Unwind

Unwind is a very engaging, thrilling, and exciting novel to read. So far, I think that the most interesting part of Unwind is the setting it takes place in: A dystopian world where children can be retroactively aborted between the ages of 13-18 by a process known as "unwinding", where the child still lives--just in a "divided state". I think it is honestly a bit odd, the whole pro-life and pro-choice war stuff, but it really makes for an exciting setting. I like the characters in the novel so far as well, especially Conner. There is just something about Conner that makes him do stupid shit; he routinely short-circuits his brain and decides to do something like "save" the tithe, Lev, or take on a storked baby while the police are watching to see if Conner and crew get on a bus. I think that this text tries to position genders as pretty equal--Rissa is an extremely quick witted individual who is absolutely necessary for the success of the group.

I think that this text positions adolescents in a very strong position. After all, you have to be strong when the whole world is out to get you. Unwinding someone seems like a very unpleasant thing to do and at least some of the characters will stop at nothing to be able to stop themselves from ending up unwound. This text may even position adolescents in a stronger way than they actually are in reality. The events that these young adults go through are staggering, and it seems as though luck is the only reason that they are able to get by sometimes. This extra strong positioning likely has something to do with the fact that the novel is a dystopian text as well.

Overall, I absolutely love this book. I think that it is my favorite book that we have read this semester and I can't wait to finish the book. I would absolutely give this book a rating of A+. I honestly don't know how I have never heard of this book before, because it is such an incredible book. I think that while the idea for the plot is weird, it manages to manifest itself in such a way that it is extremely exciting to read about. It reminds me a lot of the movie "The Island", where there are a bunch of clones of people that are living on this island only so that they can be harvested for organs when their genetic counter-parts succumb to disease or injury. I would very much be interested in reading more novels like this, and I think that you should include more dystopian texts like this into your curriculum, and not books like Feed, because Feed was lame.