The other is raised in a fundamentalist compound, where women wear veils and the color of their dresses reflects the sex of the children they have, with her first engagement arranged for her at the ag More...

0 comments like