Scribbled Thoughts: Unwind

Author: Neal Shusterman

Title: Unwind

Genre: Science Fiction

Shusterman, Neal. Unwind. Simon & Schuster, 2009.

Grade Level: 10th - 12th grade

Pages: 335 pages

Unwind is a science fiction novel that follows the perspectives of Connor, Lev, and Risa, who are teens on the run after being handed over to be unwind. They live in a society that has basically deemed it to be lawfully right to be able to turn over children who are troubled, untalented, and or out of place in society in order to be repurposed for body parts. Connor, Lev, and Rise must survive until their 18 years old in order to avoid being unwind.

Possible Teaching Concerns:

This particular book (and series) is very unsettling. This was another book that kept me up at night when I originally read it. There is some language and sexual content in it as well. Teacher should just be aware who picks this up in their classroom. The book also deals with some controversial themes. It is based off of what would happened if the United States when to into Civil War over abortion. The Bill of Life is the compromise that has come from that war. Teachers should know their students. If this is something that they know would stir up unhelpful conversation then they should steer clear of this book.

Personal Reactions:

I think there are a lot of great conversations that this book can bring up. Although I doubt our world would ever get to the point where we would digress as a society to this extent, it definitely is a warning. I think that this book bring up important topics that can relate to our society today. This would be another book that I would probably use in a literature circle. I think I would probably only recommend it to specific students that I felt were mature enough to hand it.

Canonical Work:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a monster that is created by a scientist called Victor. At some point in the story, Victor is able to bring this mass of body parts to life but is then terrified by what he creates. He runs away from the monster and abandons the creature to fend for itself. Later the scientist finds out that his brother was murder and Victor is convinced that this is the monster's doing. The monster then corners Victor and explains why he killed Victor's brother. When Victor asks the monster what he wants, the monster explains that he wishes to have a mate. In the end, Victor fails to create a mate for his monster and dies running away from his own creation. I decided to pair these two works together because I feel that they have a lot of similarity. The story of Frankenstein often deals with themes that surround how we define humanity. We see this question arise in the Unwind series, as these children are a product of their society, yet they are viewed as useless individuals.

Unofficial Unwind Trailer