Say It With A Book #9 | UNWIND by Neal Shusterman

With Guest Blogger | Dr. Rehana V. Pallingayan, M.D.

  

There are stories which can scare the shits out of little kids when the lights are turned off but only effective for a few years because they realize these are not real when they reach their teens. There are lesser stories that can scare a teenager but its effects are more brutal, the scars won't go away even when they crossed their 20th year of life, even if they are in their deathbeds at age 80. Unwind is one such story that could scare these teens, not just because of the act itself but because it roots in their inner fear of being unwanted. As an adult reading this, I have but one fear that fiction may become real. The line is thin, so thin that a Heartland war may just be in its way.

My job makes me witness the effects of transplantation. We have good success rates when it comes to Corneal transplants and Kidney transplants. We also had successful liver and intestine transplants. We had dealt with heart transplants and lung transplants in the past. You see the effects of a second chance to these people- they try to live their lives fuller; that little kid could now dream for his future; a parent's wish could come true; and a wife is ensured of not being a widow. There is this satisfaction when one says the phrase- "A life well spent". But the other side of the story is as real as these stories of hope. The queue on the triage of who gets a kidney first is long and every day the end just gets farther. We do have a national organ donation program focused not only in the aim of delivering organs to these transplant patients but also in caring for the donors, making sure they are not victims of organ trafficking and that they are well aware that even if they still have a kidney, their lives have changed, same way that one can learn to ride a unicycle after learning to use a bicycle. A bicycle will always be stable.

What I loved about this book is the strength of its character development, these teens presenting their own stories merging into one central plot- the right to exist, to experience firsthand on how it is to live. You are drawn in their sadness, frustrate about what is lacking and cheer them further to reach greatness. The books also let you go back to the basic morals you carry within or without the topic of one's religious doctrines. Even minor characters have served their purpose, may it be the dead ones or a portion of their brain. As a young adult book, I hope the teenager gets the point of how stupid and at the same time beautiful it is to be an adult. I hope they understand how one's choices could shape the world, that it is easy to commit mistakes and harder to swallow its repercussions. But hopefully the message the kid gets is this- it is always the better option to choose life. 

Transplantation is not a bad thing. Organ trafficking however is a different structure. The concept of unwinding is the most ridiculous type of organ trafficking that I hope will never come to existence. It is not the question of a soul, a religious belief or a scientific know-how but of one's integrity as a human. We are allowed to save lives but never to be above anything to be allowed to take another's life.

Book details:

Title:  Unwind

Author:  Neal Shusterman

Publication:  June 2nd 2009; Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Genre:  YA, Sci-fi

Rating:  ★★★★★

About Ranee:

  Ranee is TFG's in-house surgeon, probably one of the wittiest and sweetest doctors you'll get to meet She is very keen on volunteering in numerous medical missions nationwide.  When I asked Ranee's permission to feature one of her reviews here, I told her I was desperate. I was, really. I have it in mind to introduce her here for a long time now, and I am really glad that she finally agreed this time. 

Friends, “the Doctor is IN.”

TPW:  What is your favorite genre?

Ranee:  No particular favorite, I do not know if I do have a favorite genre but most likely it would be lit-fic. 

TPW:  How would you define yourself as a reader?

Ranee:  Definitely a moody one, oh wait a sniffer! Yes, definitely a sniffer, I smell books before I read or buy them.  

But really, it is my book collection that dictates. After finishing one book, I stare at my book case and just like in a trance, I seem to hear one book trying to catch my attention telling me to read it, so I do read it. Well it does help that I am a book hoarder so I have a vast collection of (unread) books waiting for my attention.

TPW:  Thank you very much, Ranee, for sharing this review. This won't be the last, I hope!

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Book Review | ANTSY DOES TIME by Neal Shusterman

ANTSY DOES TIME

Antsy Bonano, Vol. 2
by Neal Shusterman | Publication: September 18, 2008
Dutton Juvenile | Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Rating: ★★★★

"The situations are so lifelike that I came close to crying at times."

