Holden's Bookshelf: Unwind

Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

Genre: Science Fiction with horror elements.

Content Rating: PG, mostly for said horror elements and for some violence.

Synopsis: It was called the Bill Of Life. Meant as a dark joke to silence the growing noise of the pro-life/pro-choice debate, the darker joke was that it was taken seriously. The Bill Of Life set forth the process known as Unwinding, which is thus:
Though abortion was we know it is illegal, at any time between a child's birth and their 18th birthday, they may, with the proper paperwork from their parents or legal guardians, be "unwound." The child/infant/teenager being unwound has no say in the matter, and once the paperwork is signed the decision cannot be changed. Unwinding is a surgical procedure wherein the body is systematically disassembled, with the resulting pieces and elements to be used as donor material. No part is wasted--blood, skin, hair, bone, and organs are all harvested. By law, the patient being unwound must remain awake and conscious for as long as is medically possible during the procedure (right up until the dissection of the brain, in fact), so that in this way, there is no definite point at which they are able to be declared "dead." Once they have turned 18, however, and are recognized as an adult by the state, performing an unwinding procedure on someone becomes illegal.
Connor is a problem child whose parents have grown sick of dealing with him. Risa is a ward of the state whose home has decided to do some unwindings in response to large budget cuts. Lev was born into a sort of cult whose large families tradtionally have one of their children unwound as an act of charity to those that would need the donor parts. All three have escaped, and by happenstance found each other. If they can learn to get along and dodge the police, all they have to do is survive to age 18...

Characters: The three disparate characters are based in ages-old archetypes, but Mr. Shusterman manages to write them extremely well, proving that this can still be a useful characterization device. Connor for example is brawny, impulsive, and extremely hotheaded--as a result, he's useful as the group's fighter but needs to learn more self-control. Risa forms the heart and voice of reason, and Lev initially seems near-useless, someone they're all but dragging around, but eventually comes unto his own in a shocking but very satisfying way. It's also good to note that the voices for the characters are well-penned. These are teenagers and they think and sound like such, which can be very tricky to write. They are not miniature adults, but they're not treated as kids either.
One minor character, however, I have to call out. Cyrus Finch--who goes by the nickname CyFi--broke my suspension of disbelief with his condition. He has part of an unwound kid's brain, and as a result has sort of a split personality in which he occasionally takes on aspects of that kid. Somehow I just couldn't buy that.
Cyrus aside, though, very well-done.
Character Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Story: Fitting for a plot that's basically a very extended chase, the action keeps up a steady pace. There's kind of a lull about halfway through in which the chase comes to a temporary halt and the group's been seperated a bit, and it does take a bit of time to recover from that. But apart from that it's pretty well-paced and the character development is slow enough to feel organic.
Story Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Handling of Themes: Obviously, the pro-life/pro-choice topic is a delicate issue, and is an especially weighty subject for a young-adult novel (yep, this is more young adult fiction right here. Don't worry, the novels are coming soon), so a misstep will leave a very bad taste in one's mouth. Fortunately, I can't see that Mr. Shusterman misstepped, which would have happened if he tried to voice a particular side strongly. While the book does maintain a very slight pro-life bent, he does an admirable job at keeping it balanced and not trying to act as a megaphone on the issue--appropriate since the Bill Of Life itself was meant to satisfy both sides on frightening terms. The book is less about trying to champion a specific view on the issue anyway, and is more about getting the reader to think about it as a whole.
Theme-Handling Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Overall: Unwind gets another 4.5 out of 5, overall. I said back when I reviewed Feed that the quality of thought-provoking young adult lit out there has been skyrocketing in the last few years, and this is definitely more proof of that.

[Holden Out.]