Unwind ~ Neal Shusterman review

Unwind
Simon & Schuster
June 2, 2009
Paperback
352 Pages
Amazon



Imagine retroactive abortions. That's what an unwinding is. Teens unwanted for any reason-wards of the state who don't survive budget cuts or who don't have a special enough skill, juvenile delinquents who've pushed their families too far, kids who's families just don't want them any more, etc-are harvested for their body parts.

All of them.

From eyeballs to entrails, literally.

Of course, just because this is the future and we've perfected medical transplants and 'unwinding' doesn't mean we've perfected making teens go willingly. Quite the contrary.

Unwind follows three runaway Unwinds-Risa, Connor, and Lev-as they struggle to survive in a world out to find them. (If they can make it until they're 18, then they're home free.)

While Unwind can be looked at as being about abortion (stick with me here), I didn't see it very much as a book about yay or nay abortion at all (not that anything's really 'yay' on abortion, mind you.). Unwind, was more about what it means to be alive and to have the fear of having that taken away from you simply because you don't have parents or you don't want an occupation that someone else deems valuable enough...or because you got in a schoolyard fight or five.

(I, actually, saw it as being more of a look at the death penalty if you want to know the truth.)

It's definitely a book that gives you a lot to think about the whole way though but not one that has a definitive point of view and you have to think exactly that to enjoy it.

I really enjoyed the language used in the book, too. Example: "...She sits at the piano; it's a concert Steinway as ebony as the night, and just as long." (pg. 20, hardcover)

There's a whole lot more that happens while they're 'on the run' but I don't want to include too much of that because I think it's much more fun to read the book and discover it as you read than to read it here in a few sentences just so I can tell you how much I liked it. ;-)

I do definitely think you should read Unwind, though-I'm adding it to the list of books I'm going to try to get my brother to read (he doesn't exactly read much :[ )

10/10