#read this book.

"The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Conner is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not talented enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape - and survive."

so let me tell u about this book. sit down and buckle up bc this book is my shit and i love it to death. i read this book a few years ago, and usually i can remember major plots, like romance, but the thing is, i dont remember romance. so if there is romance, it was sitting backseat and shut up, which is great for me.

secondly, the characters are very organic. connor does what any teenager would do if they found out their parents are going to do something bad to them (for the sake of relating to it, lets say your parents are sending you off to go live at a boarding school and they will most likely not see you again until after you graduate, and if they do, it will be brief.)

he finds the papers saying that hes gonna be unwound and is outraged. he starts being super nice to his parents and being a star student and child. he brings flowers to his mom, he makes great marks and goes as far as to say 'if i keep it up at this rate i can probably pull my grade up to an a by the end of the semester' and does everything some bitter child would do to get back at their parents and make them regret.

the thing about unwinding is, once you sign the papers and send it in, its final.you cant undo it. so he makes his parents feel guilty. he makes them cry. this is why i fell in love with these characters because their actions are so real. if your whole life was going to be taken away and you had no say, do not tell me you would roll over and accept it. some would, i give you that, but not most.

risa is in the adoption-care system, except they dont adopt children out (at least i dont think they do, it was never discussed in the book). they are a ward of state. there are some people who just give up from the beginning, these are the people who do just roll over and accept the unwound documents. then theres people like risa. she is a star pianist and we meet her at the beginning of a recital. she makes mistakes, but her teacher still praises her afterwards, saying that even the pros couldnt do the particular piece she chose without some slip-ups.

not everyone agreed. the state believed that she reached her peak, and that she had no other potential to offer. she was talented. she was smart. she was good. but not good enough. she is sent off to a concentration camp to be prepped and unwound.

levi, though mostly referred to as lev, is a tithe. he was born and raised to be unwound. he is the tenth child of the family hes from, which is how he was chosen. he was happy all his life,accepting this fact. once it comes to his tithing party, hes ecstatic. though, this all changes when his brother gives a bitter speech about it all, adding in some morbid humour like 'thank god we had ten kids or else you'd have to split lev right down the middle!'.

for those who dont know, this is the dictionary definition of tithe:

tithe

tīT͟H/

noun

noun: tithe; plural noun: tithes

1.

one tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the church and clergy.

(in certain religious denominations) a tenth of an individual's income pledged to the church.

archaic

a tenth of a specified thing.

"he hadn't said a tithe of the prayers he knew"

verb

verb: tithe; 3rd person present: tithes; past tense: tithed; past participle: tithed; gerund or present participle: tithing

1.

pay or give as a tithe.

"he tithes 10 percent of his income to the church"

historical

subject to a tax of one tenth of income or produce.

so after this speech, lev has a lot of second thoughts and starts to doubt himself. after talking to his priest, he steels himself and accepts this, heading to the concentration camp to be prepped and unwound.

because of connor, however, the other two never get to the camp and the three join together to try and escape.

one part of this book that still haunts me to this day, is that at some point - i cant remember when or to whom we experience it with - we get walked through the unwind process.

its very chilling and i can still remember in vivid detail everything that happened. remember, i read this years ago.