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Book Review: Unwind – Neal Shusterman

Blurb:
Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together through desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing all the while that their lives are hanging in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthdays, they can’t be harmed. But when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.


Review:
Unwind is a gritty story that throws us sometime into the future, where humanity has clearly lost it’s humanity and given it up to denial. After a war called The Heartland War which was about the age old question, is termination of a baby good or bad, should it be legal or illegal etc. Neither sides won and in the end the military came in with a suggestion. Unwinding and The Bill of Life. Whereby parents/guardians could sign the Unwind papers and have their unwanted or troublesome offspring unwound, not killing them you understand, just unwound. Each and every part of the unwind is used to benefit the population, if someone needs a new eye, a new limb, a blood transfusion, that is what unwinds are for, so they aren’t technically dead, because their soul/spirit is still living, in other people, so it can’t be called murdering, but it solves the problem of what to do with an unwanted child or troublesome teenager you can’t handle anymore.  Storking is another loophole, if a mother doesn’t want her baby she can ‘stork’ it to someone else, and providing she doesn’t get caught in the act of leaving a baby on a doorstep, she no longer has responsibility for it and the family who find the baby on their doorstep, who have been ‘storked’ have to legally take care of the new baby. unless they stork it to another family and also do not get caught in the act, they are then free of  all obligation.
Unwinding has to take place before the child turns 18 after that they are legally adults and cannot be unwound.

“The Bill Of Life
The Second Civil War, also known as “The Heartland War”, was a long and bloody conflict fought over a single issue. To end the war, a set of constitutional amendments known as “The Bill of Life” was passed. It satisfied both the Pro-life and Pro-choice armies. The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parents may choose to retrospectively “abort” a child on the condition that the child’s life doesn’t “technically” end. The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called “unwinding”. Unwinding is now a common, and accepted practice in society”.

Conner is the main and first character we meet in the book, he is a typical teen who doesn’t get on with his parents most of the time and takes little or no interest in school, however, his anger towards his parents has boiled up to an all time high now that he’s found out they’ve signed the Unwind papers for him and to top it off, next to the signed document are three plane tickets to the Bahamas. Two for his parents and one for his younger brother. Conner has gone through all the expected emotions but anger stays prominent and bubbling under the surface. Conner doesn’t plan on sticking around for the cops to come and pick him up on his Unwind date, he grabs what little still means to him in a bag and makes a run for it. At first Conner seems like a lot of boys I knew growing up evident attitude problem but deep down he really does care, despite his logical kicks he’d prefer to be in charge, sometimes it’s his emotional side that wins and this is what makes most of the differences when it comes to survival and me respecting him a lot more.

Risa is a ward of state like countless others, trouble is as always state homes need money and there is never enough to go around, which means budget cuts and Risa has won the lucky opportunity of being worth more in a divided state than she does currently in her whole state. I think out of all the characters Risa is my favourite, she grows into herself the most, she’s always been smart, mature and keeps her thoughts grounded in practicality. But if it wasn’t for Risa the glue of the unusual unwind group, everything would turn out differently. I’m also glad that the author didn’t go mad with the ott romance storyline like a lot of YA fiction authors do, there’s so much more to a story that just a tragic romance, it’s over done and I’m glad to say, if you’re just into the story, the drama or survival than this is it, it’s not The Hunger Games but it’s better than Twilight in my opinion, plus no stupid vampires.

Lev is a Tithe. He was born and raised to be unwound but for religious purposes only, he has a greater purpose. Lev has been spoilt and known no evil in his life up until his 13th birthday, he is given a great send off by his friends, family and church. He has no doubt in his mind that being unwound is his destiny and he will meet it with dignity. At first I think you are purposefully directed to dislike Lev for what he is, but I found it hard to dislike him even from the start, being of a religious background myself I think I can relate to the bullying, the judgement and suspiciousness of peers, not being completely sure myself, then being totally sure, listening to elders for guidance and then realising they’re just as clueless as me. Lev changes the most mentally in the story he goes to extremes and back again, a really interesting character and I was left wanting to know a bit more about him and his family, but that might just be because we come from faiths and that’s naturally an interest point. And YES I know this is fiction, but still. I get emotionally involved with characters ok I make no apologies for it.

Overall I did enjoy reading the book, despite it’s difficult issue nature. I am and will always be against abortion/termination, It was a turn pager and I invested in the characters, really felt their passion for survival. I have to admit I didn’t think they would really go through with Unwinding …’s character at the end, it was a shock and I didn’t feel at all like “Yes! finally justification” I just felt sort of sad, no matter how evil someone is, death is never the answer, death is a release not a punishment. I hoped and wanted to make sure they did come out with a big middle finger to the authorities who clearly were power mad and lost their humanity, I wasn’t disappointed. Tbe ending was the perfect ending for the book and I hope people do take the time to read this book and make sure THIS is not our future.
One of my favourite mental images from this book is of the three of them hiding out in the forest before the whole journey begins.

