Unwind Blog #5 (Neal Shusterman) Pages 265-335

This book was amazing! I really didn't expect it to end like this! The whole time there were twists and turns and you thought how re they going to wrap this up in the end but I think they did a great job of it. The most significant thing that they talked about in this part of the book was the actual act of being Unwound. When you are actually Unwound it is a very secretive and very scary experience! They describe it as going under like to have a surgery but you are actually awake. When the bill of human laws was passed, it said that when you are Unwound you have the right to know what is happening to you. The thought of this is very strange, I personally would not want to know what was happening to me just because I feel like it would be very nerve racking and scary if you were awake. Like you can even talk to the people once you are put down. It is a very strange experience that is hard to describe. You are probably thinking, you can feel all of this right? But no you cant! They inject this weird stuff into your blood stream that acts as blood! The whole thing is very hard to describe, the narrator says at one point, "It felt as if my legs began to tingle, then I realized they were removing my legs" (Shusterman 294). That is so weird! I cant imagine a world where stuff like this can happen. This book really was an incredible read! I really enjoyed this book and would defiantly recommend.

Unwind Blog #4 (Neal Shusterman) Pages 194-261

This section of the book Unwind was somewhat the climax of the novel and really brought the book as a whole together. In this blog post I am going to talk about the symbolism of one of the main characters that has emerged in this section, The Admiral. The Admiral is the man that takes the Unwinds in when they are on the run from the Juvey-cops and brings them to his "graveyard" where no one would ever look for runaways. The graveyard is a large plot of land where dead airplanes are kept. This setting provides the runaways with area to move around, as well as confined enough space so that they would be hidden. The graveyard can hold hundreds of Unwinds at a time, if need be. The Admiral himself is a strange mysterious guy. The Unwinds do not really question his authority because they are afraid of the power that he holds. To some of the Unwinds he is like a fatherly figure, to others he is more of a "god like" figure. No one really knows what to make of him and what his real mo tiffs really are. I am really excited to see where the book goes with this character because it is really hard to tell if he is going to be good or bad, Lev says, "you really can't tell with this guy can you..." (Shusterman 245). I can not wait to keep reading this book because it is getting really good!

Unwind Blog #3 (Neal Shusterman) Pages 121-194

In this section of reading from my book Unwind, things begin to take a strange turn for the characters in the book. First we meet a new character, his name is Cyrus Finch (CyFi for short). CyFi was in a car accident when he was little and he needed a brain lobe in an emergency surgery. The brain lobe that he was given was from an unwind, the unwinds name was Tyler. CyFi is very grateful that he received a brain lobe from Tyler but at the same time, he questions the morals of Tyler's parents for having him unwound in the first place. We later learn that Tyler was unwound because he was a compulsive shoplifter. He was always getting into legal trouble because of his urge to steal things. After a few years CyFi realizes that he is starting to get the urge to steal things. Tyler's brain lobe seems to be taking over CyFi's thoughts at certain points. CyFi describes it like this, "I didn't get the part of him that uses words. I get feelings mostly... Urges. When I get an urge and I don't know where it's coming from, I know it's coming from him. Like the time I saw this Irish setter on the street and I wanted to go over and pet it. I'm not a dog person, but all of a sudden, I just had to pet that pooch" (Shusterman 139-139). This quote is used to show that CyFi has the feelings that Tyler would have depending on the situation that he is in. I think that CyFi is a very interesting character and very mysterious. We havent really been able to see his motives yet and we can't really see if he is bad, or if he is good. I have seen several connections between CyFi and John Locke on the show LOST. CyFi comes into the book and as soon as we meet him we start to question his motives and what he really wants from the Runaways. He is only 15 but you can tell that he is wise beyond his years. Then we learn that he is partially controlled by this Unwind that is living within him, Tyler. Then we really see that there is something up with him. In LOST (SPOILER ALERT, don't keep reading if you don't wanna know what happens in LOST), John Locke is killed by BEn Linus and then he mysteriously comes back to life when he returns to the island. When he returns to the island we see that this isn't the old John Locke that we used to know and love, this is a different Locke. We can't really see if his motives are for the good or for the bad. We then learn that the bad evil man on the island has taken over Johns body, just like CyFi and Tyler! I can't wait to keep reading this book! Its getting so good!

Unwind Blog #2 (Neal Shusterman) Pages 70-121

In this weeks blog I will talk about the theme development that has started to occur throughout my book, Unwind. Just to recap, in this weeks reading out characters Connor, Risa, and Lev have moved from their forested hideout area into the city where they meet other unwinds that are on the run. They also find a baby that has been left on someones doorstep and decide that the people obviously don't want the baby, so they take it. Lev runs away and calls Pastor Dan only to learn that the Pastor has been against the unwinding of Lev the whole time. At the end of this reading they find a shelter for Unwinds that is run by a woman named Sonia. The theme of this book is starting to change as our characters continue their escape from being unwound. In Part One, it seemed as if the theme of this book was going to be somewhat dark and something along the lines of "Rebel against the system". The reason I thought this was because the whole first part of this book was following the characters desires to escape from the system and start a new life. Part One says, "He knows this is major. Running away with an Unwind, now that commitment" (Shusterman 4). This quote shows that he knows that he is rebelling and that it is a big deal but it is something that has to be done. In Part Two of Unwind, the theme changes from rebelling and uprising against society to a more somber theme. The mood changes to a feeling of fighting for what you believe in. When Lev talks to Pastor Dan on the phone, he feels that what he is doing with Connor and Risa is right and that it is what he is supposed to be doing. In Part Two the characters all learn that they are on the run, but there is a justifiable reason they are. I can't wait to see what happens in part three of Unwind!

Unwind (Neal Shusterman) -- Pages 1-70.

The book Unwind has been a very interesting read so far. This book is full of action from the start, intense character development, and a deep story. In my first blog post, I will focus on the character development of the three main characters in the novel, Connor, Risa, and Lev. Connor has always been a kind of troubled teen. He is always getting into trouble with the law as well as his parents. His parents decided to have him unwound because of this behavior. Connor is conflicted because he doesn't know if he thinks he deserves this or if he thinks that this is ridiculous. Connor is a very straight forward character because the author uses a lot of indirect characterization to describe Connor. I can't really tell if he is a good kid or a bad kid. I'm quite interested to see how Connor develops more through out this story. Risa is in a completely different situation then Connor is because she is almost being "evicted" from her life. She is a ward of the state and is a very talented piano player at a musical charter school. To make room at this school, the state has decided to unwind the students who are wards of the state. Risa is a fairly interesting character because she isn't the "rebel type" when she is at the school and just living a normal life, but as soon as she finds out she is being unwound she suddenly lives with an instinct for survival. When she is being transported to the Unwind camp the bus gets into an accident and she says, "The system might have a million contingencies for state wards trying to screw with things, but they don't have a plan of action for dealing with an accident. For the next dew seconds, all bets are off" (Shusterman 27). Risa is described using a lot of direct characterization. The author shows her emotions and her feelings with describing them directly as oppose to vaguely like the author does with Connor. Risa should be a fairly interesting character to watch as this story goes on. The final character we learn about in this section of the book is Lev. Lev was born to be Unwound. He is his parents tenth child and they decided before he was born that he would be Unwound at age 13. Lev is very religious and believes that god has a plan for him no matter what happens when he is Unwound. He is a pretty complex character in that he is having many different feelings about his unwinding. He is described using a lot of direct characterization because he is not afraid to speak his feelings and be vocal about his situation. He is probably the most interesting character I want to watch as this story goes on. This has been a very interesting story so far and I can't wait to see where it goes!

Will Baker is____?

wack.