Unwind by Neal Shusterman- Book Review!

 Unwind by Neal Shusterman - Book Review

Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a YA dystopian novel that is set in an undated future world where the Second Civil War was fought over abortion rights. The war resulted in the “Bill of Life”, which states that life is inviolable from conception to age 13, but parents/legal guardians can 'unwind' their children between ages 13 and 18. If a child is 'unwound', all their organs are transplanted into different donors, so that they are still alive and only in a divided state. The novel follows the story of Connor, Risa, and Lev, all of whom are designated 'unwinds'. Connor Lassiter accidentally finds out his parents plan to unwind him a few months early- they had signed the unwind form because Connor got into fights easily. Risa Ward is an orphan and a ward of the state, but she is condemned to unwinding because she's not talented enough at the piano, and the state home needs to reduce their people. Lev Calder is a tithe, a child born to be unwound. This book is about how these three are running for their life.

**This book review contains spoilers for this book. If you still want to read the review, go ahead. However, I strongly recommend you to read this book before reading my review.**

I first came to know this book through seeing a friend read this novel. The title 'Unwind' and the front cover, as well as the series name 'dystology', projected a very strong image of a sci-fi dystopian world— and the summary at the back told me it was just so. Since I enjoy near-fantasy dystopian books in general (such as Fahrenheit 451 or The Giver), I had some quite high hopes for the book, and it turned out to be absolutely amazing. 

Arguably, the best thing about this book is the world building. Rather than introducing amazing new technologies or vehicles like flying cars or robots, Shusterman focuses heavily on the society and its practice of unwinding while keeping most of the elements of the present world such as cars and buses. This creates an impression of Shusterman's world not being very far away from the present, unlike other dystopian worlds like Brave New World where humans are genetically engineered and mass-produced. However, there are a few new technologies in the book, most notably the Unwinding process which allows every part of a human to be transplanted. Other than that, between each part of the book are little snippets from that world's media, and one of those snippets said that a brain chip that instantly gave kids math knowledge was invented.

One unique thing about this book, however, is that the author Neil Shusterman does not directly support any side, pro-life or pro-choice. In an interview with the author by YA Highway, Shusterman states that “Unwind intentionally does not take a side on any issue”, and that he wanted to “point out the fact that there are two sides on all of these gray-area issues” . Although the protagonists Connor and Risa are strongly against the practice of unwinding, they do not take a side on the pro-choice or pro-life issue. 

Personally, my favorite scene in the book was where Roland, Connor's antagonist and FOIL character, is being unwound. In Roland's perspective, Shusterman details all the chilling sensations that Roland goes through, as his body parts are detached one by one. 

“Left frontal lobe.

I... I... I don't feel so good.

Left occipital lobe.

I... I... I don't remember where. . .

Left parietal lobe.

I... I... I can't remember my name, but . . . but. . .

Right temporal.

. . . but I'm still here.

Right frontal.

I'm still here. . .

Right occipital.

I'm still. . .

Right parietal.

I'm. . .”

(p.226 of Unwind)

A few seconds after reading this part, I realized that Shusterman was essentially giving the readers a glimpse of death, or at least what he thought of it. Although the government officials argue that unwound people still 'live on in a divided state', this scene clearly shows that being unwound, having your limbs and intestines and brain taken away part by part, gives way to death. In this book, death is portrayed as just an absence of consciousness, just as when Roland's eyes were taken away it was “not quite darkness, just an absence of light” (p.225). The scene makes us shudder, but simultaneously makes us deeply question about what death actually is, and what the boundary from life to death is. Is being unwound being dead? If your brain is whole, can you be conscious?If you can, and your brain is split into different parts,

In conclusion, this book is spectacular with its fleshed-out, realistic setting and its skillful handling of many serious concepts such as death, personal rights, and the sanctity of life. I would definitely recommend this book as a fast and enjoyable but also thinking read. 

I would recommend this book for grade 7 and up. 

Rating: I would give this book 4.7/5.