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Fueled by friendship and sympathy, Antsy Bonano signs a month of his life over to his dying classmate Gunnar Umlaut. Soon everyone at school follows suit, giving new meaning to the idea of living on borrowed time. But does Gunnar really have six months to live, or is news of his imminent death greatly exaggerated? When a family member suffers a heart attack after donating two years to Gunnar, Antsy wonders if he has tempted fate by playing God. Fans of the Schwa will welcome favorite and new characters in this wholly fresh tale, which is as touchingly poignant as it is darkly comical.

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Antsy, The Family Guy

Looking at the story from a broader vantage point, it is a series of tragedies with slices of sweetmeat in between. As I said in my previous post, this book is all heart. Once more, Shusterman manages to punch in real-life situations, and readers may find some that hit close to home.

The story starts with a tragic accident on what was supposed to be a day of parades and fun. Among the onlookers are Antsy Bonano and his friends. They are teenagers who are there out of curiosity, except for Gunnar Ümlaut, one of Antsy’s classmates.

Gunnar is there to watch death.Gunnar confides in Antsy that he has only six months to live due to Pulmonary Monoxic Systemia (PMS). Antsy doesn’t know how to handle this kind of information, but the good in him wants to do something for Gunnar. It just seems unfair that death would come for someone so young. On Monday, in the Ümlauts' backyard, Antsy tears a page out of his notebook and signs away a month of his life to Gunnar. Yes, that is how noble our hero is.

Over the following days, the news travels like wildfire through the school; it seems everyone wants to sign up to give months of their lives to Gunnar, too. From here on, some things get better, and some things get worse. Antsy and Gunnar realize that things are not exactly as they are supposed to be, and that mistakes have consequences.

I always hear people talk about "dysfunctional families."
It annoys me because it makes you think
that somewhere there is this magical family where everyone gets along,
no one ever screams things they don't mean,
and there is never a time when sharp objects should be hidden.

As much as Shusterman makes great efforts to keep this book light and fun to read, I can't help but feel sad about the tragedies that can strike families. The situations are so lifelike that I came close to crying at times.

The best you can really hope for is a family where everyone's problems,
big and small, work together.
Kind of like an orchestra where every instrument is out of tune,
but they’re all out of tune in the exact same way.

My love for Antsy went deeper as I get to know him better. I hope to find his next book soon. I hope you find copies of his books too, I do recommend them strongly.

-that's when I realized that prayer isn't for God.
After all, He doesn't need it. He's out there, or in there,
or sitting up there in His firmament, whatever that is, all-knowing and all-powerful, right?
He doesn't need us repeating words week after week in His face.
If He's there, sure, I'll bet He's listening,
but it doesn't change Him, one way or the other.
Instead, we're the ones who are changed by it.
I don't know whether I was just delirious from lack of sleep...
but if it is true, what an amazing gift it is!

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About the Author:

Neal Shusterman is the author of many novels for young adults, including Unwind, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers, Everlost, and Downsiders, which was nominated for twelve state reading awards. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows such as Animorphs and Goosebumps. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California.

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Book Review | THE SCHWA WAS HERE by Neal Shusterman

THE SCHWA WAS HERE

Antsy Bonano, Vol.1
BY NEAL SHUSTERMAN | PUBLICATION: MARCH 2, 2006
PPENGUIN BOOKS | GENRE: YA FICTION
RATING: ★★★★

“It’s a story about invisibility that reminds you how much it matters to look closely, to notice, to choose to see.”

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Anthony, also known as "Antsy," is fascinated by "The Schwa Effect"--the fact that no one ever sees Calvin Schwa. Even when acting weird and dressed like a total freak, The Schwa is only barely noticed. The two boys form a partnership and get away with all kinds of mischief, from conducting experiments at school to confounding opponents on the basketball court. When The Schwa senses that even Antsy is beginning to lose sight of him, he vows to do something that will make him so visible, no one will ever forget him. Any kid who's ever felt unnoticed will identify with Schwa and Antsy and their quest for notoriety.

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A Good Lad, That Antsy.

This story isn’t your typical case of athazagoraphobia. Calvin Schwa is functionally invisible. Unless he speaks, people don’t notice him even when he’s standing inches away. Lose focus for a moment, and you’ll forget he was ever there. They call it The Schwa Effect. Sometimes even his own father forgets to set a dinner plate for him. It’s heartbreaking and fascinating all at once. How do you cure something like that?

