Review: Unwind

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been wanting to read this for a couple of years, since my manager first told me about it, and thankfully it was on the reading list for my YA Lit class. The story is set slightly in the future, after a second civil war, this time over abortion, which was ended with a bizarre compromise. Babies would no longer be aborted, but at any time between the ages of 13-18 if parents decided they didn't want them, then could have them "unwound", which is basically chopping them up for spare parts and recycling them. The arguement was that in this way, they did not actually die, they went on living in the bodies of other people, and helped others who were sick or injured. In addition, families with 10 children were encourage to give up a child for unwinding as a tithe, which was considered an honor rather than a punishment. [Another odd part of the compromise was that babies could be "storked", or dumped on a doorstep and those that found them were obligated to adopte them, which sometimes resulted in neighbors playing "hot potato" with the poor baby until it died of neglect.]

At the time I first heard of this book, it had a bit of a morbid appeal, as I was dealing with an extremely difficult teenager, who was very rebellious, irresponsible, and getting into all kinds of trouble, much like the main character whose parents have finally reached their limit and sign the order to have him unwound (which cannot be rescinded). Connors only option is to escape, and ends up taking Lev, a tithe who is first angry for Connor interfering in his destiny, and Risa, a ward of the state destined to be unwound simply because she isn't special enough for the state to justify spending any more money on her support and education. Later they meet Hayden, whose parents ordered him to be unwould just to spite each other during a messy divorce. The story follows the trio as they try to escape and stay hidden until they are 18.

I really enjoyed this book, it is well-written, well-paced, and has excellent character development, and we see the characters grow and change as the story progresses. The plot reminded me of an episode of the modern Twilight Zone re-boot from 2002 that starred Amber Tamblyn (of Joan of Arcadia and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) as a rebellious teen whose parents have decided to take the drastic action of moving to a walled community called Evergreen Estates that is supposed to be super family-oriented, promote family values, and curb teenage rebellion (i.e. non-conformity). As it turns out, the way they do this is by executing the rebellious teens and turning them into fertilizer that the family uses to plant a tree "in their honor" (in a nod to the series in which Tamblyn was starring at the time, the fertilizer company was named Arcadia).

This book will likely spark feelings of anger and outrage at how these teen's lives could be so casually taken, and sometimes for such trivial reasons. The scene that describes the "unwinding" of a boy from his perspective (because they keep them conscious!) is very disturbing. This book also brings up questions about life and death and who has the right to decide and when, that may be uncomfortable for some to consider.

I would recommend this for ages 14 and up, for readers who are not intimidated by long books, who tend to like adventure, survival, and dystopian themes, and can handle the overall dark and morbid premise.

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