by Neil Shusterman
Published on November 6th 2007
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 335 pages
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.
- Goodreads.com description
"It's all right to be frightened. Change is always scary."
"Change?" yells Risa, "What do you mean 'change'?
Dying is a little bit more than a 'change'."
So, I've been feeling a little down and I wanted to read a dystopia that will rock-my-world-make-cry-make-me-feel-better. So I checked on Goodreads and this one came up that seemed quite perfect for the mood that I was in.
Oh boy, this book!! It's written (mostly) in 3 POVs and I thought this will be confusing, but how wrong I was. The way the author managed to keep the flow and everything entwined with everyone and still keep the mystery to it, well, it was astonishing. I loved it.
We have 3 main characters. Connor, Risa, Lev.
Connor is the character that the book starts off with. He discover his family wants to unwind him. So he decides to run away and disappear. He is quite impulsive and strong minded. Trouble maker too. He causes all sorts of events to happen when he runs away.
Risa is the pianist in the State home. She has a performance and she slipped and made a mistake which made the people in charge decide she should be unwund. In the collateral damage that Connor created, Risa managed to escape in the woods and hide. She was a really cool character, down to earth, strong minded, and really smart.
And then we have Lev. Lev is a tithe. Meaning, he was raised to be unwund. And he really believes in God and all that. On the way to his unwinding he gets caught up with the commotion on the highway that Connor created. And, the horror, he gets saved by Connor! So no unwinding for him, which for him is a bit of a tragedy - you need to be a bit open-minded for that - the shit gets crazy.
The whole concept of the book was a very interesting one. I really liked it. Although it is horrible to think of it. How can people decide for a 16 year old that they are not worthed being alive anymore? Unwind is not a light read. It's heavy and revolves around the question of abortion, life, death, and life after 'death'. It is awesome, trust me.
The book is filled with action and turn of events. Everything keeps changing. There is a lot about power and leadership in this book. Manipulation of others. Friendship. Romance. Unwind has it all. So, if you are looking for a great dystopian book, look no more, and pick Unwind up! It's so good you won't be disappointed, I promise!
