The story works because the premise behind it is not implausible-admittedly I can’t imagine any parents who would want to have their child unwound, but with the need for organ donors and the situation in their society when the bill was passed, the reason for unwinding is logically presented and it’s not impossible that in desperation a society (even ours) could turn to a solution like unwinding and this makes the concept all the more frightening as it is not something that is completely impossible.Īs well as the main story of these three teenagers on the run, there is a subplot of a mysterious, legendary teenager called Humphrey Dunfee (who turns out to be more than a legend but I don’t want to spoil anything) and a father who was involved in drawing up the bill of life and ended up paying a huge price for it, but has spent his life since trying to save these Unwinds from going to harvest camps. The characters all by one means or another escape their unwinding and go on the run, hoping to stay hidden until they reach eighteen when the state can no longer touch them. They all have strong personalities and you have very strong feelings on who you want to survive (or not in one particular character’s case). Lev was a little harder to like at first as he starts out a wimpy, religious fanatic kid who is willing to be unwound but as the story unfolds he becomes a more likeable character. The characters themselves are likeable-Connor and Risa (who are the couple in this book-don’t worry though, romance is definitely secondary), make a great team as he is the impulsive, rebellious type (yet also extremely loyal to his friends) whilst she is intelligent one who is good at planning and being able to read people’s emotions. The book raises many interesting ethical issues such as-is it acceptable to make organ donation compulsory and where should we draw the line? Does anyone have the right to decide whether other people should live or die? (even though the people who are unwound are not classed as dead), what is consciousness? Can organs remember the body that they came from? and of course is Unwinding murder or are unwinding and death different things? The book is written in third person present tense which was a little strange for me at first, since not many books are written like this but once you get used to it, it’s easy enough to follow. The book follows the three characters mentioned above, Connor Lassiter, a sixteen year old who constantly gets into trouble, Risa Ward (all children who are in the care of the state have the surname Ward) a fifteen year old ward of the state who is a victim of budget cuts and Levi “Lev” Calder who is a thirteen year old tithe-his parents had him specifically so he could be unwound (as a way of giving back to God). But when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away… If they can survive until their eighteenth birthdays, they can’t be harmed. Brought together by chance, and kept together through desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing all the while that their lives are hanging in the balance. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth as part of his family’s strict religion. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. It’s an interesting concept and the book kept me hooked all the way through-it’s a chilling book with strong lead characters and the question of if all a child’s parts are used, is the child really dead, or do they just live on in a different state? Here is the synopsis of the book:Ĭonnor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. I had not read any books by Neal Shusterman before I read this one, the first in a series of four books (the fourth of which is being released later this year) about a futuristic society where unwanted children are unwound-essentially they are used as organ donors and so are supposedly not being killed but just living in a “divided” state-there are no cures for anything anymore, if a part of your body breaks down and you can afford it, you can just buy an unwind’s body part to replace it-this procedure of unwinding is the result of a pro-life/pro choice war-abortions are illegal, but parents can choose to have their child unwound between the ages of 13-18 because their child’s parts technically live on-just in other people.
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