Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Shusterman, Neal. Unwind. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2007.


Summary: Unwind follows Connor, Risa and Lev as they seek to escape their unwinding by surviving until their eighteenth birthdays.  After the second civil war in America, the Heartland War, expecting parents are no longer allowed to abort unborn babies.  Once the child turns thirteen and before they turn eighteen, however, parents can choose to have their child unwound.  In this process, the child is dismantled alive and their parts are given to others in need of transplants.  Connor is a troubled teen whose parents have chosen to have him unwound.  Before he is taken to the harvest camp, however, he escapes in glorious fashion taking the state home teen Risa and the tithe Lev with him.  Rise is being unwound because there is no more room in the state home for her and Lev is willingly being unwound for religious reasons.  Connor and Risa get separated from Lev, but the three eventually make it to the same AWOL camp under the command of the Admiral.  From there, things get dicey and Connor and Risa end up in a harvest camp after a revolt at the AWOL camp.  Lev's take on unwinding has drastically changed and he seeks revenge on those who would have kids unwound.  The three make waves when they eventually escape unwinding, taking down a harvest camp with them.


Dystopia: In Unwind, Neal Shusterman takes on many topics of debate in modern times.  Abortion, organ donation and other topics all come up.  In this story, like The Giver, there is a government in place with policies that seem radical to the reader.  There are also the revolutionaries in this novel.  While Jonas sought to change things in his home, Connor, Risa and Lev seek to escape the fate they feel has been unjustly thrust upon them.  Unwind is slightly different from other dystopia texts because of its lack of a perceived utopia.  In many novels, like The Giver, the people of the society believe that their government is perfect or are at least forced to act as such.  In Unwind, however, there is clear dissent against the practice of unwinding, and there are many AWOL unwinds.  In 1984, Brave New World, and The Giver, it is just one or two citizens who come across some knowledge that causes them to question their government.  The story in Unwind takes place shortly after the Heartland War, so the people of this society have not come to fully accept the unwind policy and can remember the way things were before the war.  Also, the America in this novel seems to still be democratic based on clues given, although Shusterman never explicitly states this is so.  Therefore this novel veers from the traditional dystopia, but perhaps becomes more effective because it deals with issues so prevalent and so touchy in today's time that it becomes more relevant.


Again, the biggest connection in this text to the others is the concept of choice.  Is it right for the parents to be able to choose to have their children unwound?  Should abortion and unwinding even be matters of choice?  Also, the soul is a recurring topic in this novel that is dealt with interestingly.  When a child is unwound, it is unknown whether he/she keeps his/her soul.  Does it die?  Does it spread out with all the physical parts?  In many religions, the soul and the ability to choose are what set humans apart from other animals, and these ideas are connected in this novel as well.  What further sets Unwind apart is its lack of any real answers to these questions.  The novel ends with Connor receiving transplants to replace his arm and his eye.  Risa, however, refuses to receive transplants from unwinds and will be paralyzed the rest of her life.  There is also a scene where the Admiral gathers all the people who have gotten transplants from his son, and it appears that the soul of the unwound still remains.  Shusterman carefully dodges taking any sides in this novel, which may or may not be for the better.  The novel is thought provoking, but often the best way to mould opinions is to present an argument and let the reader choose for his/herself.  Shusterman beats around the bush and loses a lot of force, I think, in doing so.  That being said, there are very touchy issues in this novel, and I do think that he did a good job of setting up a world in which these radical things are possible, and giving believable characters for these things to happen to.  I know what his characters believe, and I see how terrible the things are that they go through, I just think the ending lacks resolution that it needs.  


I would recommend this book to students, but it would come with a caution.  It does get somewhat graphic in parts, and the topics could spark strong emotions in some readers.  This is not a bad thing, it is just nice to have a warning.  Also, I do not find the book to be a quality piece of writing.  This is me being snobby, but I find it poorly written.  There are errors throughout, it seems far too long to me, and the plot twists and turns in ways that cease to be exciting and become annoying instead.  Also, the POV become very distracting when Shusterman switches from person to person and verb tense to verb tense.  This aside and off my chest, I did actually enjoy Unwind once I forced myself to look past its flaws, and I give a nod to Shusterman for taking on the issues here.  I feel that students who are less prone to look for technical errors, and more prone to look for an engaging read at their level will enjoy this book and take something valuable away from reading it.


-Zach O

Dys