Rating: 4/5

First After Care Visit

This afternoon Ellie and I had our first After Care Visit with the new lady who’s taken responsibility over our local area. Ellie and I had been out in the rain so we rushed back to get home in time, dry and brushed before the meeting and just made it.
All good news, Ellie is fine and healthy, her teeth and good, her skin is good, working well and happy as always. We chatted about how we were getting on and if I had any issues. The only issue I really had was going down steps. I just freeze up and panic. I had avoided going down steps for so long that I couldn’t remember how I was taught to go down them during training and was pretty sure Ellie felt the same way.

It had stopped raining but was still icy cold with the wind, but we headed out anyway as the steps in question were just down the road. We went up them fine and then I was instructed to drop the harness and hold on to the rail, it was a bit hard as it was soaking wet and icy cold. I thought if my hand doesn’t slip off, it may freeze to it instead.  Neither happened and we eventually got down the steps with my heart in my brain. Ellie seemed non plussed.

Afterwards we walked around down with the trainer behind us and Ellie decided to take me to Grandma’s. Then we found the crossing and started up the high street in search of a coffee shop, all three on the road were closed, something to do with it being winter an wet perchance?
Eventually the trainer spotted one across the road, which was open, so we dived in.

I had the biggest, work of art, hot chocolate you have ever seen. It had syrup and chocolate sprinkles in a flower shape. It was hard to swirl the spoon in and drink it, wrecking that carefully crafted chocolateness. I got over it pretty quickly and it was very nice too, we hardly talked about Guide Dogs or how I was getting on at all, we talked mostly on books and art. She had noticed my painting up on the walls and asked me about them, I told her the painting of Lily that she liked the most was a character from one of my short stories, I thought she deserved to have a face so I painted one. Then we got onto writing and self publishing and what sort of things I wrote. I explained I’m really into epic fiction and that I loved the Ted Dekker Circle Trilogy and how I wanted to write something like that one day. Also our shared love for Philip Pullman’s His Dark Trilogy and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

A couple of things she did mention were to take the harness of Ellie when we are sitting in a cafe setting for more than 5 minutes. I’ve never done this because if Ellie isn’t wearing the harness people aren’t going to know she’s a working dog and will tell me off for having a dog in a setting like that. But as we don’t go out much in those types of settings I don’t think it will matter much. I do remember my trainer M telling me to take the harness of when we’re on a bus but that’s more for me to carry and be conscious of not leaving behind. Ellie’s had no problems lying down with the harness on for the past two years, seems a bit silly to start to change now, but we’ll see. Another thing was Smokey bones. I give Ellie minty treats but I don’t very often give her hide bones or smokey bones. I worry about the calorific content and don’t want her to get obese, you see so many overweight dogs, it’s not good, humans don’t realise just HOW much they give their pets and what it does to their systems. Most people know not to give dogs chocolate because it’s bad for them, well giving them your left over English breakfast is also not good for them. But she explained that I could give her smokey bones and just deduct some from her evening meal as she’s only on one can of food a day.

Off to the vets tomorrow for worm stuff, ear cleaning stuff and cotton wool! what an exciting life we lead.

Tesco’s has just pulled up so it’s time to sort out the shopping and put it away. find some munchies, make a cuppa and….. R E L A X.

Old Favourite Meets Instagram

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I can’t explain why The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my favourite books. I have no problem going back and rereading over and over again. It’s an emotional story, and naturally I favour some passages over others and some I just can’t bring myself to reread every again.
But I like it all the same, it’s the only book I have on pretty much every format because I like to have it wherever I am. Audio CD for my daisy reader, audio download on my iPod touch, large print book for when I used to be able to read more visually, on Kindle because I can supe up the text, I even have a paperback version from when it first came out, I knew I couldn’t read it but I can always find someone around me read things for me.

The Hunger Games and The Circle Trilogy also have special places in my heart. I might Instagram my favourite passes of those someday.

The Hunger Games is Not Our Destination

I’ve been thinking a lot about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and 1984 by George Orwell. The idea of a super government that is so solid and present, that it has it’s people completely brain washed into toeing the line. And one toe out of place will be met with instant punishment. I know both of these examples are fiction but it led to me think about reality for a moment. I suppose I should call myself a Christian, being as I believe in God and that his son died for me on the cross to take away my sins. I don’t like labelling myself with the sons name as the prefix, because I’d rather be unlabelled going through life quietly trying to do the right things, then be openly labeled and ready for judgement from other Christians and faiths, as well as no faithers.

I think what draws us in, myself included. Is the promise of instant punishment for wrong doers, it is such a simple but powerful thing. It doesn’t seem to matter so much about ‘good’ and ‘bad’, just the brain washed idea of ‘different’, people willingly go along with death penalties and lose their own sense of humanity for a few seconds of entertainment. Bloodshed has become the new drug.

I’m drawn to both of these books because like the rest of us, I like to think I can rebel against an authority that is usually corrupted by greed. And any middle finger at their ideals, be it physical or literal means something positive in an odd way.  Which intern led me on to thinking about just rebelling against authority because it’s just the thing to do, the natural response, whether it’s actually in the right or not. Going with the flow, it’s hard to detangle yourself from the flowing crowd once you’ve been in there for so long. I think you need to leave the crowd every now and then to just check what you are actually opposing and if you really feel it’s worth it. Especially as most of us live with the luxury of not having The Hunger Games or Big Brother ready to aim and kill you for even thinking of disobeying, it would be a different world for sure if we did and I don’t think any of us could say it would make the world a better place or not. In The Hunger Games version, it is definitely not for the better.

