Unwind Book Review

Unwind, a science fiction novel by Neil Shusterman reveals a horrific alternate reality where parents can 'unwind' their children (between ages 13 and 18); surgically remove their body parts and donate them, without actually killing the teenager. It takes place in the United States, but the state is not specified. Unwinding was made legal after something called the Heartland War. Two sides were arguing about whether parents could kill their children if they were unable to care for them, or didn't want them. The war ended with a compromise, called unwinding. The child's body parts are taken apart and given to different people. They dissect all the different parts of the brain, everything. Its pretty creepy, they actually describe it at one point. This guy, Roland, gets unwound, and they numb him so he loses feeling in his feet, then his legs, then his abdomen, etc. and just take his body apart. Theres a nurse who just keeps talking to him, until she says "okay, we cant talk anymore" and then his jaw goes numb. its really freaky.

My favorite character, for some odd reason, was Lev's brother Marcus. he's got such a small part, but i think he deserves a special mention. Lev is a tithe, basically a person who was raised specifically to be unwound. Tithing is a really old term, way back in the medieval times and such. it means giving one tenth of your income to the church. You could give money, but alot of people would give livestock, crops, etc. In unwind, a tithe isn't unnecessarily one tenth of anything, and they aren't really going to the church. except Lev is. Hes the tenth child in his family, which his parents tell him makes him even more 'special'. So, back to Marcus, he says something like this during his toast to Lev; " I guess its good you had ten kids, mom, otherwise we woulda had to cut Lev in half!" ahahahaha. i did actually laugh at that part, even though really its just sad. but the really freaky thing about tithes is that they like being what they are. Their parents are these freaky religious wackos who raise their kids to believe that they were chosen by god to donate their body parts. ewwwwwww. they throw a big party for them when they turn thirteen, which is where Marcus gives his speech. Like Marcus so eloquently points out, its a BIG DAMN PARTY, cause they have to roll in all the birthday parties, funerals, etc. that the kid's gonna miss. Its like attending you're own funeral, but everyone congratulates you on dying. Its freaky also because I'm pretty religious, in my own way( not freaky religious like Lev's parents, or anything), but its a horrible idea for me to imagine my parents donating my body parts to their church. My other favorite character was Cy-Fy. He got a temporal lobe from some kleptomaniac kid, and even though he's a law abiding citizen and all that, he has random urges to steal stuff. He doesn't really know what he's doing, all he gets is these urges that aren't his, and he cant help but act on them.

I think the main purpose of the book is to entertain, but also to make the reader think. i know my parents wouldn't every do anything to me as horrible as unwinding, but still: "everyone knew an unwind order was irreversible, so screaming and fighting wouldn't change a thing. Besides, he found a certain power in knowing his parent's secret. Now the blows he could deal them were so much more effective. Like the day he brought flowers home for his mother and she cried for hours. Like the B-plus he brought home on a science test. Best grade he ever got in science. He handed it to his father, who looked at it, the color draining from his face. "See, Dad, my grades are getting better. I could even bring my science grade up to an A by the end of the semester. An hour later his father was sitting in a chair, still clutching the test in his hand, and staring blankly at the wall." and then this one: "He's going to tell me now, Connor thinks. He's going to tell me they're unwinding me, and then break down in tears, going on and on about how sorry he is about it all. If he does, Connor just might accept the apology. He might even forgive him, and then tell him he doesn't plan to be here when the Juvey-cops come to take him away. But in the end all his father says is "Did you lock the door when you came in?" pg. 7. Its really hard for me to imagine being unwound, simply because my parents were tired of me, but at the same time, easy. I piss my parents off just as much as anybody, and i think maybe, if Unwinding was possible, in just a second of complete weakness, they would think about it. But only for a second. Its amazing, the thought of a parent essentially wiping their kid off the face of the earth because they were too hard to take care of.

The one thing i didn't really like about the book was how the author didn't really describe things clearly. Even exactly what unwinding is is never clearly described. And the clappers? oh god. They were a great plot point, but it was infuriating how you didn't find out what they really were until the end. So first, Connor and Risa pretend to be clappers, and its just a little confusing. all they do is clap and people are like "AHHHHHHHHH RUN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSS." Then, Connor tries to prove to the old lady that he's not actually a clapper by punching a wall and says "See? if my body was explosive we'd be gone..." Or something along those lines. well, okay. that makes a little more sense. Then theres a little discussion somewhere about clappers and why they do whatever they do. (which we don't really know.) people suggest that "they're part of some kind of weird religion, or that they just do it for fun." confusing, yeah. Then finally, Lev and his freaky 'friends' uncover the truth about clappers. They inject explosive crap into their bloodstream. Then, when they clap, or hit walls or do anything forceful, they explode. And blow up whatever is around them. In Lev's case, he wanted to sabotage the harvest camp thing where they take children apart. its a worthy cause, in my opinion. But apart from that, we still don't really know why clappers do what they do. And thus, the elusive clappers still remain...a mystery. The End.