Book of the Month: January
So, I think I'm going to do a "book of the month" thing where I post about my favorite book that I read that month. You'll get reviews, why I like it and all that jazz. I'll still post the books I read that month (I think) but this is more of a "Read this because it was fabulous" kind of thing. (Or, at least I hope. If I have a bad month, then I might recommend you don't read it.)
Unwind by Neil Shusterman
Who Recommended it to me: Alex Harrington. We read it for our Review Me Twice blog and I'm glad we did.
Why I like it: Honestly, it addresses a big issue without stepping on any toes. It manages to talk about abortion without it getting nasty or mean but it still manages to make its point. Plus, the writing is fantastic.
My Review: This week, we read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The basic premise goes as follows: There was a big war in America about abortion, and the two sides came to an agreement called the Bill of Life, which decrees that abortions are illegal, but children between the ages of 13 and 18 can be "unwound," which means that 100% of their organs will be harvested and used for transplants, ensuring that they don't "die," but instead "live on in a divided state." This book follows a trio of kids scheduled to be unwound.
The blog I run with Alex affords me the opportunity to read things I would never pick up previously, or never really know about, for that matter. Unwind is something that I probably would never have picked up on my own, but I am eternally grateful that Alex decided we should read it... because it was absolutely fantastic.
Unwind... while it touches on abortion, that's not really what it's about. It's about choices. It's about the person that you are. It's about knowing what is fundamentally right and wrong. During this book, you realize that unwinding is wrong. Shusterman doesn't have to tell me that it's wrong; I can feel it in my gut as I read his words.
Imagine you're sixteen. You have your whole life ahead of you. You have friends, you have a family you love, dreams that you want and things that you want to do in your life. And then your parents can't afford you or they decide you're too much of a trouble maker or even something as simple as they don't like the choices you're making or the future that you might have. You might not have a future anymore.
I have to admit, there is a LOT of commentary in the book about hot topics. Shusterman, for instances, makes a large commentary on the blind ignorance of religion. One of our characters is sent off as a tithe. His parents had ten kids and so Lev was sent off as a "contribution", to give back to the whole. Yet only the extremely religious are ok with unwinding their kids, and not even always then.
It was a commentary on the world as a whole. Unwinding was supposed to be a scare tactic to bring the end to a war. Instead, it ended up being a solution to the end. And some horrible things were agreed to, like the fact that the person being unwound was to be awake during the process.
This book is so powerful and moving and... intense, I can't describe it in a review. I can't describe to you the wonderful writing or the incredibly dynamic characters or how this book will really make you assess your beliefs. Pick this book up. Seriously. What are you still doing here? I told you to go read it, right now.
You haven't left yet.
My Bottom Line: 5/5
If you read it, tell me what you think. It's a great book
Unwind by Neil Shusterman
Who Recommended it to me: Alex Harrington. We read it for our Review Me Twice blog and I'm glad we did.
Why I like it: Honestly, it addresses a big issue without stepping on any toes. It manages to talk about abortion without it getting nasty or mean but it still manages to make its point. Plus, the writing is fantastic.
My Review: This week, we read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The basic premise goes as follows: There was a big war in America about abortion, and the two sides came to an agreement called the Bill of Life, which decrees that abortions are illegal, but children between the ages of 13 and 18 can be "unwound," which means that 100% of their organs will be harvested and used for transplants, ensuring that they don't "die," but instead "live on in a divided state." This book follows a trio of kids scheduled to be unwound.
The blog I run with Alex affords me the opportunity to read things I would never pick up previously, or never really know about, for that matter. Unwind is something that I probably would never have picked up on my own, but I am eternally grateful that Alex decided we should read it... because it was absolutely fantastic.
Unwind... while it touches on abortion, that's not really what it's about. It's about choices. It's about the person that you are. It's about knowing what is fundamentally right and wrong. During this book, you realize that unwinding is wrong. Shusterman doesn't have to tell me that it's wrong; I can feel it in my gut as I read his words.
Imagine you're sixteen. You have your whole life ahead of you. You have friends, you have a family you love, dreams that you want and things that you want to do in your life. And then your parents can't afford you or they decide you're too much of a trouble maker or even something as simple as they don't like the choices you're making or the future that you might have. You might not have a future anymore.
I have to admit, there is a LOT of commentary in the book about hot topics. Shusterman, for instances, makes a large commentary on the blind ignorance of religion. One of our characters is sent off as a tithe. His parents had ten kids and so Lev was sent off as a "contribution", to give back to the whole. Yet only the extremely religious are ok with unwinding their kids, and not even always then.
It was a commentary on the world as a whole. Unwinding was supposed to be a scare tactic to bring the end to a war. Instead, it ended up being a solution to the end. And some horrible things were agreed to, like the fact that the person being unwound was to be awake during the process.
This book is so powerful and moving and... intense, I can't describe it in a review. I can't describe to you the wonderful writing or the incredibly dynamic characters or how this book will really make you assess your beliefs. Pick this book up. Seriously. What are you still doing here? I told you to go read it, right now.
You haven't left yet.
My Bottom Line: 5/5
If you read it, tell me what you think. It's a great book