The Schwa Was Here: Book Report

Unwind by Neal Shusterman -a New York Times Bestselling Author of The Schwa Was Here- is an interesting read. It’s about a boy, Connor, whose parents want to have him unwound. Unwinding is when a person between the age thirteen and eighteen is cut apart, but is still alive; these parts are given to people in need of a new body part. The novel covers Connor’s journey as he runs from the police to avoid being cut apart by the government. This book has many things to like, things to dislike, and connections to discover, although in my opinion few would enjoy it. There are an abundant amount of things to like in this book. I appreciated learning the back stories of the main characters, as well as the people they encountered. For example, when we discovered Cyrus had been in an accident, had a second person in his head, and that he stole goods against his will; I really relished learning that.

I feel like people of middle school or high school age would appreciate this book, because it is at their reading level, roughly. I think that it’d be too difficult and gruesome for elementary kids, and too repetitive and childish for college aged adults and older. I feel people who are fond of dystopian future novels, such as The Hunger Games and Divergent would revel in this. These are my recommendations; it’s not a guarantee that every person in every category feels the way I imagine, but that is just my rough idea. I believe this novel was tolerable, giving it a rating of three and a half out of five stars, for me at least. I do think some improvements here and there could really make the book better. The writing is marvelous, much like Neal’s other books, but the plot seemed under-developed and disjointed. It’s as if he wrote an a thousand page book, then cut all the important, thought provoking pages out; leaving the book to be good, but choppy. Overall, I’m really glad I read this book, and I think others should as