Book Cover
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- Shusterman, N. (2007). Unwind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
PAGES
384
384
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Risa, an orphan who is 15 years old, and lives in the state homes for children, is informed that she is going to be unwound. The state of Ohio is required to send at least 5 percent of children in their care every year to be unwound because they do not have the resources to keep caring for them. While on the bus to what is called a harvest camp, the bus is involved in a major pile up on the freeway killing the bus driver. She takes this opportunity to escape and makes a run for it. She notices a stand-off happening between some juvey-cops and a teenage boy on the road, and realizes that this is what caused the accident. She escapes into the forest on the side of the highway.
Levi, also known as Lev, comes from a very conservative and religious family. He is what is called a tithe. This means that from the very beginning he was designated to be unwound. The religion of his parents teaches that members are to give 10 percent of all they own to God. Lev is his parents tenth child, thus he is the 10 percent tithe of their children. He has lived a life of honor and luxury. He has always known he would be unwound and sees it as a great spiritual honor to give his life to God as a tithe. However, on his way to the harvest camp, they are stopped because of an accident on the freeway. Before Lev knows what is happening he is being pulled from the car and becomes the hostage of a desperate looking teenage boy who drags him into the forest.
Connor, Risa, and Lev go on the run together. Lev struggles with his faith and what he's been taught his whole life and what Connor and Risa tell him that unwinding is wrong and there is nothing religious about it. They all end up in a secret camp for fugitive unwinds in an airplane graveyard in the desert of Arizona run by a retired military man known as the Admiral. Lev joins a group of other teens who are planning to commit an terrorist attack and are sent off for a "job" in Alaska. When there is a rebellion at the camp Connor and Risa help take the Admiral to a hosptial via a helicopter with the help of another teenager, Roland. However, Roland turns Risa and Connor into the juvey-cops in the hopes they will let him off, but they don't. All three are sent to a harvest camp.
Lev is also sent to the same harvest camp, but he has turned himself in as tithe. He is actually there with two others and plan on suicide bombing the facility. Before Lev and his accomplices can carry out their plans Roland, the boy who turned Risa and Connor in, is unwound, and the process is described. Just before Connor is to be unwound Lev's comrades carry out their attack, blowing up the facility. Both Connor and Risa are severely injured, and when Lev sees this he does not kill himself, but instead helps to save Connor and Risa and then turns himself in.
Connor, Risa, and Lev are all saved from being unwound. Lev is placed in a special high security prison and has gained national attention because of his status as a tithe who planned an attack on the facility. Connor and Risa are too badly injured to be considered for unwinding. The two return to the secret camp in Arizona and take over operations from the Admiral who leaves and reconciles with his ex-wife.
MY REVIEW
Unwind is terrifyingly haunting, nightmare inducing, provocative, book. Neal Shusterman addressed an issue that has caused contentious division in the country for decades and he does it spectacularly. Instead of taking a side, he deftly approaches the topic from both sides of the issue and peels back the politics and takes a hard long look at the ramifications of what would happen if one or the other side won. Shusterman apologetically exposes what extremism can lead to and that choosing when life starts, when it's okay to end it, what it means to end a life, can be deeply relative. It is not just black and white, but mostly gray. The characters are just as complex as the issue of pro-choice and pro-life. The internal conflicts of Levi brought one because of his religious upbringing and what he witnesses, the betrayal of Connor by his parents, and the objective uncaring treatment of Risa by the state teach us that it is only a small step from humanity to cruelty and cold apathy. The beauty of the book is that there are no sides, but instead it asks the questions that really matter: Is either side right? Is it worth fighting a war? Is securing the right to life or choose worth killing others for? Is securing the right to life at conception or the right to choose worth allowing the "unwinding" of teenagers? Shusterman has created a book that keeps the heart racing at every turn of the page. The characters are tenacious. The world they live in is cold and unforgiving. I found myself unable to sleep, too disturbed from learning the process of how they unwind a person. The most disturbing part of it all, though, is that Shusterman has created a world that may not be all that fantastical or unreasonable, but a world that could become a reality.
ANNOTATION
Connor, Risa, and Lev are all supposed to get unwound, but they have different plans.
SUMMARY
Several years ago a civil war broke out between the pro-choice and pro-life groups. In an effort to restore peace the government introduced legislation that would offer a compromise. Abortions were made illegal, and life was protected at the moment of conception. However, when a child reaches the ages of 13 to 18 years their parents can have them unwound. To be unwound means to have all of their organs donated to others who may need them. This is justified as not killing, because every part of their body is used and kept alive, thus the child is technically not dead.
Connor, a sixteen year old with a rebellious streak, finds out his parents have signed him over to be unwound. He decides to run away. He finds a truck driver willing to let him hitch a ride, but the authorities, known as juvey-cops, hunt him down by the next morning. Connor daringly runs across a busy freeway and in the process causes a major multi-car pile up on the road, which forces the cops to focus on the injured people.
