Since I didn't blog this summer, I had a lot of time to read.
And I read A BUNCH.
There's something to be said for having children who are old enough to entertain themselves and get themselves to the bathroom alone when the need arises. I won't give you a review of all the books, but there was one in particular that made me think because the concept was so novel. (Get it?! Novel?) It made me think of a quote I saw on Pinterest awhile back.
Brad (a non-reader) might argue that I couldn't possibly relate to emotions or situations I find in my science fiction/fantasy/dystopian novels I read, but I would disagree...especially in the case of Unwind by Neal Shusterman.
From
WIKIPEDIA (because I can't be bothered to write all of this!):
"Unwind is a 2007 science fiction novel by young adult literature author Neal Shusterman. It takes place in the United States, somewhere in the near future. After a civil war—known as the Second Civil War or the Heartland War—is fought over abortion, a compromise was reached, allowing parents to sign an order for their children between the ages of 13 and 18 years old to be unwound—taken to "harvest camps" and having their body parts harvested for later use. The reasoning was that, since 100% (actually 99.44% taking into account the appendix and "useless" organs) was required to be used, unwinds did not technically "die", because their individual body parts lived on. In addition to unwinding, parents who are unable to raise their children to age thirteen for retroactive abortion have the option to "stork" their child by leaving it on another family's porch. If they don't get caught, the "storked" baby then becomes the other family's responsibility."
It was a fascinating read. Not so much because it was brilliantly well-written (although it was pretty good), but because there were so many facets to think about. "Storking" and "Unwinding" and the "Tithes" that were only born to be unwound and the fact that teenagers were targeted because of the failure of the public education system. One of the protagonists is a 16-year-old boy whose parents have decided he needs to unwound. He seems to be a typical, troubled teen who battles rage and making wise choices and his parents are at their wit's end.
Basically, he's Eli in six years. Not that I can predict the future, but that boy has never taken the easy path. Compliant, patient, calm, wise...those are not words used to describe Eli. There are days I find myself praying to just like him again. I dread his teenage years. For so long I've waited for everything to just "click" with him and it just never does. I've come to realize it's probably going to happen after he leaves my house and goes out into the world. Bummer. And I think his teenage years are going to be super hard.
I found myself wondering, "If I lived in this book, would I unwind Eli?"
I'd like to think that I wouldn't, that our family is better than that, but it still makes me wonder. It doesn't really have anything to do with not loving him enough. I love him fiercely, and I hope no one reading this post thinks otherwise. But what if love wasn't enough? What if I lived within the parameters of the book and the media and my church and society kept telling me that he would be better off unwound? Because that's what happened in the book. The world "needed" those teenagers' parts for other people...to make them whole. What if I didn't have any support? What if "good moms" unwound their children because to have a different child was so vile, so unthinkable, that this is what parents did daily? What if this was the norm? What would I do?
I never did come up with an answer to satisfy myself...mostly because I don't really have to make that choice. But I did enjoy reading the book (and it's sequel,
UNWHOLLY). What I did not enjoy was realizing at the end of the second book that the third wasn't in publication yet! AGGHHH! I have done that enough times that you'd think I'd learn my lesson. Apparently not.
Go read Unwind and Unwholly. That way "you don't have to take my word for it" and I won't sound near as crazy! (And gold stars to anyone who can tell me where that line is from without Googling it!)
