(2009) Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Synopsis: The Bill Of Life renders life inviolable from the moment of conception until age 13. Between the ages of 13 and 18, however, parents can have their child "unwound"; whereby the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is constantly fighting at school. Risa, a ward of the state is among the statistical excess which must be culled to cut orphanage costs. And Lev is a tithe, a child raised for the sole purpose of being unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.
***
Review: This is, quite frankly, the most compelling, complex and well-thought-out modern YA dystopian novel I have ever read. And it came out in 2007, so it was being the best modern dystopian around before dytopians became a modern fad. Its sociological subject matter is an extreme echo of an issue we face today - how do we define a person, and at what point does a person become a person, or stop being one? How do we estimate the value of a person, and at what point should our control over the life of another person cease? Is one person divided worth less than the lives of the many they save through organ donation? Each of the three main characters represents an angle of the fallout of the Bill Of Life - the social issues, legal issues, and moral (including religious fanaticism) issues which arise. The element which makes the story so successful in my eyes is that is doesn't necessarily attempt to answer these questions - but rather openly poses them in an unfamiliar, rather disturbing, arguably absurd context; the author merely introduces the discussion without ever openly taking one side or the other.
In addition, the questions rest on solid grounding - there is so much originality in the plot, it moves along at a terrific pace, and right up until the final page it kept me gasping, giggling and tearing up. It is brilliantly written - every character has a role to play, or offers a new perspective, and the hard-to-swallow reality of this future society is made more believable by little details, like the urban legend of Humphrey Dunfee - which I'll let you discover for yourself. While not as immersive as an adult novel might be, it is told from the perspectives of each of the characters in turn, so we get to sufficiently explore their individual experiences, motives and more than that, their progression in coming to find an answer for themselves about what is ultimately right and wrong. Though it is clearly aimed at a YA audience, is not an easy read. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Absolutely the most original, chilling and fascinating YA book I've read in a long long time.
Rating: 5/5
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