Study Buddies discussion

July's Alternate Fantasy Selection

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Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Discuss here!

Please warn at the beginning of your post if it contains spoilers so that people can scroll past it.

I just recently read this book after a friend recommended it. (My review is here). I really liked it! I have some discussion questions in mind when you guys start to finish it. :D

Just got started with it this morning. Not sure yet what I think of it. It isn't "sucking" me in, but I cannot say I dislike it.

Hmmm...that's good I guess. :)
Even if you feel meh about the beginning, there is this one scene that is toward the end that's worth reading the entire story to get to that point.

OK- just finished it. It did suck me in. Very good read (I teared up even). Don't have time to discuss it now, but will definitely have some things to say come Monday.

SPOILERS BELOW

Well, a bit late but here we go:

I found it hard to become invested in the story at the beginning. Part of that may be due to my age. I am not sure, because I have not had that problem with many other books consisting of children/teenager lead characters. But, about half-way through I was finally "there".

The outcome of Cy-Ty's travels was so heartbreaking and healing at the same time.

The unwinding scene left me in tears. In fact, thinking about it right now (five days later) is increasing the level of fluids in my eyes!

Throughout the book I had a growing feel for things such as the American slavery underground and the Holocaust. I am certain this was deliberate and it worked well.

The coming together of all the people that received parts from the Admiral's son left me in a puddle. Wow.

I totally agree with you about the unwinding scene, except it was SO scary for me! It seemed so realistic, like it could be happening now and we wouldn't know...

I liked a lot of the arguments that were in the book. Like when the one character that is okay with his impending unwinding says, "I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless."
It's so compelling!

It seemed so far-fetched, but at the same time a little too close for comfort!

What do you think about the logic of the kid I mentioned above? How would you defend it or argue against it?

Samantha: I think the logic is a way to come to terms with what is likely inevitable. It is sad. This logic makes clear that the child has come to put as little value on himself as the people he loved (or society). Not a hard thing to imagine. Even teenagers in loving homes sometimes have terrible self-worth issues.

I would argue against that logic. It is one thing to be a voluntarily donate ones body parts upon death, but entirely another thing to die in order to donate body parts.

Of course you are correct! I would never support something like undwinding, but I think that it's an interesting point for discussion.

Even things that may seemed based in logic (or what seems logical) are irrefutably wrong (ethically)....and it's from the point of that flawed logic that most of the events in this story allowed to unfold.

The society in this book has adopted a compromise that we think would never happen in today's civilized world.

That boy thought so little of himself that he was able to process what what was about to happen to him by using an argument that the rest of that society seemed to take at face-value: that some people are expendable based on what others may think their inherent value is. That the parent's (or state's) desire for the presence of that child is the only reason for them to continue living (at least with their entire body intact). These people are allowed to get away with this heinous crime because they have told themselves that it okay because *insert excuse here*.
(And I'm probably not conveying exactly what I want to say correctly, but I'm trying :) ).

Another point would be how hard it is to change a society's views/practices even when they should know it's wrong....and they are able to sleep at night because they have been told something is "the way it's supposed to be."

On another topic...feel free to jump in if you've read the book! :D

How would you describe THE SCENE toward the end?

Scary, touching, sad, laugh out loud (well, I hope not, but if it was to you then why?), etc....


AND


How did it make you feel?



Mawgojzeta, I know you said it made you cry (it was very emotional, or emotionless depending on how you look at it....)

For me personally, it practically gave me nightmares. I was one of the scariest scenes I've ever read. I've never read anything so sparse on details that actually made my imagination go into overdrive!

Samantha: I have a 17 year old son, so I read it from a maternal viewpoint. My son would have definitely "fit the bill" as a likely unwind (if I died or if the court ordered it). Seriously.

So, as I was reading it, I was thinking of him. And I was thinking of how scared he would be.

And, I was also thinking of the nurse. How competently(and by rote)she keeps him calm. Did she feel any sympathy for him? I kept wanting, as a mother and a woman, to believe she did. Who could do that particular job day after day without crying all the time. I want to believe she had learned a way to repress it, but hasn't really grown cold to it. I want to believe that SHE believes her job is good and important - because in that society, I believe hers might have been the most important one.

Wow, Mawgojzeta, that must have been heart wrenching!! :( I can't even begin to imagine...



As for the nurse, I read it as compassion, but in the moment she has to feel numb on the inside as a coping mechanism because of all she's seen. I mean, at that point she really doesn't have to be nice at all does she, it's not like the kid has a choice, right?

It was tough during the part where he's still aware of whats going on around him, but she walks away.


I read some reviews where some people felt this book had an agenda which was promoting organ transplantation (and they didn't like story at all because of it)...but do you think that was what it was about?


I don't think that is wrong, per se, but I don't think that main message was pro-anything in particular...but rather the larger picture about society in general and human value in relation to that society....the individual vs. the group.

Samantha: I think your last paragraph is right on the spot.