Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, is a truly amazing dystopian novel designed to look at a popular issue and create an exaggerated future to (possibly) influence readers to take a stance on the issue. It depicts a reality where Pro-life and Pro-choice come to an agreement where people can only be aborted or “unwinded” between the ages of thirteen and eighteen as a form of organ donation, and is what I took inspiration from for my third piece. It aims to show the terror of teenagers who face “undwinding” and effectively creates a fantastic and complex story. This story is fitting for a range of audiences and perspectives, but has some mature themes that may be more understandable to older audiences. I have read the whole series before, which may offer some bias, but I know I can still learn from it (Also, sorry if this one is bad, I just can’t stop praising this book). Although I had mentioned character development in my other two Mentor Texts, I learned about characterization from this book as well. In this book, the readers get to know most about the characters through their actions, rather than their dialogue. The dialogue is effective and serves a purpose, while offering some characterization, but in my opinion, characters are best known for what they believe in, and what they do to strengthen that belief. It also clearly describes what characters must face and what desperate actions they must do to survive. For example, one character comes close to becoming a suicide bomber to cause pain to the people who had wanted to unwind them. Little to no dialogue is present as they are withdrawing from their surroundings, but their actions are obvious, and show how desperate some teenagers are after finding out they are being undwinded. The dynamic characters also have vast differences in actions by the end of the story, which shows they have multiple sides to their personalities, and realistically shows how they adapt to their circumstances. In one of the characters, violence turns to responsibility and humility as they try to promote peaceful warfare, rather than releasing their rage. In another, a person who had come to terms with their unwinding suddenly realizes the terror behind it and results to violence. Overall, this story features some of my favorite characterization in all the novels I’ve read, and nothing I say in this paragraph will accurately convey my love for the teenagers who must adapt and fight against unwinding in this book. Secondly, and definitely notably, the Unwind series has the most interesting and unique idea I have ever read. Very rarely does a novel or film have a unique, award winning concept, but this book does. It is an amazing concept that is supported beautifully by plot, character development, mood, tone, setting, etc. It is action-packed, it makes the reader think, and it is outright amazing. The plot twists are phenomenal but not too insane in the way that they don’t make sense. There isn’t much repetition, and the readers are kept on edge, just like the teenagers in the story. The plot showcases multiple perspectives, including the perspectives of multiple adults who have different opinions, multiple unique characters with different issues and backgrounds, and multiple subplots with amazing content that add to the terrifying reality as a whole. I really don’t know what more I can say here, but I know that I can learn a lot from this book, and could probably even use knowledge from it to turn a mediocre concept into a great book (since it turned a fantastic concept into a nearly perfect book). The most important things that I can actually take away from this, though, is using multiple perspectives, and wrapping up a book fully. While multiple perspectives is a stylistic choice, it was extremely effective in this book because it showed contrasting opinions (like in our own society) and differing personalities and stories that enhance this complex dystopia. The other strategy, wrapping up a book fully, is done well in this book, as it ties up all main plots and subplots, leaving a satisfying conclusion. Readers are given the choice to stop reading, or keep reading the sequels, just to soak up more stories and delve deeper into the world (recommended). This is unlike my first two stories, which have endings that almost force you to read the next few books to actually find out what is happening (which kind of makes sense because of the styles of the books, but c’mon, I want some consolidation with the endings of books!). Overall, I can’t really put into words how effective this book is, in my opinion, because it has such a dynamic plot that remains interesting no matter which perspective you are reading from. The third thing I learned from this is something I struggle with, but is definitely important to mention: tone. With such a concept as this, Shusterman was very passionate about writing the story, and his tone shines through when depicting teenagers who just want to do normal teenager things (A.K.A. not die). Shusterman has children of his own, and says they are, “the kind of wonderful kids no one would ever unwind,” which gives him personal insight to the horrors of this concept, as he may believe teenagers don’t deserve to be unwinded. While I don’t know him personally, I could imagine he would be devastated if his children had to deal with the constant fear of not knowing if they’ll be alive in a month, and he writes the story to give all teenagers a purpose and prove that they are worth being alive. Shusterman defiantly roots for the teenagers, and makes all their stories unique. As a teenage writer, it is really obvious whether I like a story that I write or not, and my voice shines through. It makes writing easier and more fun, and my tone is also clear when I develop a character that I like. I learned from this novel that I should allow more of my own tone to shine through because it gets the readers more interested, if they know that I enjoy what I am writing. Overall, the dark tone Shusterman creates is really effective in showing the terrors of the dystopia.
