Unwind

Unwind

By Neal Shusterman

Simon & Schuster, 2009. 335 pages. Dystopia.

ISBN: 9781416912057

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 13+

Curriculum ties: Pro-life vs. pro-choice debate, teamwork

Booktalk Ideas: What would you do to survive?: Read a letter from a harvest camp, written to the parents of teens and describing the benefits of the unwinding program.

Challenge Issues: Violence

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

In a future where transplant surgeries are easier than fixing problems, three teens fight against the system that wants to “unwind” them and harvest their body parts.

Plot Summary:

Pro-life and pro-choice supporters fought for years, and after a long time they finally decided on system they could both agree to. Abortion was outlawed. All children that were conceived had to be born, but the mother could give the child up if they didn’t want to keep it. By give it up, they could simply “stork” the baby by leaving it on someone’s doorstep, and that person would then be responsible for the baby, unless they caught the mother. Then she would have to take the baby.

However, children between 13 and 18 could be “unwound,” or harvested for body parts if their parents chose. This didn’t technically cause death, they claimed, because every single body part would still be alive, just being used to help someone else.

This book follows three teens: Connor, a sixteen year old who has gotten into a few too many fights at school; Risa, a ward of the state who couldn’t be kept because of budget cuts; and Lev, the tenth child of a rich family who feel they need to offer him as a tithe for religious reasons.

Neither Connor nor Risa want to be unwound and do everything they can to escape. If they can just last until they turn 19, they’ll be safe. Lev on the other hand has been raised all his life to believe in his sacrifice, but as he gets to know the others, his mind starts to change.

Critical Evaluation:

This book addresses a very controversial subject in a fascinating and disturbing way. While the idea of harvesting children for body parts is horrifying alone, the book takes it a step further by having Lev meet CyFi who had part of his brain replaced, and now has certain compulsions and does certain things that the kid he received the brain from would have done. CyFi doesn’t want to be a thief or pick-pocket, but a certain portion of his brain does and knows just how to do it. It’s disturbing, and when the reader discovers that that particular piece of brain is confused and doesn’t realize that it’s been unwound is heartbreaking.

The other major part that felt particularly disturbing was when Roland was unwound and the reader finds out that the kids are kept alive as they’re unwound. The descriptions from Roland’s point of view are terrible, especially as he loses his senses but retains his consciousness.

This dystopia novel is a clear warning about the lengths we, as a society, will go when dealing with technicalities rather than moralities.

About the Author:

Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. After spending his junior and senior years of high school at the American School of Mexico City, Neal went on to UC Irvine, where he made his mark on the UCI swim team, and wrote a successful humor column. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal, and was hired to write a movie script.

In the years since, Neal has made his mark as a successful novelist, screenwriter, and television writer. As a full-time writer, he claims to be his own hardest task-master, always at work creating new stories to tell. His books have received many awards from organizations such as the International Reading Association, and the American Library Association, as well as garnering a myriad of state and local awards across the country. Neal's talents range from film directing (two short films he directed won him the coveted CINE Golden Eagle Awards) to writing music and stage plays – including book and lyrical contributions to “American Twistory,” which is currently played in several major cities. He has even tried his hand at creating Games, having developed three successful "How to Host a Mystery" game for teens, as well as seven "How to Host a Murder" games.

As a screen and TV writer, Neal has written for the "Goosebumps" and “Animorphs” TV series, and wrote the Disney Channel Original Movie “Pixel Perfect”. Currently Neal is adapting his novel Everlost as a feature film for Universal Studios.

Wherever Neal goes, he quickly earns a reputation as a storyteller and dynamic speaker. Much of his fiction is traceable back to stories he tells to large audiences of children and teenagers -- such as his novel The Eyes of Kid Midas. As a speaker, Neal is in constant demand at schools and conferences. Degrees in both psychology and drama give Neal a unique approach to writing. Neal's novels always deal with topics that appeal to adults as well as teens, weaving true-to-life characters into sensitive and riveting issues, and binding it all together with a unique and entertaining sense of humor.

-from author’s website-

Justification of Selection:

This is a great dystopia that raises questions about morality and the struggles that teens have to please their parents.