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| Unwind | 
 enlarge | List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.82
You Save: $7.17 (42%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 26 reviews)
Sales Rank: 9069
Category: Book
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Studio: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Label: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416912045
EAN: 9781416912040
ASIN: 1416912045
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until theireighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away. In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
Unwind -- Amazing Book September 27, 2008
Connor, Risa and Lev come from different places and sittuations, but they're all united when it comes to being Unwinds. This book takes you to a future where life becomes less valuable and new rules are stated, and these three kids more grow, and try to survive, through a society that has marked them for life (or atleast until they're 18).
Neal Shusterman's book has become one fo my favorites, I really didn't want it to end, I cared too much about the characters. This is a story that will be hard to forget and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Great Read September 26, 2008
I read this book because it was recommended to me by Amazon after I bought a different book. After reading the summary provided I thought it seemed interesting and picked it up from the library. The book begins with a teenage boy, Connor, discovering his parents have signed the papers to have him unwound. This new concept of unwinding is that a person's entire body is harvested and the parts given to those that need them. The law states that the entire body must be used, no parts thrown away. The reader is thrust into a shocking future world where the outcome of a war over a single issue left no winners. The solution to the war was not meant to be a solution, but in the end, wanting the war to be over, the people embraced unwinding and soon the demand grew until it was as if there was never a time before unwinding. Neal Shusterman keeps the reader spellbound with every page using the views of different characters to show the effects of this new world. It does not seem like a young adult book even though the characters are teenagers. It draws the reader in and does not let go. I would recommend this book for high schoolers, probably juniors and seniors. The social problems confronted in the book and the horrific idea of unwinding are for a more mature young adult reader. There is a heart-wrenching scene in which unwinding is described by someone going through the process. It is a chilling but captivating book that will keep the mind racing long after it is finished.
A Great Book! September 13, 2008
This book is a great story of the future where there is less doctors and more surgeons. Why? Unwinding. After the Heartland War, where there was a disagreement about abortion, they proposed unwinding: when a teen comes to a certain age, they can be "unwound" or salvaged for body parts. A couple of decades later comes Connor, a disruptive boy who is being unwound, and he goes AWOL, or escapes. By fate or luck, he meets Risa, who is being unwound to cut orphanage costs, and Lev, a tithe being unwound for religion. They go on a journey and meet strange, bullying, and suprising characters, discover shocking facts about the secrets behind unwinding and tithing, and hidden safe-havens in which they are hiding as they try to live to 18yrs old to escape their doom.
Wow September 7, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Seriously, wow.
All too often, YA books are short, with watered down plots and weak, uninteresting characters. This isn't. It's YA, but highly intelligent, well written, with a shocking premise and gripping plot. It pulled me in from the first sentence and still hasn't let go.
The idea of banning abortion and instead retroactively getting rid of unwanted teenagers by using them as body donors may seem far-fetched, but the explanations given make sense. More than that, once you're told about the civil war between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice activists and how the idea of Unwinding came about, it becomes all-too believable. How these kids deal with the fact that they're slated for Unwinding is likewise realistic and haunting.
Beyond having a strong plot and realistic characters, the author's writing style is flawless. I was halfway through the book before I realized that it's written in present tense--a rare, risky choice, but one that paid off. He foreshadows excellently, and almost everything has a purpose. Details that you might think are mentioned only to give shape and character to the world actually play a part in the story, in fact are vital components.
I've found myself a new favorite author in Neal Shusterman.
Shockingly Good August 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Imagine life in the future. The Second Civil War, also known as "The Heartland War" has been fought and eventually resolved by certain constitutional amendments known as "The Bill of Life." So while human life may not be touched from conception until the age of thirteen, a child may be retroactively aborted between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. This process, known as "unwinding" doesn't technically end life, but separates all the body parts to be used for medical transplants. In this futuristic society, unwinding alters the meaning of life.
Unwinding is the fate set for three teens that meet by chance. Connor has always been a troublemaker, and his parents have finally had enough. Risa is a ward of the state, and budget cuts have forced Risa into this situation. Lev is the only one of the three who doesn't see unwinding as a terrible thing; rather, as a tithe, he accepts that being unwound is his purpose in life. In a deadly car crash, these teens escape the fate that awaits them at harvest camps and flee for their lives (although Lev is more of a kidnappee). In this incredible and thought-provoking novel, Neal Shusterman questions what it means to be human and the value of life.
Unwind may see like just a unique action novel, but it is so much more. The desperation, danger, and running-for-your-life sequences may thrill the action lover, but the story is more profound than that. It was actually quite difficult for me to read this novel because of the horrible atrocity called unwinding. Half the time, I couldn't even believe how inhuman some of the characters were to commit these morally wrong acts. What relieved me, though, was that for every bad thing, there was something good; the random acts of kindness strangers performed for the fugitives sometimes brought tears to my eyes. This novel revolves around the controversial topic of the pro-life/pro-choice debate, because it focuses on the sacredness of life. However, Shusterman does not take the topic from a religious or scientific perspective, but bases this book around moral everyone should have: everyone deserves the right to live and not just in the scientific sense that all your body parts are functioning, but living as a whole. All this was channeled into the lives of runaways who were slated to be unwound in this unforgettable story.
I can't really explain how amazing this novel was; you'll just have to read it for yourself to understand. Just know that although most of the novel was pretty depressing, the story ends on a hopeful note. Fans of The Host by Stephenie Meyer, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, and Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer will also enjoy this novel.
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