Following a second US civil war between the pro-choicers and the pro-lifers, the process of “unwinding” has been legalized, in which a child’s body parts are harvested for others to use. Parents may opt their child up for unwinding between the ages of 13 and 18, and because their body is fully used, they are considered not dead but alive in another form. Unwind follows three teens, Connor, Lev, and Risa, who are all put up for unwinding for different reasons. As they try to run away from choices they didn’t make, they find their paths to cross, uncross, and cross again. In this futuristic society, every choice matters, and one wrong choice may end with them gone.
Shusterman does really well with traversing around a controversial topic and making it digestible for younger readers. I almost wish he included more personal commentary as the author, but the absence of his personal ideas allows readers to interpret the story without bias and come to their own conclusions. If anything, his commentary lies under the plot line, which includes tiny twists and turns that are easy to overlook. Although written in the third person, the narrative is followed by often-changing focuses on different characters, but I found that as a bonus, emphasizing the entanglement of the characters and making the reading experience altogether easier. If you like dystopias, this book will get you thinking, and it’s also a great introduction for younger readers to the controversial topic at hand, spun into an engaging story.