Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Reviewed by Levon T.
Grade 8

Unwind takes place in a not-so far fetched future, where parents can willingly "unwind" troubled teenagers. Unwinding is the cruel process that salvages all valuable parts of the Unwind’s body, and sells them to other people that are in need. Even though the media makes unwinding sound like a friendly alternative to juvenile detention or worse, teens think otherwise. The story begins through the perspectives of Connor, Risa, and Lev, who are all scheduled to be unwound at about the same time. Even though they were going to meet the same fate, their stories couldn’t be more different.

When Connor saw the unwind form that his mother and father signed, he immediately made his plans for escape. The night before the Juvie police arrived, Connor runs off, taking with him only his bare essentials. When a truck driver offers to let Connor ride with him, Connor doesn’t know that his parents were tracking him. When the truck driver tells Connor that his ride was over, Connor does not expect to be confronted by his parents and several Juvie cops. Risa was a child who had always belonged to a State home. Because of extreme budget cuts in the State homes, and a mediocre recital performance, Risa is sent to her unwinding. Lev is a “tithe”, someone who believes that it is his or her duty to God to be unwound. So at his 13th birthday, Lev is taken away from his parents fully willing, to be unwound.

During the confrontation with the Juvie cops, Connor makes a break for it in the middle of an intersection which causes a major car crash. Risa is on the bus to her own unwinding when her entire bus crashes. She too makes a break for it. Lev was on the way to his unwinding too, when Connor rushes toward his car and drags him out of it. After a few more minutes of running and hiding, Connor, Risa, and Lev soon find themselves fugitives from the law. They have to make difficult choices to escape the law, and to keep Lev from escaping.

I thought the story had a very interesting premise, and I really enjoyed the writing style that the author employed in the book. Each chapter was written from the point of view of a different character, and not just the protagonists. Author, Neal Shusterman made the story very engaging, and it was very hard to put this book down.

I would definitely recommend this book to my friends because of the author’s refreshing writing style, and the interesting and thrilling plot.