Unwind by Neal Shusterman

 
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
My rating: 4.5 out of 5

Quick and Dirty:

3 kids are set to be unwound. 
Due to a crazy set of circumstances they don't make it to the Harvest camp as planned. 
Now they are fighting to survive.
Will their bodies be unwound even after all they've done?

Wait, what?: 

Okay, three kids-Connor, Risa, and Lev- are all signed off to be unwound which is where ALL of their body parts are harvested and sent away for hospital/patient use. Connor's parents schedule him for unwinding because he's too much to handle. Risa is set to be unwound because she is a "useless" ward of the state without enough talent to be useful to society. Lev is a tithe; his parents are giving their 10% to God which in this case happens to be a child and not money.
You see, in this particular America, abortion was made illegal after the so-called Heartland War. The pro-life people and the pro-choice people fought the second civil war and the only solution to stop it was the "Bill of Life". This bill made it illegal to abort a child, but legal for a parent to unwind their child between the ages of 13 to 18. Once a child reached 18 they were safe. The technicality was that the unwound child wouldn't actually die. All of their body was used to save or help other people-they are alive, just in a "divided state". 
Obviously Connor and Risa don't want to be an unwind, so they do their best to escape. Lev has been brainwashed his whole life to believe that being a tithe is something holy. He believes he is a great sacrifice that will help many people (which it will).
Without spoiling too much, all three teens end up on the lam together. They become what is called an "Awol". They have to find food, shelter, and safety from the juvie cops which for a while seems impossible. 

Will they be able to escape the dreaded fate of unwinding? Will theses three teens from very different ways of life be able to get along?

You'll have to read the book or the spoilers at the end of this entry to find out!

Literary Nerdism (criticism):

Basics:This is very much a young adult novel: relatively easy vocabulary, easy to read sentence structure, and a pretty clear plot to follow even if it does change perspectives often. 

What's challenging: The content. No matter what end of the spectrum you land on the whole abortion debate, this book will have you questioning everything. It makes you think about the sanctity of life, the worth of children, how to deal with difficult children-especially the ones society gives up on, and the benefits or disadvantages of advancing modern medical science. 

What I liked: Character development is ridiculously strong in this novel. You love the good characters and you hate the bad guys (in the best way to hate possible). Shusterman excels at making you root for the underdog, fall in love with the bad boy, and seriously want to punch a juvie cop in the throat. You also change perspectives quite often throughout the book. You get to see the entire situation through the eyes of several different characters. It was nice to see Connor's version of events versus Risa's. This also helped move the plot along and drive you to read just one more chapter before bed.

What I disliked: Characters who just disappear. Now in a novel where children are being unwound by the thousands, you'd expect some to go missing once in a while. BUT one character in particular, CyFi, becomes such a compelling person while travelling with a fellow character that you just absorb yourself in his story. After his particular situation is solved, he's gone. Don't get me wrong; it makes sense in the plot and I don't feel there are any holes, but I do wish he would have been brought back in some capacity.
What I'd change: I just finished the sequel to this book and there are two more novels left. When a really good book turns into a series, I get super nervous. Some series are GREAT (looking at you, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Wool...etc.) But what if the last two books fail? As much as I'm invested in these characters, I don't want them to get ruined by subpar writing, plot, or just a plain old crappy ending. We'll see what happens as I keep reading.

Discuss: Have you read this book? What did you think? Should it be the next big movie series a la The Hunger Games? Let me know in the comments below!










Now stop here if you don't want to know spoilers. Go buy the book at your local bookstore, Half Price Books, or Amazon. If you can't be bothered to read, but you're still curious about this novel...read on. 




















