Unwind

by Neal Shusterman

A.K.A. Book #40!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually finished this book back in early November, but life tends  to get a little crazy around the holiday season and I'm only sitting down to write this review now. Unwind follows three teens who live in a society where parents can choose to have their child "unwound" between the ages of 13 to 18. This process breaks apart every single part of the body to be used as organ donations, which society believes keeps the spirit & soul alive, while the body lives separated. This is actually the second book I have read this year which deals with children being raised for this purpose (the other one being Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go - my very first book of the year). I would say that while Ishiguro's is much more intellectual & slow burning. Unwind, however, is much more of an action story, with three teens who were chosen to be unwound entering the arena to debate the moral and ethical issues of the process. There is fairly good character development among the three main characters, as the reader watches them grow from normal teenagers into those leading a revolution. The book was enjoyable, and a quick read. The only part that really stuck with me though, was a scene in which the reader enters the first person point of view of a teen who is being unwound. His thought process slowly dwindles away into nothingness. It is a truly disturbing scene, but also very necessary in the telling of this story. I view Unwind as the more violent and active counterpart to Never Let Me Go. It makes me feel like I have come full circle this year in my reading, with these two stories acting as bookends.