Unwind (Unwind Dystology Book 1) by Neal Shusterman 2/5

Unwind 

(Unwind Dystology Book 1) 

by Neal Shusterman

2 out of 5 stars

THIS POST IS FOR 18+ ONLY!
SPOILER FREE


To be fair, I am more of a fantasy-reader.

Right now, I'm trying to move into other genres, especially sci-fi.

This supposed relatively decent sci-fi YA came highly recommended.

It's purpose in my shelf is to acquaint me with the sci-fi world to be able to successfully read the Jean Le Flambeur series.

From the start until the end, I wanted to UNWIND this book.

SYNOPSIS

In this post-second-US-civil-war or Heartland Wars U.S.A., "LIFE" is finally defined into a law in the "Bill of Life". It includes the Unwind Accord where no human life will be touched (killed) from conception until that life reaches the age of 13. From 13 to 18 years, the parents or guardians may opt to unwind the life. It is a non-reversible process of cutting up the human bits and distributing it to others, thereby letting the life "live" in a divided state. We follow three characters - literally (via first person POV mainly of the three main characters and a few others). One regular unwind, Connor, who just happened to have parents who do not like him afterall. Another character is a girl, Risa, who is a ward of the state affected by cost-cutting. And, the last is Lev, who is a tithe or a life born to be unwound as a religious offering because it is man's duty to sacrifice for god. Luckily for the kids, Connor decides to run away and encounters Lev and Risa. Connor and Risa are pretty much your love-team while Lev offers a more interesting and complex personality. 

THE PREMISE/WORLD

I find this aspect of the story the most cringe-worthy. Wars are never good. And, this is by far one of the most ridiculous (mind that most real-world wars are ridiculous). 

Why people bother over abortion when there are clearly other more pressing problems in the world (e.g. over-population, unemployment, poverty) is not explained. In this world, the issue of abortion was solved by a war that NO ONE WON. Right. Every war in every world is fought and won. There will always be a victor or there will be chaos. Lucky that an agreement was reached that shows no one had won nor lost. Fantastically, both sides calmed down immediately and peace was restored at the expense of children. 

THE UNWIND ACCORD and SCIENCE

How did this world redefine LIFE? It is through redefining death. A brilliant doctor has figured out how to successfully harvest all bits of the human body  (what was not explained was how the recipient bodies accept these juicy bits). Therefore, the unwinds are not really dead because they can exist as part of other people. This is the cyberpunk bit. How is life defined now that you can be composed of somebody else's bits. Unfortunately, the author doesn't do the best job with the philosophy behind it. I am left unsatisfied that the philosophical discussions ended with "divided state". If the unwinds are really "alive", then the donors would treat the unwind parts very unlike how they would treat fake body bits. Because these arms, legs, lungs, etc. are still "living". How can you call your new hand yours if, by law, the hand really still belonged to the unwound? 

In effect, you should also now be responsible for the life of the unwound bit your received. For example, if I received Conor's hand, then Conor is a part of me. His parents become my parents, his family becomes my family. Because he's frekkin ALIVE as a part of me, hence living in a divided state. There was a scene where this was discussed in a somewhat sloppy way. The characters in this scene immediately agree that the donor/unwound bit was no longer part of the unwound. Instead it's integrated into the being of the recipient. So, the unwound is truly dead? But isn't the unwound supposed to be ALIVE in a DIVIDED STATE?! So, they just murdered someone. 

What about actual murder? Was that not affected at all? Murdering an adult would not get you unwound? Was this discussed in the other books at all? 

There are also some restrictions to unwinding. You cannot be unwound if you are currently injured or is permanently handicapped (e.g. paralysis). I agree. There's no point in harvesting crap organs. But the explanations are very rarely economic.

There's a distinct lack of minorities here. And, of course, there's the legal issues. If one parent is a resident alien, and the child is a dual citizen, would the child still be eligible to be unwound? How about feminist views of the woman's body, etc.? Did all feminists die in the war? Maybe, this is the first thing they did. They gathered all the feminists in a happy camp, where they put them in happy chambers and gassed the lot. Because no advocate of female rights in his/her right mind would agree to this ridiculous and unfair law! What the hell is this book teaching young impressionable minds?!

One of the adult characters in this book had even argued that if there were more organ donors, then the stupid war and the stupid Bill of Life would not have happened. You are truly missing the point here adult-authority-figure-of-sorts. Pro-choice and Pro-life have no thing to do with organs. It's about the right of the female over her own body. It's the access to proper medical care. It's the right of the female sex to rise beyond her ability to carry children. This book is clearly written by a boy. It's unfortunate that it didn't take the opportunity to discuss important issues about suppression of female rights that was right out in the open. All this book had to do was to take it. Instead, it's all about penis important body parts.

THE STORKING INITATIVE

On a good note, I'm glad that the book addressed one of more obvious effects of this bill - unwanted pregnancies. Because you cannot mess with conception, babies are being birthed right and left. The Bill of Life restricts any pre-conception participation such as proper reproductive health care.

I have two points:

POINT 1: With the absence of black market doctors, and that an abortion puts the mother in jail, babies are Storked. The Storking Initiative was drawn up (hastily) in the fashion of the age-old finders-keepers. Mothers can leave their babies anywhere and the person who finds it will be held responsible for the upkeep of the child. I suppose those who gets caught refusing to care for the life is jailed. Infanticide is common but is glossed over by the Storking and is left to interpretation. One of the characters relates an infanticide incident, at least. If this was happening in the suburbs, surely this is a common occurrence. But nobody speaks up. Nobody talks about it. Nobody talks about the mothers. Because mothers aren't important in this world. Only body parts.

POINT 2: Hello, STDs. Due to lack of reproductive health discussions, surely diseases would be everywhere. Mind that there are still poor people and human bits from the unwounds are not free. You have to buy them, pay the doctor, pay the hospital, etc. If you're poor, you probably wouldn't really have access to surgery. There's no way in hell everyone can afford the replacement of body bits to combat AIDS. 

HOW TO GET RICH IN THIS WORLD

This brings me to cheap whores. In a world that doesn't care about female rights, surely there will be plenty. This is especially for the 13 to 18 year old females. Want to know how to start a "flesh" business in this world? 

Here's how:
1) Find female storked babies. It's easy! Merely discreetly let it be known that you are taking care of poor storked female babies. 
2) Store the females in an isolated and idyllic location. Like an abandoned farm house.
2) Start peddling the babies. Yes, there are perverts into babies. They usually cost a lot more.
3) Age 4 to 18. Simply tell the girls that if they don't behave, they will be unwound. 
4) Age 13 to 18. In case of problematic girls or girls nearing the age of 18, make sure to make a deal with the most discrete harvest camp to take the girls off your hands. Do not forget the fake documents. 

I will be very wealthy in this world, living off young females. Mind that the above can also be applied to perverts interested in actually harming the girls. Make sure to charge more. Don't worry. Babies keep getting storked anyways. There is an endless supply of girls for your business.

IN THE END...

This is probably my harshest critique of a book in this blog so far. It's not really the book e.g. writing style, characters, plot. Overall, all the writing bits aren't so bad. There's plenty of action. There is also mystery, suspense, romance, etc. There's plenty to love.
In the end, I hated it for the world it built. I hated it for the things it said through the narrative, the character's actions and words. I hate that the only resistance comes from a deluded old man and a bunch of kids with access to band-aids. More importantly, I hate what it will teach its young readers about a woman's rights to her own body. It hardly gave a voice to the poor girls who are forced to live in a world that had, sadly, become a place for men.

GIRLS, please don't read this book.