Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

11 reviews

antimony's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

so readable and fast-paced like any good ya dystopian and wonderfully bereft of a love triangle (since it was published pre-hunger games) . and the concept is interesting and ripe with potential for horror. (

Spoiler

the chapter where roland was unwound. yeah

)

but on the other hand. the worldbuilding is rather, well. nonsense. in what world is the compromise between pro- and anti-choice people to kill teenagers....i know it's kind of a grey area in the book of whether they die or not and their memories can pass on to the people who recieve their parts but like. they die. let's be real about it. from a pro-choice standpoint this solves nothing. and neither does storking. it's kind of obvious that this was a man's sci-fi dystopian idea of a compromise over reproductive rights because it doesn't really take into account a big part of abortions -- in our world if you can't take care of a baby you can still give it up for adoption. but if you don't want to be pregnant, you have an abortion. which is not an option in this world, so clearly anti-choice people won. (though like. if they're genuinely anti-choice because they believe life begins at conception rather than just for the sake of controlling women's bodies then they wouldn't agree with this as a solution either. because it's so obvious to the entire real world(me as opposed to the characters in this book) that unwinding is the same thing as dying. 
and the thing is that it is still good as a dystopian concept! it's just that the reason unwinding exists is dumb. why couldn't it be like for population control reasons? which is still horrible but like . as worldbuilding makes a lot more sense. 
i would have enjoyed this in 6th grade though. which is when i primarily wanted to read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Sexual harassment, Child death, and Death

Minor: Suicide and War

cozyscones's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Child death, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Racism and Abortion

choco_bunbun's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Medical content, Trafficking, and Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment

mokiethe_dog34's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Very good book. Well written and brilliantly paced. However, I am now traumatised and very concerned for what was going on in the author’s head when he wrote this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Suicide, and Ableism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

wannaseeafrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was impossible to put down, and the development of the characters and the world-building immediately draws you in. It’s the kind of book that forces you to think about the morals and ethics of the world that surrounds us. While some of the character development seemed unrealistic at times, this book does take place in a futuristic and dystopian society with challenges that we can’t understand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Car accident, War, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

dark_marble_eyes's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I've seen this book as recommended reading for young adults/teens quite a lot, and I can see some merit in it. The main problem with this book is that it doesn't overtly take a stance, yet is promoted as a "conversation starter" on the subject/concept of abortion, the could-be alternatives, and the people on "either side" of the argument. It is purposefully written in such a way that somehow both anti-legal abortion and pro-legal abortion people regularly point to this book as a "see here! this is arguing my point!"
However, it comes across to me as a work written by someone who is either not invested in the issue or only invested in the way that it's a profitably inflammatory subject.

I cannot speak to the original intentions for the book and its sequels, but the opinion I personally have formed after reading the book, some interviews of the author, and the reactions of others, is that it lacks integrity of belief. I do believe that books written with intentional ambiguity can be helpful and valuable -just not this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Suicide, Child death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Death, Abortion, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Suicide

Minor: War

in relation to my tag on mass/school shootings- I do not remember there being specific mention of school shootings themselves, but there are people called "clappers" who are essentially suicide bombers in this universe who will go to schools or public areas and clap, activating [nitroglycerin?] in their bloodstream causing combustion and explosion.

aligmich's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a fascinating concept, and I’m still going to be thinking about it for a while. It’s harrowing - but not entirely out of the realm of possibility which is the scary bit. Lev is the most engaging character by far, and I hope they explore him more. Also did NOT buy the romance, I hope Risa gets more to do next time….

All in all, I enjoyed it - but it’s certainly not perfect by any sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Abortion, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

_morgan's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Confinement and Abandonment

Minor: Grief, Gun violence, Abortion, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

touchegiantsquid's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The book tries to "both sides" the debate between pro and anti choice laws for the sake of thrills. I would not say it handled that well.

It's hard to take this dystopia seriously since it seems to lack any theory of how politics works. It's just "what if a bunch of terrible things happened? Wouldn't that be terrible?" It doesn't seem to have anything to say about the debate, it just wants to use it to give the appearance of synthesis at the conclusion.

The craft of the conclusion was good, which is why I didn't rate the book lower.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Kidnapping, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Violence, and Suicide

booksthatburn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

UNWIND is a dystopian future where abortion is outlawed but teenagers can be "unwound", a state which is distinct from death in ways that are legalistic, technical, and horrifying.

I liked and I'm looking forward to how the sequels (hopefully) develop and complicate the world. UNWIND has a specific and pretty interesting plot, but narratively it does the heavy lifting of a kind of tour, showing all the different facets of existence for someone impacted by the unwinding, the ways that this deeply flawed plan has cracked and broken the people under it. The main characters are slated to be unwound, some willingly and some not, but the mix of perspectives combine to show just how fucked up the whole system is. Secondary characters get a few chapters and even minor characters might get one to show how everything in their world is bent by this paradigm. 

In a book meant for teens, it's especially poignant that since Unwinds are always children the majority of recipients of their organs will be adults. This sets up a paradigm where the old are preying on the young in a visceral way. Page counts are lower in YA, and part of what makes this world so immersive are the little things. Even something as simple as recipients continually referring to the donated organs and body parts as if they don't belong to them, they belong to the person who was unwound, it creates this sense of disassociation. There's a character who received a lung and consistently draws a distinction between himself and this lung that's in his body but isn't his, it belongs to some other kid who was unwound. This distinction is one of horde of tiny details in how everyone is committed to the idea that the unwound are that, unwound, a state that is somehow distinct from state-sanctioned murder plus organ donation on the basis that a bunch of people said so and everyone plays along. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Animal death