From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Unwind (Unwind, #1)

Neal Shusterman

Start date: January 7, 2016

Finish date: January 12, 2016

Discussion: 2016 Challenge prompts

Why we're reading this: This is an amazing book that I'd recommend to anyone who likes YA…more
[close] This is an amazing book that I'd recommend to anyone who likes YA

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2016 Challenge prompts

A book with a protagonist who has your occupation...
By Danah · 8 posts · 184 views

last updated Jan 27, 2017 08:22AM

The first book you see in a bookstore
By Juanita · 64 posts · 492 views

last updated Dec 29, 2016 04:24PM

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What Members Thought

May 16, 2013 Chazza Everafter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, owned, mystery-thriller, scifi-fantasy, 2013-read-list, favorites, dystopian

So, this book is filled with AWESOME.

One day, while browsing the local bookstore with the boyfriend, I got caught up chatting with a teenaged reader about the stack of books she was holding. We talked about the merits of some of the books she held and then went on to exchange recommendations of books to read. This one was her recommendation to me, and I bought it based on her verbal praise of it alone.

I WISH I COULD THANK THAT GIRL.

This book is... stunning. It's beautiful and tragic and terrifyi So, this book is filled with AWESOME.

One day, while browsing the local bookstore with the boyfriend, I got caught up chatting with a teenaged reader about the stack of books she was holding. We talked about the merits of some of the books she held and then went on to exchange recommendations of books to read. This one was her recommendation to me, and I bought it based on her verbal praise of it alone.

I WISH I COULD THANK THAT GIRL.

This book is... stunning. It's beautiful and tragic and terrifying all at the same time. It raised so many questions for me about what I believe now and what I believed "then" when I was the age of the protagonists in this book. It made me question what we teach our children. It made me wonder about the things we accept as normative in our world. It made me afraid of what the world might look like someday. I think this novel made me consider issues I've been so sure of in a new light and the consequences that can come from both action and inaction.

Welcome to a future America where a civil war between the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers resulted in a horrific "Bill of Life." This set of constitutional amendments declares that human life cannot be touched/harmed between conception until age 13. However, between the ages of 13-18, parents may choose to have their children "retroactively aborted" with the one condition being that life does not "end" but is instead allowed to continue in a divided state. Meaning: these children's bodies are harvested for their organs and parts which are then sold off to whoever can afford to purchase them.

It's almost like plastic surgery to the max, except it's not treated as cosmetic changes but "transplants." In this world, doctors do not focus so much on healing a person, but simply replace the damaged part. Like we're cars, or machinery, or robots. I imagine these people look really strange, awkwardly stitched up and sewn together with fragmented parts that once belonged to other people.

The book is centered on the stories of three young people all scheduled to be unwound. Their paths to this end are incredibly different--Connor is signed away by his parents, Risa is a burden on the state and no longer worth financially supporting, and Lev is a human offerring set aside by his religious parents to be "special" and "chosen" for this distinctive honor. Their paths cross, intertwine, and layer over one another in sometimes very surprising ways.

There were twists in this book I didn't see coming, which I really appreciated. And the powerful story Shusterman weaves gets ahold of your heart and doesn't really let go. He squeezes it instead, makes you ache for these kids and what these adults have OK'd! And even if they are rebellious, hard to control children--do they deserve to be undone like this?

While reading this book, I thought back on historical accounts of Anne Frank hiding from the Nazis, I remembered the secret underground railroad that helped guide slaves to freedom. This book is so intricately woven and so craftily plotted, I was hard pressed to find things I didn't like about it. In fact, perhaps the one criticism I have is--How did Lev end up in the Graveyard? I'd like to know! Nevermind that you've told me it's not important; I still want to know. :) [edit: apparently this is actually it's own short story called UNSTRUNG! Um, SCORE!!!!]

It's easy to like the characters he's created, even Lev who clearly has a personality that is in need of direction and purpose. He needed his religion and he trades that set of beliefs for another, but nevertheless he's still a young boy who will need to blaze his own trail sooner or later. Connor is strong, and his growth across the novel is believable. He's a great lead, and I like the slow-developing and lightly-touched romance that blooms between him and Risa, a street smart chick that I would love to be friends with.

I can't wait to read the next book... ...more

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Mar 31, 2010 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, politics, scifi-fantasy, for-maia, for-noah

WOW! Read this book -- it's a tremendous story with great characters, as terrifying as anything written by Margaret Atwood (her Handmaid's Tale scarred me for life). Anybody with concerns about the after-effect of polarizing politics should read this, in fact EVERYBODY should read this book. Wow -- terrifying and mesmerizing and horrific and a love story all rolled into one scary (im)morality statement. Not too many books point out as successfully as this one how close we live to the edge. ...more

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Oct 14, 2008 Chessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, sf_fantasy, uptopia_dystopia

Wow, this was a seriously disturbing book. After the Heartland War, "Unwinding" is made legal: instead of having legal safe abortions, parents may choose to retroactively "unwind" unwanted children, starting at age 13 and ending at age 18, when they become legal adults. The unwinds' organs and body parts are harvested for transplants, as transplanting has become the normal way of medical treatment.

We follow the stories of Connor, Risa and Lev, all slated for unwinding for various reasons, as the ...more

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