Everyone likes to unwind, to go back to their happy place. In the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman unwind is a deadly term where there’s no going back to fix mistakes, only running for the right to live. Unwinding happened after the second Heartland War and the Bill of Life. Unwinding is taking apart the body and neurografting into another person, this happens when parents aren’t happy with their child or have a child at a young age instead of aborting it. Unwinding takes place in the near future.“On one side, people were murduring abortion doctors to protect the right to life, while on the other side, people were getting pregnant just to sell their foetal tissue”(223).This is where we find Risa, a fifteen year old girl who lives in a state home after being storked as a baby. “Risa often wondered-to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted, or to silently make them go away before they were born?”(115). Farther away is Connor, a sixteen year old boy who holds  bright forms to his own unwinding and three tickets to a vacation, not four tickets, just three. Connor doesn’t know someone unexpected will join him and his stubborn attitude on a fight for survival and right to life. Dancing and singing among people is a smiling thirteen year old boy, Lev, he’s happy, surrounded by family, knowing about his unwinding, and continues to smile. This dystopian novel is an attention grabbing book filled with questions and mysteries it’s a must read. It’s filled with adventure, challenges, and sacrifice. Unwind is a book that makes you think about your own personal choices, rights and sacrifices, deserving four stars out of five!

“From the moment his parents signed those papers, Connor was alone”(10). “Everyone was so happy to end the war, no one cared about the consequences”(224). Connor knew the consequences, though he didn’t accept them. Unwinding Connor doesn’t accept, society has different opinions for the one term and Connor disliked it. Society is broken in his eyes, mixed up, confused. “Unwinds exist in the constant shadow of betrayal”(84).”It’s comforting to know there are others in the same situation, but troubling to think her own life is just one of thousand pirate copies”(176). Risa never expected to be one of thousands of kids to be unwound. Unwinding is wrong to her, there may be good things from unwinding but in her eyes it was cold blooded murdure. Lev’s different, he’s excited about being unwound, it’s part of his religion, never thinking that unwinding was wrong, he needed to be. These different perspectives help the reader think about the text and understand what the background is in the book, this gets the reader to gain certain emotions to the book and what's happening. 

Some people say it’s murder and cruel to be kept awake during the process.

Society has 3 different sides. Some people are mad and against it, others think this torture is worth it. Society sees it as not dying just parts of them spread out. This makes  them believe unwinding makes good changes for society saving lives by taking apart bodies and passing it to others. “If it wasn’t for unwinding, there’d be bald guys again-wouldn't that be horrible?”(168). This way they think society looks better. “Because Unwinds aren’t really dead. They’re still alive...sort of”(167). However some society are in the middle, confused, and frustrated. They don’t know what to believe, is it bad or good? Does it save lives or end innocent ones? Confused they go along with how the government works, trying to do the right thing even if they don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong. With different views in the society,  readers can get more information about the theme and text or what the author was trying to communicate, leaving readers to think about the difference between right and wrong.

This book is great for all readers, containing many different points and memories connected to our own lives in society, it may be a dystopian novel but for readers they will think about reality. I strongly suggest this book to all readers out there looking for mystery and answers with different choices to make and a book to enjoy.