Unwind (Unwind Trilogy #1)

#717
Title: Unwind (Unwind Trilogy #1)
Author: Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Year: 2007
335 pages
Audiobook.

A nicely tense dystopian YA novel, first in a series. The story is enjoyable enough to make up for the somewhat expository and clunky present-tense writing. The basic premise provides an interesting distorted reflection of Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go: Abortion is illegal, but adolescents can be "unwound" for spare parts. Logan's Run comes to mind as well. The variety of uses and abuses to which this policy may be put are sometimes shown, sometimes told. The three main characters are engaging and differ sufficiently from each other, and some of the minor characters become more sympathetic over time. I found Lev the most interesting character, and the interpretation of tithing an engaging idea. I don't believe that there would be Jewish tithes, however--Jewish philosophy argues against it, as well as Jewish beliefs and practices around death. Whether it's more plausible for the other religions mentioned is a question I'll leave to others more cultually proficient in those traditions.

Update: I think it's only fair to add the questions that arose as I reflected on the book last night. I'll spoiler tag them by putting them in white lettering. Highlight to see:
1. Why would a rebellion humanize and personalize the unwinds' situation? It might bring it to the public's attention, but time and again, studies of group behavior show that appealing at the individual level ("Mom! Don't you love me?") personalizes, while groups are perceived as scary or deindividuated mobs.
2. Why would a rebellion in a holding facility lead to changes in the law that favor the rioters? Blowing stuff up is more likely to lead to more stringent arrangements.

3. Roland is unwound when he is because he has a rare blood type, AB-. I'm not sure how Rh factors into it, but AB is the universal recipient. Though it's a rare type, it's not necessary to have it on hand for AB recipients, at least AB+. Further, Connor receives Roland's transplanted arm. So Connor is also AB-? Since this is true of only 0.6% of the US population, that's too much of a coincidence.

4. I'm willing to live with the conceit that one's consciousness pervades one's organs, but what about blood? Plasma? Lymph? The ending, though poignant, ruptures my suspension of disbelief with a) its wish fulfillment, and b) the implication that indeed, the unwinds are still alive--and even conscious!--as transplanted organs, which kind of kills the idea that unwinding is murder and substantiates the rationale for it.

Still, a good book, but not a 5-star experience.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

#716
Title: When a Crocodile Eats the Sun
Author: Peter Godwin
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2005/2007
416 pages
Audiobook.

Godwin's memoir of growing up in Zimbabwe is a good companion piece to Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood; like Fuller's autobiography, Godwin's works best in the childhood segments. Godwin captures changing attitudes and moods over time and shows the sociopolitical changes in his country across his lifetime. The writing is descriptive but not flowery, and the dialogue flows naturally. 

Darke (Septimus Heap #6)

#715
Title: Darke (Septimus Heap #6)
Author:  Angie Sage
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Year: 2011
641 pages

One of the better books in this series, with plenty of action, a good level of anxiety, and teen self-preocccupation and angst. Some leveling occurs--Silas does something well, Simon attempts to mend his ways, and Septimus makes some errors. Enough multi-book story arcs are resolved for a good sense of closure, while others remain tantalizingly open for the 7th book including, perhaps, Princess Jenna's relationship to the Port Witch Coven. 

Blue Nights

#714
Title: Blue Nights
Author: Joan Didion
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 2011 
208 pages

While The Year of Magical Thinking was easy to become absorbed in, and was an excellent evocation of grief, Blue Nights is a better-structured book. In part, this is because Didion is always so meticulous about language and the sequencing of scenes. Here, that very carefulness is subject to scrutiny. If The Year of Magical Thinking is about grief, Blue Nights may be about the defenses against grief, about ways of narrating, remembering, and depicting that subsume the emotional chaos of the experience. The Year of Magical Thinking was cathartic to read. Blue Nights may be about the agony of not making peace with overwhelming grief except by engaging with it only as a cognitive experience. Didion ruminates on her own mortality, draws parallels and identifies chasms between herself and her daughter, and demonstrates ways in which a telling cannot contain the subtleties of the experience, and may deflect the teller and listener. She uses the representation of privilege within the memoir to provide the reader with an experience to mirror hers of trying to understand her relationship with Quintana. If this sounds technical, it is, but Didion manages to convey her dilemma eloquently and without bogging down. It's a remarkable book and I recommend it highly.

The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities: An Unconventional Compendium of Health Facts and Oddities, from Asthmatic Mice to Plants that Can Kill

#713
Title: The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities: An Unconventional Compendium of Health Facts and Oddities, from Asthmatic Mice to Plants that Can Kill
Author: Nick Bakalar
Publisher: Times Books
Year: 2009
240 pages

There was nothing wrong with this, and I mean the 2 stars in my Goodreads review in the Goodreads sense of "it was ok." However, it seemed more desultory than its brevity could accommodate and still seem complete, even in the "a little of this, a little of that" style.

I didn't learn much that I didn't already know, so I may be the wrong audience. Probably people who don't work in in medical/allied health professions would find it a more engaging and gripping reading experience. The information presented about which I have professional knowledge was generally correct, and in some cases I could identify the source material without checking the notes. 

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

#712
Title: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Year: 2008
319 pages

Roach is an entertaining writer, and I especially admire a book on sex that has a footnote on presidential running mates. In Bonk, she's more hands-on than you'd expect, sometimes astonishingly so. She's sort of the George Plimpton of sexology.

I'd have given the book 4 stars were it not for the last chapter. There, she seems to breezily excuse Masters and Johnson's instructions for conversion therapy (same-sex to other-sex orientation) without much acknowledgement of how cruel this practice was (and is), or even an adequate exploration of its lack of efficacy. The chapter could have ended the book with a cautionary tale about how professional or cultural ideas about healthy sexuality don't always match the data. Instead, there's a blip about homosexuality and its mis-treatment, the end. I expect better of Roach and her editors. 

Paradise Lost

#711
Title: Paradise Lost
Author: John Milton
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Year: 1667/1984
276 pages
Audiobook.

A good reader (Frederick Davidson) on this edition. The blank verse resonates and emphasizes without overpowering, and he does a good job with both rhymes and enjambment. This exegesis of Genesis relies fairly heavily on the Greek and Roman pantheons for symbolism and plot points. It's interesting to see how much more psychological this is than that other stalwart of Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress.There is also more imagery, more shown than told, and more theological argument in the manner that we will later see in de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom. Eve is weak-willed, while Adam is just a darned nice guy. They feed and angel lunch and hear its expositions.