Unwind by Neal Shusterman

The concept of Unwind is enough to draw in any fan of science fiction or dystopian literature. In the near future, following a civil war known as “The Heartland War”, American society has banned abortion and contraception. However, life is only sacred up until the age of 13. When children reach that age their parents can send them to be “unwound”. New technology means that those who are unwound will still technically be alive: just in a “divided state” with their minds and bodies scattered among hundreds of donors. On the bright side, no part goes to waste. On the negative side… well, all of it, really.

Unwind follows Connor, a rebellious teenager who is sentenced to unwinding by his parents, Risa, who grew up in a state home and is being unwound due to budget cuts, and Lev. Lev is a “tithe” – he is being unwound as he is his parents’ tenth child and their religion requires it. Unlike Connor and Risa, Lev is happy to be unwound, at least at first. The book tells the tale of their break from the law and fight for survival in a world that sees them as less than nothing.

There are great things about this book. Unlike many dystopian novels, Unwind explores details about the society that readers would wonder about. For example, Shusterman outlines how medicine has stagnated: why cure diseases when you can just replace the damaged organ with a part from an unwound teenager? He also goes into detail about the inevitable consequences of thousands of unwanted children being born every year, and explores the morality of the society in some depth through the eyes of his characters. You will feel true disgust for anyone who tries to defend unwinding, and empathy with the people suffering as a result of the practice.

Unwind has touches of genuine horror. The reader is teased with the possibility of finding out how unwinding actually happens for as long as possible, and the consequences of the process going wrong are horrifically demonstrated by the plight of one character. The thought of unwinding rapidly goes from a weird sci-fi notion to an authentic fate worse than death.

The book is well structured, maintaining a fast pace and consistent sense of danger. You can feel the oppressive nature of the world in which the book is set. The dialogue fits the age of the characters without becoming annoying or sounding unrealistically mature, and by the end of the novel you feel like they are real people.

Parts of Unwind could be better written. Some descriptions of adult behaviour in particular sound adolescent and jarring, and overall we get very little idea of what the characters look like. At times it feels like the novel could have done with being read once more by an editor. However, this doesn’t happen very often and you are quickly pulled back into the story.

Overall, Unwind is an engaging, suspenseful, and fascinating read. The writing pulls you along with the story and the characters feel organic and real. This novel is well worth reading, and you may even decide to proceed to the other books in the trilogy when you’re done.