Peter Tarkoy

Peter Tarkoy
Unwind

Neal Shusterman

Science Fiction

Challenge

Pg 163

1. 
   
   This book is about three kids who are united on their journies because of something called "being unwound". When you are unwound, your body parts are salveged and sent elsewhere for "better" use. Connor, the first character, found out that he was being unwound because his parents thought he was a troublemaker and he wasn't useful in his current state anymore. Risa has no parents and lives in an orphanage. She found out that she was being unwound because the orphanage wanted to save on costs. Lev is another kid, and he is being unwound because of his religion. He was only born so that he could excel in life and then be unwound on his 13th birthday, so he knows he will be unwound. People who are unwound are called "Unwinds", which is a very derogatory term. Connor runs away late at night and uses a truck. The police stop the truck and Connor makes a run for it accross the highway they were stopped on. Risa is on a bus with the Unwinds taken to a camp before you get unwound. The bus has to swerve off the road to avoid Connor running accross the highway. This is where Connor's story and Risa's story first intersect. On the same highway, Lev is in his parents' minivan which also tries to avoid the crash--but doesn't.


2. 
   
   This is one of the best books I've ever read. It interestingly combines science fiction with the story of three kids' lives. I love the structure of the book. In the beginning, before they met each other, each chapter was called "Connor", "Risa", or "Lev". The corresponding chapters were written in the point-of-view of each character. This is how they explained the stories in the beginning. It was very easy to follow. In the later chapters, when they met up, they still alternate the point-of-views, but now they don't change as much, since they are on the same journy anway.


3. 
   
   A theme I have seen in this book is the theme of rejection. I've seen this theme when families reject storked babies (read more in number 4). I've also seen this theme twice were Connor and Risa rejected and sent to be Unwound. I think this personally affected the characters because they had to deal with being rejected, or having to reject a poor soul who was storked. I think this affected Connor's motives, perhaps to try to get back at his parents, since he said he "hates them".


4. 
   
   My favorite character is Lev because he has the most interesting point-of-view chapters. He descibes why he does the things he does. For example, when they were in a neighborhood, Lev took a "storked" baby (a baby left on someone's doorstep) because the same thing had happened to him and his family previously. He talks about the tramautic experience about when his family got "storked" and passed the baby to someone else. I enjoy reading about this.


5. 
   
   My least favorite character is Connor is Connor's father who made a short, but impacting, appearance in the beginning of the book. I dislike him because he is cold and doesn't care that his son is going to die. In fact, he signed the order to have him unwound, which I thought was brutal and cold.


6. 
   
   I predict that they will get caught in the current school they are in and they will try to run. This will in turn attract attention to themselves which is not good.