Synopsis:
A boy marked for termination and organ harvesting escapes into a world where he has no legal right to live.
Review:
I heard about Unwind from the Queens Library, in an email newsletter talking up good new young adult books. I’m so glad that I did, because it’s a dystopian thrill ride in the same vein as Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies trilogy, only with the same intellectual depth and emotional heart that you find in Lois Lowry’s The Giver.
Here’s the deal with unwinding. Anyone under the age of 18 can be unwound by their legal guardian. It’s like a retroactive abortion, only every last piece of the unwind is harvested for reuse by another person. Organs, limbs, brain cells, even eyelashes–they all get doled out to the needy. Connor’s parents send him for unwinding because they have too many kids, but he’s lucky–and smart–enough to get away. He ends up on the run with Risa, a ward of the state whose unwinding comes when the home runs out of beds, and Lev, a “tithe” whose parents are unwinding him as a sacrifice to God.
I was so impressed with the way that Neal Shusterman engaged with big issues in Unwind. He didn’t shy away from tackling the abortion and bioethics debates head on in all their complexity. He didn’t dumb anything down, and he didn’t moralize or proselytize. The result is a book that offers a lot of food for thought in what also happens to be a page-turning thriller.
I’m intrigued by this one – have just added it to my wish list – thanks for enabling!
It’s such a good read–so glad that I heard about it.
Fast-paced, deliciously disturbing, and unable to put down. I am so glad I picked it out of the shelves at my local bookstore – I hope it’s up by the bestsellers soon so that everyone can do the same.
me too!
It was a really good book!
I read it and couldnt put it down until I was finished, some of the information in this summary is wrong though :s
What did I get wrong? I wrote this immediately after reading it 🙂
you said that anyone under the age of 18 could be unwound, but only children between the ages of 13 and 18 can be unwound. 🙂
actually, connor’s parents sent him away to be unwound because he was unruly–not because they had too many kids.
I think the book said that children could live but anyone from the ages of 13-18 was eligible to be “unwound.”
Also, the book did keep mentioning that 1oo% of the unwinds body should be used but Risa actually asked somebody at the harvest camp about that. 99.44% of the body should be used.
And, Risa isn’t exactly sent to be unwound because of beds running out.
One thing i dont understand in this book if what happens to “Cy-Ti.” They mention something about Cyrus at the end but what about Tyler? His parents just say he’s not being unwound and Cyrus is back to normal????
im confused!!
I don’t remember–sorry!
This is the best book ever! I love it so much. I could not put it down [: