Time for the chapter that goes on forever. Naturally it’s a Connor chapter.

The street is full of yellow and brown leaves, but enough diehards still cling to the branches to make a shady canopy.

Okay, so it’s so cold that grass turns yellow, but not so cold leaves change color properly.

So, what must have happened is the climate shifted to get significantly colder (gulf stream stalling or something). The trees are able to survive the new temperature, so they’re still around, but they aren’t properly adapted to it, so instead of their leaves changing color properly and then dropping, their leaves are killed by the cold then fall off due to deadness.

The baby has finally figured out how to cry, but it’s a strictly cosmetic thing that in no way interferes with their ability to eavesdrop on the various kids around, all discussing clappers who are apparently suicide bombers.

“I hear they’re anarchists.”
“I hear it’s some weird religion.”
“I hear they just do it to do it.”
The threat of clappers is so effective because no one knows what they really stand for.

That’s stupid. People willing to blow themselves up over and over again are going to have a reason for it and they’ve going to want you to know it. If nothing else, they need a coherent enough ideology to be recruiting.

The book probably just mentions anarchists because bombs, but it’s actually a very interesting philosophy. Anarchism is best understood in the political climate it thrived in. In America, anarchism was closely tied to communism and the labor movement – it isn’t simply about chaos for chaos’ sake. The big flashpoint for anarchy here was the Haymarket incident, where one of the people at a strike threw a bomb, killing a police officer. That sounds pretty bad! The day before, the police had fired indiscriminately into the crowd, killing several people, because that was just what police did. Bombs were a sane response to an insane situation. Anarchy does not mean a hatred of order or reason. It’s a movement that defines itself as “against rulers”, and sometimes that’s the right response.

Like, for example, this book’s setting. From what we know, it seems like anyone under eighteen does not have any rights. There’s no legal recourse for the dead baby Connor remembers – either the law flat out does not care or this society no longer views a child’s death as a government affair but works on tribal reasoning, where it’s only murder if any of the surviving family members complain. Parents can explicitly kill anyone thirteen to eighteen and presumable can kill younger ones withoout the police caring so long as it’s in the general ballpark of accidental.

Even when you turn eighteen and get human rights, you don’t have many. Without even getting into the abortion issue itself, you’re also forced to participate in helping the government unwind other kids. This brings to mind the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which similarly demanded everyone’s participation and threatened severe punishment for refusing. Interestingly, that too was billed as a compromise. The fact searching banned topics gets you hit by a nasty virus shows the government has a stranglehold on information, and the fact the government can casually cover up what happened on the highway suggests they use that stranglehold casually. The lack of any discussion about unwinding implies that it’s illegal to even say you object, let alone suggest changing it.

So “against rulers” seems like a pretty applicable philosophy. The kids’ lives are defined by the rule of their parents and government, and even individual adults are forced into compliance by a government that doesn’t seem particularly democratic or concerned about their rights. And given the stakes involved, suicide bombing makes sense, especially given a culture of forced organ harvesting.

“That was smart back there,” Connor tells Risa, as they approach the antique shop. “Pretending to be clappers, I mean. I would never have thought of that.”
“You thought quickly enough to take out that Juvey-cop the other day with his own tranq gun.”

Fucking book, it is not impressive to figure out that you can use the gun against the guy with a gun.

Connor’s momentarily mad about Lev, but being a sue he instantly switches over to emoing about how he tried to save him, but had failed and oh if only he could’ve saved him somehow.

But who is he kidding? Lev was a tithe from the moment he was born. You don’t undo thirteen years of brainwashing in two days.

Indeed, you do it in two sentences. Stop pointing out your plot holes, book.

Reaching the antique shop, there’s finally a clue when this is set:

A display of iPods and other little gadgets from his grandfather’s time

So let’s be generous and say a hundred years ago. In the space of a hundred years, we’ve had a civil war, a bizarro compromise, and then had all of culture rewired around embracing the idea to the point it’s now established tradition to childmurder your kids for god.

Are you clappers?”
“Do we look like clappers to you?” says Connor.
The woman narrows her eyes at him. “Nobody looks like a clapper.”

So clappers are the nightmare of domestic terrorism.

This doesn’t work at all. It’s completely believable that you might end up with suicide bombing being normalized into our culture, particularly if we’re accepting this has happened with unwinding itself. I could believe that blowing yourself up is on everyone’s internal list of things you do when it gets bad. But in that case, the kids should know who and what clappers are, because they’re the people who could, without warning, decide that fuck it they’re going to try to kill as many people as they can.

Then Connor proves he isn’t by punching the wall because clappers have explosive blood, and that’s sounding less like terrorism and more like they’re getting churned out by a crazy lab somewhere.

“See this hunch?” she asks them. “I got it from sticking my neck out for people like you.”

This is a slightly more extended fakeout attempt, like with the teacher, where actually she’s totally going to help them but says this because the author wants to make it clear his book contains no actual characters, just dialogue he found funny at the time.

They’re sent to the back room, where Risa gets some milk out to feed the baby. Regular milk.

“Sometimes I got to take care of babies at StaHo. You learn a few tricks. Let’s just hope it’s not lactose intolerant.”

Yes lactose intolerance is totally the sole issue with this.

Did you know that, despite the book being written as if the author has never so much as seen children, he apparently has four kids? Like, actual still alive ones and everything.

Connor takes a minute to think about his former girlfriend, who he decides sucks and would’ve just gotten him caught because Ariana wasn’t street-smart like Risa, the girl who’d never even walked around streets before.

How soon until everyone forgets him? Not long. That’s what happens with Unwinds. Connor had known other kids at school who disappeared over the past couple of years. One day they just didn’t turn up. Teachers would say that they were “gone” or “no longer enrolled.” Those were just code words, though. Everyone knew what they meant. The kids who knew them would talk about how terrible it was, and gripe about it for a day or two, and then it became old news.

Connor explained, describing how no one has acted, ever, in all history.

“We don’t want to be any trouble,” says Risa.
The old woman laughs at that. “Yes, you do! You want to be trouble to everyone you meet.” She points her cane at Risa. “That’s what you are now. TROUBLE in caps-lock.”

You’d think a writer would have a firmer grasp of language than to confuse wanting trouble and being trouble. Also, Asshole Old Woman is the only character with a clear voice, but unfortunately it’s a really annoying one.

She goes on to suggest Risa get knocked up again since they won’t unwind her until she has the baby so that’s nine months of certain life. In a better story I would think this was meant to be a jab about how they value fetuses over people, but it’s probably just science fail where the author doesn’t realize if you have magic 100% transplants moving a pregnant uterus is no big deal. Also it pisses me off because pregnancy isn’t a binary thing. Getting pregnant doesn’t guarantee you stay pregnant nine moths, lots of pregnancies abort midway through.

Also somehow this is like secret information that kids don’t know? How does that even work.

Connor explains that no, Risa is still a virgin! Therefore getting pregnant is clearly out of the question because it’s better to die than be a filthy slut whore and everyone just drops the subject. Then Asshole Old Woman says “Think you’re boeuf enough to bring that over here?” and you know, book, you win, I will stop even trying to make sense of your attempts at slang.

By moving the thing, it uncovers a trap door to hide alcohol from Prohibition, despite the obvious connection being to the underground railroad but god knows the book would just fuck it up so fine, fine, American history goes back to the 1900s and no further.

Below, they find three other kids, another two boys one girl pair. This book had better say something about boys being more likely to get unwound soon, because the perpetual cast imbalance is annoying me.

AOW adds there’s a first aid kit down there for Connor’s bite wound, because some gauze will clear that right up.

I don’t know what’s more annoying, the research fail or that the fallout from the wound would be so interesting. They can’t go to a hospital without getting caught, but watching Connor degrade would be nerve-wracking. Plus, if it really is commonly believed that unwinding is not exactly the same as death, there could be debate about if it’s worth it to stay hidden and die rather than get medical care and be unwound – even if the kids are all on the same page, maybe they could worry the woman felt like that and would give him up. Or maybe they’d agree that Connor was better off unwound but worry it’d get the rest of them caught, turning it into an issue of letting one person die to protect the rest.

One kid asks when they can leave and AOW snaps at him without answering the question first, because she’s an asshole, then says three days. Connor just rambles about the fact the kid has a shark tattoo and how it’s all faux badass despite the fact Connor earlier told us that kids get tattoos all the time now and it’s not a big deal.

The other boy is a lanky blond kid with a faint smirk that seems permanently fixed on his face. He has braces on teeth that don’t appear to need them. Although his eyes tell of sleepless nights, his hair is perfect. Connor can tell that this kid, despite the rags he’s wearing, comes from money.

Money gives you magic hair.

Third kid is Asian, which also informs us everyone else so far has been white, and looks almost as tough as the kid with the tattoo, with hair dyed a deep shade of pink and a spiked leather choker on her neck. Really? Being dressed like that makes her almost as tough as the kid with a tattoo like apparently half the teen population?

Connor notices that the kid has four parallel scratch marks on one side of his face, consistent with fingernails. The girl has a black eye

So they’ve been fighting. So the first boy is evil because he hit a girl and/or the girl is evil because she’s not ladylike and fights back, or possibly they’re just both evil because fighting is wrong kids. In another book I’d consider it’s just a detail to show who these particular people are, but there are no characters in this book, only mouthpieces and judging.

Turns out, each of these kids, just like every Unwind, has a story that ranks a ten on the Kleenex scale.

Bullshit! We’ve already heard three unwind stories. Connor’s is nothing much, Risa’s was upsetting but not sad, Lev’s is freaky but not sad.

Rich kid is getting killed because a bad custody battle ended in his parents deciding they’d rather he die than live with the other one. Why is this kind of thing not what the book is about? That’s both incredibly awful and halfway believable for a really nasty divorce. You hand people the power to murder their kids, they’re going to do terrible, selfish things.

The girl is getting unwound because her parents wanted a boy and had four girls first. You know, because she’s Asian? And in China they get rid of girl babies? You get it? Do you get it? Wait, let me make sure you get it:

“Back in China, in the days when they only allowed one kid per family, people were killing off their baby girls left and right.”

CUTTING POLITICAL COMMENTARY.

Finally, super-badass omg tattoo kid apparently wanted to join the military but was too testosteroney for them because the military totally gives so many fucks about that. He actually has the winning backstory.

Roland had beaten up his stepfather for beating his mom. The mother took her husband’s side

All three of these stories are basically how families will mistreat children for different reasons, only in this world there’s a legal way to kill them for everyone to go to.

“That’s so unfair,” Risa tells him.
“Like what happened to you is any fairer?” says Connor.

What happened to Risa was extremely fair. They could only take care of a certain number of children. They had more than that number of children. It’s completely horrible, but the issue isn’t that it wasn’t fair.

“You keep talking to her in that tone of voice, maybe she’ll find herself a new boyfriend.”
Connor smiles with mocking warmth at him, and glances at the tattoo on his wrist. “I like your dolphin.”
Roland is not amused. “It’s a tiger shark, idiot.”
Connor makes a mental note never to turn his back on Roland.

Connor is a dick, therefore Roland is evil.

Anyway, they settle in and Risa takes care of the baby by herself (because she is A GIRL and also because non-traditional families are destroying America so she can’t have the other girl help her). The baby cries a lot which annoys everyone, because they’re all too stupid to be concerned that the sound will give them away. I mean, this is a place to store alcohol, it’s not exactly like it needed to be soundproofed.

Roland declares he’ll be in charge of rationing the abundant food. If the book had managed to shut up for two seconds about how he’s evil because he’s got a tattoo, this would’ve been a good development showing him to be trouble.

Rich kid jumps in before Connor can start a fight so he just glares a little, then he finishes off with his super ultra witty quip “Nice socks.” and we get a paragraph on how great an idea it is and then richy rich boy compliments him on how great it is and this fucking book.

Connor tells him that the baby isn’t his.

“It’s cool that you’re hanging with her even though the kid’s not yours.”

Because sluts, remember. Connor quickly explains the whole no she’s still a virgin thing.

“Don’t tell Roland,” he says. “The only reason he’s being so nice to the two of you is because he believes in the sanctity of the nuclear family.” Connor can’t tell whether Hayden’s being serious or sarcastic.

And isn’t that a depressing little note about someone from such a terrible family. It also casts another, more upsetting light on the earlier exchange where he snapped at Connor for snapping at Risa.

Back to more standard failures:

“My life as a Morlock,” he says.
“Am I supposed to know what that is?”
“Light-sensitive underground frogmen, often portrayed in bad green-rubber costumes.

Because while the classic itself will be forgotten, the crappy movies based on it will be forever, even though by the days of the ipod, bad rubber costumes had already given way to bad CGI.

Later Hayden is playing around with a lit candle and starts rambling about wondering how harvest camps work.

harvest camps are like black holes. Nobody knows what goes on inside.”
“Everybody knows what goes on,” says Connor.
“No,” says Hayden. “Everybody knows the result, but nobody knows how unwinding works. I want to know how it happens. Does it happen right away, or do they keep you waiting? Do they treat you kindly, or coldly?”

So the press is just dead in this world. No one does interviews or investigation. And presumably if any of the workers blogged about it they’d get censored or imprisoned. So really, they can do anything they want to the kids in there – anything too big that’d cause trouble might get the government to step in, but raping a few kids probably isn’t a big deal. Or selling them. I mean, they process a lot of kids, and no one’s ever going to check in to see what’s happening.

Hayden says that maybe being unwound will bring his parents together. Mai says that’s stupid.

“Maybe,” says Hayden. “Or maybe they’ll finally see the light, and it will be Humphrey Dunfee all over again.”

Mai doesn’t know the story! Somehow. So now it’s time to get the story. Humphrey, and the book even has Hayden acknowledge that his name probably wasn’t Humphrey and for god’s sake NOT HOW IT WORKS they’d just call the kid Humpty Dumpty!

So he gets unwound and then his parents go nuts and hack in to find who got what part so they can put him back together. I’m really not seeing why this would be something kids about to be unwound worry about. It’s not even that good of a boogieman, because most parts would be going to adults. If it was that they just started hacking kids up hoping one day they’d be able to make a kid of their own, okay, but part of the story is that they found who had his organs first.

Because it’s supposedly a scary story, they end it shouting BOO because being hidden doesn’t mean being quiet. Also Roland appears right afterward having somehow not heard the whole thing because this is such a roomy hidden room that you can easily miss conversations.

That’s when Roland appears from behind his bookshelves.

Oh also apparently Roland stole an MP3 player. Connor figured this out by the fact he was listening to music, therefore theft, and naturally he’s right because suey sue sue.

The asshole old woman asks them to come up one by one for some unknown purpose that turns out to be writing a letter to someone. I thought this was to record what’s happening and maybe publicize them, but

“I’m going to hold this letter for you,” she tells him. “If you survive to eighteen, you must promise that you’ll come back here to get it. Will you make me that promise?”

At least she’s not going to just burn them if he doesn’t. In that case she’ll send the letter, presumably not making any record of it first. A thousand future historians shake their fists at you, lady.

She shows him the giant heavy trunk over the trap door is actually full of these letters —hundreds of them – because hundreds is all it’d take to fill a giant trunk, sure. Also she’s apparently dealt with a ridiculous number of kids. Clearly, only a fraction of the kids getting unwound run, and only a tiny fraction of those should be crossing her path, but she’s got hundreds of letters stored up and those don’t even represent all the kids, since she’s supposed to be giving them back or sending them at a certain point.