Wednesday, March 26, 2008

What I'm Reading Now

UNWIND by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers).


"In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would 'unwind' them."

I read a review of this book in the New York Times Book Review a few weeks ago. It is the kind of book that, if I wrote sci-fi, futuristic novels, I would have loved to have written. Set in some unspecified future after "The Second Civil War, also known as 'The Heartland War'", this is a story that teaches young people to think about matters deeper than name brands or romance - not that there's anything wrong with stories like that, but this is a story about what it means to be a member of society.

Neal Shusterman's writing is beautiful and thoughtful. He creates a futuristic world where i-pods accumulate in antique stores, where blacks are "umber" and whites "sienna", and unwanted infants can be "storked" and unwanted teens "unwound". The main characters, Connor, Risa, and Lev, are people I care about and the minor characters are teenagers I know. I'm about half-way through the book and am totally absorbed in this new world. I can't wait to see how how the story finishes, at the same time, I don't want it to end.


5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I was just trying to edit my comment. That "this post has been removed by the author" sounds so ominous, but I thought it would let me edit it. So...what I said was

    Thanks for sharing. Sounds interesting. I love reading books that you don't want to finish! Have to add this one to my list.

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  3. I was just trying to edit my comment. That "this post has been removed by the author" sounds so ominous, but I thought it would let me edit it. So...what I said was

    Thanks for sharing. Sounds interesting. I love reading books that you don't want to finish! Have to add this one to my list.

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  4. Meg, this sounds like one I should put on my reading list too. BTW, for anyone who's interested in MG fantasy and the Greek Gods, I recently finished The Lighning Thief. Boy, did he do a great job of intertwining the two. Has anyone else read it? Anyway, Meg, thanks for your sci-fi rec.

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  5. Thanks for the recommendation, Meg! I will definitely put it on my reading list.

    Janice, I have been meaning to read The Lightning Thief for some time. It sounds like a great read!

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