Parker

I find myself disagreeing with both the 1 star and 5 star reviews. On one end, I don't think it does anything so offensively bad to give it 1 star, but at the same time I don't think it gets anything further than being a cluster of interesting concepts that don't get realized into anything greater. The criticisms about mindless adherence to prescribed societal roles and the mistreatment of autistic people should have worked well enough with the main character and setting to make a compelling story that hits hard, but nothing ever gets developed to say anything more than what Shiraha yapped about the whole book. They remain merely as concepts explored shallowly to the end. The marriage plot also could have been interesting, but again, nothing really happens. To the end, nothing really happens. I get that much of that is the point of the novel, Keiko isn't meant to develop because the conflict is between her being satisfied where she is against society trying to mold her into something else, she doesn't like being a cog in that society, but she loves being a cog in the supermarket, so I guess it's about the hypocrisy of it all for society. The story reads like points that the author had to hit, along with commentary way too explicit and on the nose- we get it. She's a cog and they're cogs and we're all cogs. It's apparent in the story we don't need Shiraha explicating it in the same way literally every time. The most impressive thing I think is that her autism is never explicitly stated- and I'm glad. I'm glad the author intentionally left that out to show that society is so blind that the idea of people being different that even with her counselor visits, the idea of her being labeled as that isn't even an option. The author needs to make things less explicit and let the story tell itself.

Unwind is a dystopian novel that centers around the idea of the unknown. Secrets the society keeps locked away and nobody seems to question lead into the overarching moral issues that have been caused by the lack of questioning, the lack of standing up, the lack of revolution. Our protagonist Conner begins to slowly lead a revolution that exposes the consequences that the process, ‘unwinding' has had on their world. It's grueling, heart wrenching, and terrifyingly descriptive with how Shusterman can use a lack of detail to enthrall you into feeling the fear of the unknown that takes place during unwinding. It's lonely, it's empty, and all you're left with is memories. Though it takes a while to pick up pace, the overarching message contributes beyond its pages, as many themes expressed in the novel are applicable to the real world, most notably, abandonment and connection to yourself, your family, friends, and society. Unwind is pretty great and I only hope to see the narrative and themes expand with the coming novels. Shusterman is especially great at utilizing recontextualization to the best of its ability make a character or message more important and grand later on in order to make everything more interconnected. Very excited to see what comes next and this is my first review and it's late so sorry if it's bad