Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Wow! I got a lot more out of this book than I was expecting! This is a dysotopian novel set in a society that I certainly hope never comes to fruition.


The battle over abortion has resulted in a war and the end result is more disturbing and horrifiying than either opposing side ever wanted. What is that end result you may ask... well it is to "unwind" children. To "unwind" basically means that a team of surgeons dimantle your body. New medical techniques have been developed that allow doctors to replace ANY and ALL body parts with those of an "unwind" child. No more transplant waiting lists because now organs are plentiful. If you are unhappy with your nose, eyes, teeth, etc... no more plastic surgery, just buy a new ones!


They pitch "unwinding" as if it is not death... they claim that it is a new "form" of living. Your body parts are transplanted to those who need/want them. Every piece of you is used, therefore no piece of you technically dies. However, it has to be done before a child is legally an adult, 18. So the decision is made by the child's parents or in the case of wards of the state, the state decides. Many of the unwinds in the story are concerned about their souls and what will happen to them... does it go away or is it streched out thin between every person who receives a piece of you? This is a reoccurring question throughout the novel.


Basically, parents who have problem/troublesome children will sign for their child to be unwound. This is the scenario for one of the main characters, Collin. Also, children who live in state homes are often unwound for various reasons, usually involving lack of funds. This is the back story for Risa, another main character. And then the final, and most bothersome in my opinion, mode of becoming an unwind is to be tithed. The Bible states that you should tithe 10%. So Levi (Lev for short) just so happens to be the 10th child in his very religous family and therefore has known all of his life that his parents have offered him as a tithe and that he will be unwound on his 13th birthday. Crazy, right!?!


So through a series of circumstances these three characters cross paths and then the story really gets going... as if there has not already been enough crazy ideas thrown at you from the little that I've already told you about! Trust me, that is just the tip of the iceberg as for where this story then goes.


This is why I gave this book a four rather than a 5. I feel like there was just TOO much crammed into 352 pages. I really think that all of these ideas could have been explored deeper and a series of books could have come out of all of this. I'm not saying that I was disappointed at all in the things that happened or even how the story ended... I am saying I wanted more!! I wanted to go deeper into this. So if I have to pick out any flaw that would be it... and I'm not so sure if that's so much a flaw! =)


Okay, so do I have a favorite character?? Impossible for me to pick one... all three of the characters are fabulously flawed! I loved it! They are not perfect, they make mistakes, they do stupid things, and I loved them for every choice they made! I didn't really have a full appreciation of how much I liked these characters until the end.


Warnings that I can offer before you venture into this book... pay attention to EVERYTHING! It all comes back into play later on. There is a scene where you get to witness an "unwinding" and it is chilling! Highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good dysotopian story!!




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