Antsy Bonano thinks he has the perfect plan to put The Schwa Effect to good use — until the idea turns around and bites them. It turns out some people are immune to Calvin’s invisibility, like the perpetually grouchy Mr. Crawley. Before long, Antsy and Calvin are walking his fourteen dogs and stumbling into trouble neither of them expected.

I completely fell for Antsy while reading this. He’s funny, sharp, and surprisingly grounded. I love the way he loves his family — loud, chaotic, imperfect, but deeply affectionate.

One of my favorite lines captures the book’s mix of humor and truth:

“Life is like a bad haircut.
At first it looks awful, then you kind of get used to it…”
Neal Shusterman weaves in real family issues throughout the story. Some are handled lightly, others feel painfully inescapable. The book nudges you to think about how we treat people, how our choices ripple outward, and how those choices shape who we become.

It’s a great read — one I wish more people would pick up.

“I mean, it's like we all get our raw materials from our families
— but it's up to us whether we build bridges or bombs.”
Thank you, Peter, for recommending this.

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About the Author:
Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty award-winning books for children, teens, and adults, including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award, Courage to Dream, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, the Unwind Dystology, which won more than thirty domestic and international awards, and the highly acclaimed novels, Dry, and Roxy which he co-wrote with his son, Jarrod For his body of work, Neal won the 2024 Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the ALAN Lifetime Achievement Award. His novel, Unwind, has become part of the literary canon in many school districts across the country-and has won more than thirty domestic and international awards. Many of his novels are in development as TV series and movies.

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SKINJACKER TRILOGY by Neal Shusterman

Caught Between Life and Death.

The story began with a car collision, two teenagers were mortally injured.  Suddenly, they are walking towards an inviting light at the end of a very dark tunnel, but before they could reach it, they bumped into each other.  The next thing they knew was waking up in the forest with a strange-looking kid calmly smiling at them, pleased that they finally came around after nine months of deep slumber.

"It took nine months to get you born, so doesn't it figure it would take nine months to get you dead?” ― Everlost

The whole series is a journey through Shusterman’s version of what it was like after death. He took a step further from the common ghost stories to ghostly living -living the afterlife as an Afterlight. There were no limits to his creativity and imagination.  I was in awe of how he thought of every detail and work through all the complexities encountered in these books.  The visions he created behind the veil of the living were both strange and fantastic.

Likewise, with the characters, their divergence was astounding.  Each was fleshed out (pun not intended) endowed with a dominant characteristic, each with potentials and shortcomings, their contrast and purpose may tip the balance in the world called Everlost.

“Great tragedies have great consequences. They ripple through the fabric of this world and the next. When the loss is too great for either world to bear, Everlost absorbs the shock, like a cushion between the two.” ― Everwild

In spite of its complicated plot and characters, Shusterman managed to evade the big question –Is there a Heaven or a Hell?  There was no mention of any specific religious belief about the afterlife either. Simply, imagine a place where no one aged, but may lose all memories.  An afterlight may fall into an endless routine and forget about the completion of their journey.  But they have to keep moving or find themselves sinking into the earth. And the thought of going back home is the worst idea.

Scattered throughout the books are nuggets of wisdom –about life, love, pain, struggles, belief, and unbelief.  Some of them may sound funny and yet profound in the truer sense. Some of them are compelling.  Shusterman wrote an intricate story about how our choices make a difference. Overall, he didn’t write how death might be, but of how life should be.  A really wonderful trilogy.

“In short, there are mysteries of science and of soul that will never be understood no matter how hard we measure, no matter how strongly we believe, no matter how deep our think tanks and how high our aspirations. But as anyone will tell you—for we all know this within our hearts—the impossible happens and grand cosmic mysteries are solved on a regular basis, although most of the time the solutions lead to even greater mysteries.” ― Everfound

Book details:
Titles:  Everlost, Everwild, Everfound
Author:  Neal Shusterman
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Genre:  Children's Books, YA
Rating: ★★★★

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