Unwind - Neal Shusterman

[goodreads]

Title: Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 2
# pages: 335
Date read: December, 2013

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

Deciding what to rate this book was more than a little difficult. I didn't dislike it, it wasn't okay, and I didn't like it either... so what's left? The first 50'ish chapters were fine. Nothing special, but an okay dystopian YA novel. Had it continued like that, I would probably have thought it a solid 3-star book. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a decent enough book.

But then part 6 happened... and more importantly, chapter 61 happened. I cannot remember ever before having had such a visceral response to a book. It was like reading a nightmare. It was a trainwreck that I wanted to look away from, because it made me feel physically and mentally sick, but where I just couldn't. Even now I shudder (literally) to think about it. If I had read this as a teen I would have had nightmares about it.

Obviously it takes really amazing writing to make me react that strongly, which should result in 5 stars... 4 at least - but at the same time I absolutely despised what I was reading... so that's a 1.

At the end my feeling of disgust surpassed my awe at his writing, so 2 stars it is. And I have NO idea whether or not I'll read the sequel as well. I'm thinking that he can't shock me like that twice... but on the other hand, I don't want to find out if I am wrong.