Random Rant Thursday : The Dystopian Obsession

Lately, I have been reading a lot of Dystopian novels and it has me thinking, why exactly do I like reading them so much? Is it the utter hopelessness of the society that does nothing but make you want a hero to rise from the ashes and fix it all? Maybe. Is it the fact that society has been brought so low that baser instincts for human survival are the only thing we, as a society can focus on? Probably. Is it the fact that the worlds have been developed in such a way that we can see the path our society would have to take in order to get there and all the governing principles seem probable? Definitely!

Its strange. I enjoy reading about a hero who, despite all odds, can rise up and defeat an entire society. It interesting to read about the following they receive along the way, the things they learn about themselves. I love the way that despite whatever happened with the world, the appearance of this one character can eventually make everything okay.

I also like reading about the fights, the fact that society no longer focuses on shopping and partying (though at times those are elements of the stories) but instead it focuses on the acquisition of food, water, air, and just attempting to live. However, those arent the things I like the most about dystopians. It's the fact that the world, despite everything, has been brought to it's knees by the stupid actions of us as a society, and I can see how we could get there. It's the corruption, and greed of people in our world who I can see using destruction as a means to gain more power over us. It's the fact that, in order to keep that power, those governing bodies will do anything to keep society weak and make themselves stronger. I love reading it because it's so horrible, but I can see it happening.

In my opinion, everyone has a bit of bad in them, even if it's just the hate we feel for the truly horrible people. Everyone seeks power in some way, even if it's just seeking the power to overcome obstacles. It's for that reason that we can see society advancing to dystopian levels. We can understand that people have varying levels of power and evil, and sometimes, despite the purest efforts, those people can take something that's perfect and turn it into something horrible, and I love reading about that.

Though dystopians are often lessons taken to the extreme, and thus do not necessarily compare to our world, I like to use the lessons I learn, and the things I read about when forming opinions in my own world, and I hope that enough people read the books that we can eventually prevent something similar happening in the future.

What do you think? Do you like Dystopians? Why? Let me know your thoughts on this topic.

Review: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Book: Unwind (Unwind Trilogy #1)
By: Neal Shusterman
Published: November 6, 2007
Published By: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Description: Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My Thoughts: Unwind was a dystopian that I absolutely loved. It was creative and thought provoking and just all around great!!!

Unwind is told from multiple POV's, but the main characters are Connor, Risa, and Lev. All of their circumstances differ severely but through an interesting sequence of events, they join together (or so it seems) The idea in this book is that the Pro Choice and Pro Life groups began to fight with each other in a war. As a result, abortions are no longer legal. Instead, once the child reaches the age of 13 the parent has 5 years to decide whether or not they want to have them "unwound" a process by which your body is basically separated and used as parts and transplants for other people. In theory, you are never actually killed, you just exist in other forms.

Connor is a kid who messes up a lot. He doesn't do well in school and generally gives his parents a tough time. After he finds out of his parents plans to have him unwound, he sets of a crazy chain of events that cause him to meet our other main characters. Keep in mind that NOTHING in this book is arbitrary. It all happens for a reason and builds and builds and builds until there's nothing left for it to do but explode all over the place.

Risa is a ward of the state. She has been living in a state home, and is a pretty decent individual. She gets fairly good grades, plays classical piano, does well taking care of kids, but isn't spectacular in any real way. It's for this reason that she is sent to be unwound. After all, the state homes can't keep EVERY ward of the state can they? They'd be over run eventually, and for that reason, they only keep the remarkable ones.

Lev is a tithe. Apparently, since the bible says you need to tithe 10% of everything you own, which in some people's eyes include 10% of your kids. Since Lev is the 10th kid of his family, he is nominated to be tithed before he is even born. He grows up thinking it's an honor and its wonderful and all that. He is planned to be unwound following his 13th birthday.

These three characters collide by Connor's actions and soon the book "unwinds" (pun intended) into a stream of issues and stories and generally brain scratching ideals that will have you believing this could actually happen. Neal Shusterman leaves no topic untouched. What happens to the mothers who don't want their kids or have them through rape, etc? They are "storked" (left on peoples doorsteps for others to legally own or dropped at the state homes. Even the idea of people who get the unwound parts and whether or not the spirit of the original owner still resides in those parts is touched.

Untouched is a wild ride of a book that you know is going to be horrible and scary and dangerous and frightening, but you just have to stay on to see how it will all end. It's freaking AMAZING!!!! I would recommend it to any and everyone who loves dystopians.

I don't have very many issues with the book. It seemed super long with a lot of different parts, and sometimes I found myself hoping I could just get to the conclusion and find out what happens, but as I stated earlier, all parts are necessary, so read them all. I give this book 5 LARGE stars.