YAlit Book Club Discussion - "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman
As per usual, this post will be full of spoilers, so if you haven't read the book and don't want to be spoiled, stop reading!
I literally just finished the book 5 minutes ago, and I am surprised by how great I thought it was. I was worried that I would just be angry the entire time I was reading it, what with the whole concept of unwinding being the result of a pro-life/pro-choice "compromise." But I found myself riveted throughout the entire book. I couldn't stop reading it. I don't think I have ever read a book that has been so disturbing that it made me feel physically sick to my stomach, but that's exactly how I felt while I was reading the Unwinding scene. It was morbid and terrifying, and just plain haunting. It's definitely not a light read, but it was very well written, and it was just really good to me.
Did anyone else read it? What'd you think?
This is one of my favorite books out there. I normally don't like books written in the third person present tense, but this is the one exception. Plus fuck yeah it's gonna be a trilogy!
I liked it, I was kept pretty entertained throughout the whole book. I loved the way he handled the Admiral's son 'being put back together'. It was a little unnerving hearing each part of him speak up, though, made me imagine what it would be like to be someone similar to CyFi and have to deal with someone else's mannerisms constantly in your head/heart/arm/leg/whatever.
I was thinking about 'getting rid of the unwanted' and couldn't decide if I was unwanted, whether or not I would rather be killed or unwound. What do you guys think?
I felt much like you did. It took me a bit to get into the book because I couldn't quite wrap my mind around unwinding enough to make it really believable. But then the story becomes so compelling I began to not care if it didn't really make sense to me. And yes, that unwinding scene was hard to read!
This book was awesome, I'm glad there's more coming.
It was hard to get into at first. Cool premise but the whole first part when Connor/Lev/Rita meet and escape dragged on a bit.
It got really good after that though. The unwinding scene was... mind blowing. It is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever read.
Who else had to stop and take a mental breather after Roland's unwinding?