A close friend introduced me to a Facebook group called The Christian Left, at first it seemed like a place to learn, to share a faith, meet new friends, the usual things you go in search of, but more and more status’ have really affected me. It’s not Gods love they are spreading, a lot of it that I’ve had plastered on my feed is judgement and hatred, for non believers, people in politics, others faiths, any one that doesn’t fit their ideals. It was my moment to fight the flow, to jump out of the crowd, to find myself, my voice in a crowd that was shouting. I had gone along and shouted for awhile till I realised that it’s not what I believe. I don’t want to be affiliated with it anymore. I’ve left the group and I don’t think any less of my friend for staying in there, but it just wasn’t for me. I don’t think any part of being a Christian, is openly judging, critiquing, coercing others to hate, judge, belittle and ruin reputations of the living or the dead for their different ideals. I believe true judgement comes from God an only God and it will come on judgement day and not a day sooner. Our job isn’t to judge, our job, down here, right now and has always been, just to love, not understand, not belittle, or promote hatred. It really hurts me to see so many groups missing the point of the faith they profess, I can’t begin to even imagine what it’s doing to the Creator.

I enjoyed reading both of these books but what scares the hell out of me is that a growing generation and on a bigger scale, nations, are taking this fictional idea and trying to implement it into their daily lives, in their societies, somehow we have lost track of that fact that God is a super power and government and even though he does not strike us down the instant we step out of line, because he loves us and judgement will come at the end, we think it’s our job to judge and sentence to death because of differences. We are on our way to our own version of Big Brother and The Hunger Games and the ending will not be what any of us ever thought it would be.

The latest tumblr victim

raventurnedove
I wanted something just completely random and something I didn’t have to censor or bore people with. It’s my online thought bucket if you want to see what goes on in my head, check it out, if not don’t worry you aren’t missing much. It’s visual more than literal, hardly serious at all.

Moving and Landing

I am currently in the process of moving my blog from www.blind-style.com (blogger) to here on WordPress. Importing my blogger blog here was no problem, just having issues with bringing my domain name over, please bare with me and my blog. Fingers crossed we land successfully, eventually.

Thanks – Amy.

#50wordFriday

Alice sat there twiddling the pen in her fingers. It felt familiar and smooth. She wanted to write something after coming this far. A silent tear ran down her now wrinkled cheek. The half moon passed by unseen. Alice grew tired. She died that night. Her last word was SUCCEEDED..

#50wordFriday

Anna was once again verbally berating the office printer. Her mental irritation list was well into double figure by 11am. The printer finally kicked out the presentation and Anna went back to her claustrophobic cubical.
The printer sighed. “No thank you, again. Tomorrow I will not turn on, so there”. 

Bring Back Snail Mail

I feel like the last few posts were a bit heavy and took a lot out of me. Attempting to explain in a non condescending way my life so far being blind and how it feels day to day. I think when you’re in our position, of course I can’t speak for everyone, but for me it’s really hard to explain because you’re in it and things just seem really obvious. You get to a point where you forget that they aren’t obvious things and feelings to other people, so yeah.
This is a light relief from all that thinking.

A couple of months ago I did a blog entry asking you to ‘help out the dawgs‘ so they could get enough money to tour the US. Well they did it!! and because I donated a little they sent me a CD in the mail!!!. I’m listening to it now and liking it a lot.







If you follow my blog regularly, you’re probably thinking. Hang on It’s Saturday and almost 2pm. What is she doing here blogging about the joys of snail mail when she mentioned going to a local forest to take part in a campaign meeting for 38 Degrees. (and nagging the government to keep our forests and how best to maintain them). Well, something came up, so.. I couldn’t make it this time. I wasn’t really sure how ‘a 6ml bike ride’ was really going to work out with 2 people and a guide dog so we decided it was best to skip this one, as I feel I have helped out in other ways. (Signing the petition, emailing local MP, Promoting the topic on my blog and donating some money). But despite me not attending and getting some probable wet and blurry photos of a bunch of people who may or may not be on bikes. I am looking forward to hearing stories, memories and seeing photos on the 38 Degrees website, a sample of which the 38 Degree team will take along to their meeting with the panel mid month.

The weather can’t decide if it’s grey and rainy or dry and sunny so we can’t decide if we need coats and wellies or non-waterproof converse and baggy hoodies for a free run at the park.

Have a good, fun and safe weekend folks.

#50wordFriday

Basement Boxing.
Max is silent in the basement. The darkness engulfed him like a suffocating city smog.
He‘s unsure if he’s sitting or standing, his body numbed by the harsh underground winter of injustice for too long. Then, he hears the crowd, taunting him.
He braces and faces the Fuhrer.
“Round One!”.

——
Another inspiration from one of my favourite books. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Inspired by his nightmare fights in the basement of 33 Himmel Street.