**SPOILERS**

1. Connor becomes an Awol by causing a HUGE traffic jam, taking Lev hostage, causing Risa's bus to the Harvest Camp to crash, and shooting a juvie cop with his own tranq gun! 
2. Lev HATES Connor and Risa for a while...until he realizes that tithing isn't actually all that holy. His own minister tells him to run away.
3. Connor takes a stork baby. Stork babies are babies that are literally put on someone's door step. All a mother has to do is drop the baby off and the person who answers the door has to keep the baby. If the mother is caught leaving the baby, she has to keep it herself. You find out Connor takes the baby from the doorstep because his family received a stork baby, but secretly re-storked it to a neighbor. The same baby comes back several days later after the neighbors do the same. The baby ends up dying because it wasn't taken care of. OH MY GOSH, I was seriously upset for a while after reading this.
4. They eventually take refuge at a school, and Lev turns them in. He regrets this because he finds out his parents aren't even looking for him. Connor and Risa barely make it out of the school by pulling the fire alarm and causing a commotion. A teacher helps them to a safe place (run by Sonia, who becomes important later remember her if you continue the series), and she decides to take the baby from them before they are transported away.
5. The safe place then transports them to several other safe places until they reach The Graveyard. 
6. WAIT- as they are traveling to safe places they are joined by new people: Mai, Roland, and Hayden. Mai reads and keeps to herself; Roland is a big fat jerk; Hayden is a smirker. 
7. Meanwhile Lev travels with a pretty unstable kid, the aforementioned CyFi. He seems to be out on his own, not an unwind, just a runaway but he holds a dark secret-part of his brain is from an unwind. This part still thinks he's alive! So CyFi starts stealing things and acting out of the ordinary, but it's not his fault. Eventually him and Lev travel all the way to Joplin, MO to this kids home. CyFi is able to see the unwind's parents, finds the hidden stash, the parents cry, and CyFi is taken back by his own parents. Lev runs.
8. Fast forward: graveyard run by admiral. Takes a shining to Connor who now works maintenance. Risa works in the medic ward. Roland still a jerk trying to gain power because he thinks the admiral is against them. 
9. Lev makes it to the graveyard meets Cleaver and his gang of misfits.
10. Guy name Cleaver kills some golden child people in graveyard; He leads Lev and Mai (and Blaine) to become clappers: modern day terrorists who turn their blood into explosive material. Clap=explosion. These guys then go out on a work mission.

11. People incite a riot-they think the admiral killed the goldens-admiral has heart attack while Connor has Roland captured. They have to get the admiral to the hospital. Only one who can kinda fly a helicopter? Roland.
12. Roland ends up turning in Connor and Risa-and obviously himself.
13. They get sent to camp. Unwinding doesn't happen right away. They have time to adjust. Roland has time to seek power and vengeance against Connor. Risa plays in the band that serenades those walking to the unwinding building.
14. Lev shows up. He's there to blow up the Harvest Camp; Mai and Blaine are with him.
15. Roland and Connor are set to be unwound on the same day. Roland tries to kill Connor but stops at the last second.
16. Meanwhile Lev is pretending to be a tithe again. He finds out about Connor's unwinding and realizes his plan to blow up the camp has to happen faster.
17. You get to hear all about Roland's unwinding. It's interesting...I won't ruin it here. 
18. Connor is being lead into the unwinding facility. Risa plays piano. Lev starts to panic. The clappers take their place all hesitant to clap first.
19. Connor is in the building. Blaine is found by a guard which makes him blow himself up. Mai claps and the building goes down.
20. Lev is there to save the day. He saves Connor and Risa before he worries about blowing up himself; he has no desire to clap anymore. 
21. Lev is taken by the authorities and put in a padded room before they can replace his toxic blood with good. His pastor visits. His brother decides to take custody of him. He is no longer a tithe or unwind; he exists in a pretty unknown place for this society.
22. Connor's arm is replaced...with ROLAND'S! He has obvious misgivings for having an unwind's arm especially from someone who caused all this chaos. 
23. Connor gets a new name; people think the real Connor is dead. The admiral, who is saved, but super weak, puts Connor in charge of the graveyard.
24. Risa is now wheelchair bound because she refused to have an unwind's spine. Disabled people are protected from being unwound; she's safe. She is the lead medic at the graveyard.
25. Connor and Risa are the basic love story. They hate each other first, pretend to be a couple in the middle, and then realize they actually do like each other in the end.


Now obviously I didn't give you all the details. With 25 points, I figured that was enough. There's a lot more to this book, especially with the admiral and his part in the Unwind Accord and his own child.