Book Review – UNDIVIDED

UnDivided (Unwind Dystology Series #4)

Neal Shusterman’s UNWIND Dystology (set of four books) has come to a close. UnDivided is a stirringly poetic end to the supremely screwed up, fascinating and nauseating world of “dividing” teens for body parts.

If you haven’t had the privilege of reading the series, read my review here. This series is not only an exciting thrill-ride, but acts as a thought-provoking social commentary:

In the future a war was fought over the concept of abortion. Essentially there were two sides – Pro Life and Pro Choice. Both sides wouldn’t budge on their views and stirred up a holy war that threatened to tear the country apart. To appease both sides, a deal was reached. Abortions were illegal, but between the ages of 13 and 18, a parent could retroactively “Unwind” a child who wasn’t living up to potential. “Unwinding” is essentially harvesting 100% of the body as donor materials. In this way, children never ‘die,’ but simply live on in a divided state. This is the story of three such children marked for unwinding.

This is an excellent choice for your more serious teen reader and adults. It’s easy to fall in love with charismatic, flawed Conner and his quest for freedom. Will he survive? Will he successfully fight to end unwinding? Will he and Risa end up together?  Shusterman is a master of emotion, drawing you deep within the psyche of the bullies, the heroes and the misunderstood rebels of the unwinding revolution. His unique approach of jumping from main characters to secondary, and in some cases, random characters allows the reader a sneak glimpse into other’s perspective. They’re not always thinking what you might expect them to be. It’s hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for the parent who made a horrible, life-ending decision for their child and now lives to regret it. Or to see the past of a horrific bully, and why he is so tortured and treats the world as he does (see my previous review of UNWIND for that one). I was in tears more than once with this series! However, as dour as the circumstances are, we have a pretty happy ending with the series, making the whole thing worth it. I won’t give it away, but I felt satisfied as the series came to a close. It was the best kind of book – poignant and well-written!

I absolutely love this series! Rush out to your library or book store and get it today!