Although I had mentioned character development in my other two Mentor Texts, I learned about characterization from this book as well. In this book, the readers get to know most about the characters through their actions, rather than their dialogue. The dialogue is effective and serves a purpose, while offering some characterization, but in my opinion, characters are best known for what they believe in, and what they do to strengthen that belief. It also clearly describes what characters must face and what desperate actions they must do to survive. For example, one character comes close to becoming a suicide bomber to cause pain to the people who had wanted to unwind them. Little to no dialogue is present as they are withdrawing from their surroundings, but their actions are obvious, and show how desperate some teenagers are after finding out they are being undwinded. The dynamic characters also have vast differences in actions by the end of the story, which shows they have multiple sides to their personalities, and realistically shows how they adapt to their circumstances. In one of the characters, violence turns to responsibility and humility as they try to promote peaceful warfare, rather than releasing their rage. In another, a person who had come to terms with their unwinding suddenly realizes the terror behind it and results to violence. Overall, this story features some of my favorite characterization in all the novels I’ve read, and nothing I say in this paragraph will accurately convey my love for the teenagers who must adapt and fight against unwinding in this book.
Secondly, and definitely notably, the Unwind series has the most interesting and unique idea I have ever read. Very rarely does a novel or film have a unique, award winning concept, but this book does. It is an amazing concept that is supported beautifully by plot, character development, mood, tone, setting, etc. It is action-packed, it makes the reader think, and it is outright amazing. The plot twists are phenomenal but not too insane in the way that they don’t make sense. There isn’t much repetition, and the readers are kept on edge, just like the teenagers in the story. The plot showcases multiple perspectives, including the perspectives of multiple adults who have different opinions, multiple unique characters with different issues and backgrounds, and multiple subplots with amazing content that add to the terrifying reality as a whole. I really don’t know what more I can say here, but I know that I can learn a lot from this book, and could probably even use knowledge from it to turn a mediocre concept into a great book (since it turned a fantastic concept into a nearly perfect book). The most important things that I can actually take away from this, though, is using multiple perspectives, and wrapping up a book fully. While multiple perspectives is a stylistic choice, it was extremely effective in this book because it showed contrasting opinions (like in our own society) and differing personalities and stories that enhance this complex dystopia. The other strategy, wrapping up a book fully, is done well in this book, as it ties up all main plots and subplots, leaving a satisfying conclusion. Readers are given the choice to stop reading, or keep reading the sequels, just to soak up more stories and delve deeper into the world (recommended). This is unlike my first two stories, which have endings that almost force you to read the next few books to actually find out what is happening (which kind of makes sense because of the styles of the books, but c’mon, I want some consolidation with the endings of books!). Overall, I can’t really put into words how effective this book is, in my opinion, because it has such a dynamic plot that remains interesting no matter which perspective you are reading from.
The third thing I learned from this is something I struggle with, but is definitely important to mention: tone. With such a concept as this, Shusterman was very passionate about writing the story, and his tone shines through when depicting teenagers who just want to do normal teenager things (A.K.A. not die). Shusterman has children of his own, and says they are, “the kind of wonderful kids no one would ever unwind,” which gives him personal insight to the horrors of this concept, as he may believe teenagers don’t deserve to be unwinded. While I don’t know him personally, I could imagine he would be devastated if his children had to deal with the constant fear of not knowing if they’ll be alive in a month, and he writes the story to give all teenagers a purpose and prove that they are worth being alive. Shusterman defiantly roots for the teenagers, and makes all their stories unique. As a teenage writer, it is really obvious whether I like a story that I write or not, and my voice shines through. It makes writing easier and more fun, and my tone is also clear when I develop a character that I like. I learned from this novel that I should allow more of my own tone to shine through because it gets the readers more interested, if they know that I enjoy what I am writing. Overall, the dark tone Shusterman creates is really effective in showing the terrors of the dystopia.