Book Thoughts: Bumped

Title: Bumped
Author: Megan McCafferty
Series: Bumped #1

I just recently finished this book and I went into it having read a number of mixed reviews. People either loved it because it was an excellent social commentary or hated it because the slang was over the top and the science didn't make any sense. I fell in with the first group, despite thinking after the first chapter that I would be in the second group.

Bumped is set in a future world where a virus has made most people over the age of 18 or so infertile, so teenage girls are paid to get pregnant and have deliveries (can't call them babies, that would imply emotional attachment) for wealthy couples who can't have their own children. Melody's adoptive parents know she's gorgeous, smart, and talented and have set her on the path to being a RePro (reproductive professional). Harmony, Melody's identical twin sister, was adopted by the church. She finds the whole "pregging" culture unthinkable.

In a lot of ways, the premise of the novel was over-the-top. The first chapter made me almost not want to finish the book. But I kept going and I ended up really engaged in the characters and the way they felt about their environments. There really is a fascinating commentary on the way we oversexualize women, both in the secular and religious worlds. Also, some of the marketing stuff hits a little too close to home.

Short version: I didn't expect to like this book, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it and am definitely planning to look for the sequel.

Book Thoughts: The Unidentified

Title: The Unidentified
Author: Rae Mariz

I think the thing that hit me hardest about this book is that it's totally plausible. Maybe not in the immediate future, but the technology of the Game is fast approaching and education spending is decreasing and corporations are on the rise... is it really so ridiculous to imagine a world where "school" is a blend of technology, video games, and marketing?

Before I get too rambly, let me start at the beginning. Katey, known to her friends as "Kid," is basically the epitome of mediocrity in the Game. She has decent scores, "riding high on the bell curve" as her advisor puts it, a few friends... she's not on the It List (which is an actual list in the Game), she's not a social pariah, she's just...average. And she's happy that way, mostly. And then an anti-corporate prank rattles her world. She's the only one who seems to care - and that attracts attention. Suddenly corporations want her, her friends don't understand her sudden popularity, she maybe has a boyfriend -- and the anonymous group responsible for the prank knows she knows about them. Cue mystery and hidden agendas.

It took me a while to get into The Unidentified for a couple of reasons. First, the set-up was kind of confusing; I didn't really understand the Game for the first several chapters. Second, the slang was not what I was used to; Kid and Mikey and Ari were using words that I didn't know. It took some getting used to. But once I got into it...wow. I couldn't put it down.

I love that The Unidentified challenges us to think. To think about popularity, and fashion, and corporate America, and what it means to have an identity. The ideas that this book tackles are so big and so real that it's impossible to read it without fully engaging your brain - and that's a good thing. But at the same time, it's a very basic look at friendship and humanity that is just as applicable now as in the technology-dominated society Kid lives in.

It's a bit confusing at times, but I think The Unidentified is definitely worth your time.