Levi, also known as Lev, comes from a very conservative and religious family. He is what is called a tithe. This means that from the very beginning he was designated to be unwound. The religion of his parents teaches that members are to give 10 percent of all they own to God. Lev is his parents tenth child, thus he is the 10 percent tithe of their children. He has lived a life of honor and luxury. He has always known he would be unwound and sees it as a great spiritual honor to give his life to God as a tithe. However, on his way to the harvest camp, they are stopped because of an accident on the freeway. Before Lev knows what is happening he is being pulled from the car and becomes the hostage of a desperate looking teenage boy who drags him into the forest.
Connor, Risa, and Lev go on the run together. Lev struggles with his faith and what he's been taught his whole life and what Connor and Risa tell him that unwinding is wrong and there is nothing religious about it. They all end up in a secret camp for fugitive unwinds in an airplane graveyard in the desert of Arizona run by a retired military man known as the Admiral. Lev joins a group of other teens who are planning to commit an terrorist attack and are sent off for a "job" in Alaska. When there is a rebellion at the camp Connor and Risa help take the Admiral to a hosptial via a helicopter with the help of another teenager, Roland. However, Roland turns Risa and Connor into the juvey-cops in the hopes they will let him off, but they don't. All three are sent to a harvest camp.
Lev is also sent to the same harvest camp, but he has turned himself in as tithe. He is actually there with two others and plan on suicide bombing the facility. Before Lev and his accomplices can carry out their plans Roland, the boy who turned Risa and Connor in, is unwound, and the process is described. Just before Connor is to be unwound Lev's comrades carry out their attack, blowing up the facility. Both Connor and Risa are severely injured, and when Lev sees this he does not kill himself, but instead helps to save Connor and Risa and then turns himself in.
Connor, Risa, and Lev are all saved from being unwound. Lev is placed in a special high security prison and has gained national attention because of his status as a tithe who planned an attack on the facility. Connor and Risa are too badly injured to be considered for unwinding. The two return to the secret camp in Arizona and take over operations from the Admiral who leaves and reconciles with his ex-wife.
MY REVIEW
RATING
Quality Rating: Silver
Popularity Rating: Emerald
Quality Rating: Silver
Popularity Rating: Emerald
GENRE & SUB GENRES
Dystopian Fiction
Science Fiction
BOOKTALKING
Connor deals with deep betrayal as he learns that the people who are supposed to love him most plan to unwind him. (Page 5)
This book claims that war is no longer about the issue at hand. It is all about how much one side hates the other.
DISCUSSION POINTS
Is fifteen years enough time for someone to prove themselves and take responsibility for their choices? Even if that responsibility involves being unwound?
How would you feel about receiving unwound body parts in an emergency situation?
How would it feel to find out your parents are planning to unwind you?
Are there any similarities between Unwind and our world today? Differences?
Which main character (Connor, Risa, Lev) do you relate to most?
Would you choose to die or to be unwound? Why?
Would the idea of unwinding seem more appealing to you if you knew it would save someone you loved or would you still find it morally wrong?
Once unwound, do you consider the person dead or alive?
What are the negative consequences of unwinding? Are there any positive? If so, do the positive outweigh the negative? Why or why not?
Science Fiction
APPEAL FACTORS
The book has a dystopian yet very realistic feel about it that gives it a feeling of less fictional and more realistic. The cover immediately informs the read that this book is a thrilling read. The premise on the back sets the dark, almost desperate tone of the book and it's characters. This book is ideal for those who enjoy a disruptive, through provoking story.
Connor deals with deep betrayal as he learns that the people who are supposed to love him most plan to unwind him. (Page 5)
This book claims that war is no longer about the issue at hand. It is all about how much one side hates the other.
DISCUSSION POINTS
Is fifteen years enough time for someone to prove themselves and take responsibility for their choices? Even if that responsibility involves being unwound?
How would you feel about receiving unwound body parts in an emergency situation?
How would it feel to find out your parents are planning to unwind you?
Are there any similarities between Unwind and our world today? Differences?
Which main character (Connor, Risa, Lev) do you relate to most?
Would you choose to die or to be unwound? Why?
Would the idea of unwinding seem more appealing to you if you knew it would save someone you loved or would you still find it morally wrong?
Once unwound, do you consider the person dead or alive?
What are the negative consequences of unwinding? Are there any positive? If so, do the positive outweigh the negative? Why or why not?
WHY THIS BOOK?
This book was on the list of books a friend at work put on the list of books we chose from for the book club at work. I was the only one who voted for the book, because after reading the premise I found myself both afraid and fascinated in it and immediately knew I wanted to read it. Pro-life and pro-choice has been a heatedly debated topic that I have been personally interested in for some time. I had expressed this to my friend, and she lent her copy to me. I was not disappointed.
THE AUTHOR
REVIEWS
SIMILAR TITLES/AUTHORS
AWARDS
Evergreen Teen Book Award (2010)
Sakura Medal for Middle School Book (2009)
Florida Teens Read Nominee (2009)
California Young Readers Medal Nominee for Young Adult (2011)
Gouden Lijst Nominee (2013)
Green Mountain Book Award (2010)
Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2010)
Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for Intermediate (2010)
POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Pro-life and pro-choice debate
- Story of teens being dissected alive
- Couldn't sleep after finishing the chapter about unwinding process
- civil war on reproductive rights
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