Review- Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Review of Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Pages:352

Reprint Edition: June 2, 2009

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.
(from Goodreads)

**May contain Spoilers**




Unwind is a dark, yet eye opening novel of a world without a choice. A war has broken out pertaining to abortion. No one wins this war. And the children of the future pay for it.

It is decided that abortion is no longer accepted and is now illegal. Unwanted babies are now left on doorsteps and storked to unwilling families.

The babies whom are unwanted by the mothers and the storked family are now wards of the state. Without a mother’s choice, that world is overrun with unwanted children. The state is doing cutbacks.

Unwanted, troubled children are now given up to be Unwound.

Unwinding is a way of transplanting all of the unwinds body to another person who is in need. There are many troubled children.

Tithes are also given to unwinding. They were born for it.

But what about a person’s free will? Will these unwanted children be able to find their voice in a silent war that was never theirs in the first place?

Unwind is a story following three Unwinds: Connor, a troubled teen whose parents signed the release; Risa, a ward of the state whom does not have the skills that the world necessarily needs; and Lev, a tithe.

These three are now on the run from being unwound, from being lost forever, fighting for lives.

I found myself deeply disturbed yet incredibly entranced by Unwind. As Neal Shusterman  wound the threads of the story deeper and deeper together, I found myself being wound into those threads. They held the very lifelines of the characters within themselves, and they wound their way into my emotions. They characters became very deep and developed as the story urged onward. The character that seemed to do the largest and the most interesting growth was Lev. He grew emotionally in so many different ways that I was in absolute awe of him by the end of the book. They small romance in the story was sweet, but it did not take away from the real undercurrent of the book.

My emotions where stolen away from me when one of the characters was unwound. Neal Shusterman wrote this from Roland, the unwound characters, point of view. It was terrifying to read. There was overwhelming tension in my body and tears rolling down my cheeks. Reading about the unwinding was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I even considered putting the book down at that point, but couldn’t do it. I had to know what was happening.

Unwind is a chilling, dark, and disturbing take on a world without choices. The writing was amazing, and the message was a great gift.

 Chilled to the bone.