Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Imagine for a second that you are a teen living in a world where at any moment your parents or guardians may choose to have you unwound. If you disobey them or are become unwanted in any way, they may sign the papers and have you shipped off to a “harvest camp” where you will be prepped and then taken piece by piece. If you’re born into the right religion you may even have the privilege of being tithed (aka unwound with an honorable connotation). Satisfying both pro-life and pro-choice advocates, the justification of unwinding is that the teens live on within the bodies of the people given their parts. Disturbing? Definitely. Unrealistic? A bit… But this story and the characters brought such life to the idea, that is quickly became real.

The concept behind this book was chilling and you(well at least I was) on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next.You travel through this book with 3 different teen that are set to be unwound. Yes they do go throught what a person is thinking and feeling  going through an unwinding. 

This is one of those book that I will never forget read and it will always stick with me. I am pro-life and this book make you think...what if abortion was illegal. What is a parent(s) did not want the child anymore? 

I recommend that everyone should read this book.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Series: The Giver #1
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 179 
My rating: Save It

This is a great book. I wish everyone would read this book. There is are so many people that are missing out on a great piece of work. Its deceptively simplistic language reveals a rather horrifying dystopian world. Lois Lowry sure is craft with her words and action throughout this book.

This is a world where people are not given freedom to decide anything for themselves - their spouses, children, careers, future, even clothes or haircuts are all pre-planned and pre-selected for them. This futuristic world to me would suck. I sure hope that this is not what the future generations have to look forward to. They are not allowed to even own their feelings and dreams. I cannot imagine having everything in my life set out before me and having no choices..:( Of course, it is done for common good - to preserve peace and serenity, to avoid any disturbance, be that war, hunger, over-population, or simply personal discomfort of pain. Only two people in this community are able to understand what people miss out on. The main character Jonas is one of these people.

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared."

 

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
My rating: Back It Up

I read this book on a whim. It was late before bed and looking for a book to read. I sure did not expect what I received from this 153 page turner.
In the future society of the United States. Is that what we are to expect after what we currently experiencing in our country?
In this story:

Families are only allowed two kids. It's illegal to have anymore than than 3. Luke(the protagonist) is the third child to a strapped farming couple living on the edge of civilization. The family is struggling to make ends meet. For most of his life, Luke's had the run of the back forty, but when a new housing development bring wealthy homes to their neck of the woods, Luke is forced to stay in the attic. He may never go outside again.

Luke watches the new neighborhood from his secret attic lookout. One day he notices a blind flutter on one of the extravagant homes. Without his parents' knowledge, Luke sneaks over to the new neighborhood and meets another shadow child--a girl! She's linked into an underground network of Shadow Children. It is an interesting book.

The authors has the reader wanting more. The reader will be sad, irritated and just pissed off at times throughout this book. I ordered the next 2 books in the series, in which has 7 books in all.

AudioFiles: Legend by Marie Lu

Title:Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend
 Published by: November 29th 2011 by Putnam Juvenile
 Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi 
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am glad that I listened to this one. I heard that in print the text alter every other chapter. This is an interesting book to say the least. The main thing I really like about Legend was the way the traditional gender roles were reversed. I usually find young adult dystopian fiction centers around a strong female character who is generally poor or disadvantaged by the current society. If there's a love interest, he's usually more well off and more integrated into the system. In this novel, and however, it is a male character (Day) a notorious criminal who is the most wanted ciminal by the Republic. and its the female character (June) is an exceptionally gifted prodigy who is being groomed to become a military star.

I wish that in the book they would tell a background story of how and when the Republic and the Colonies breakup. What were the circumstances that caused the conflict. This book was like The Game of Thrones with the reader in the point of the view of June and Day after every chapter.

In this book there is plenty of action and some unique twists throughout this adventure. It was a great beginning of the Legend Series.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
My rating: Save It

Summary:
What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death--and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing

My Thoughts:
 Well... I didn't love this book, I am glad that I picked it up. This book is similar to groundhog's day (the movie)and the movie Mean Girls. We follow Sam as she lives over each day after dying in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. Each day she does something different and does become a better person, which I do think gives young adults ideas on how to be a better person. So I think the lessons in the book are great, but reading about the same day over and over was starting to get on my nervous in the end.

I could not connect with Sam in this book book she was one of those girls that I could not tolerate in high school and she seemed nice, but her actions while she was alive was a different story.I was interested to see how she was doing to change each time that she live the same day. 

You can learn enough from this debut novel from Lauren Oliver.  I treat everyday like it maybe the last day I see my wife and daughter...I try ....boy I try to make sure the last words I say to tell is I love You.

View all my reviews