What a read - before starting this book, I was set to read my second dystopian and in the back of my mind was my love for Delirious by Lauren Oliver. Yes, this was a dystopian, but there is no way to compare or contrast this book with that one. So I ended up reading another book in the genre, but enjoying another aspect of it.
A world where a woman beyond the age of 18 loses the ability to have children or so they think. Adults must rely on teenagers to grow their family. A responsibility that any teenager should not bear on their shoulders for fear that it may get out of hand - and in this book it does. These girls are put into positions that make them grow up faster than they should have and completely changes their ability to slowly grow from young girl to young adult.
In a video on Goodreads, the author speaks about the craze about young girls getting pregnant and how that was the first thing that started her brainstorm that created this book. Although, the underlying theme is teenage pregnancy, I think the larger message is that our teenagers should not be put into positions to make adult decisions. Instead teenagers should still be making safe decisions that don't gravely impact the rest of their lives. I may be taking away a completely different message than intended.
A book for young adults. A definite read for women of the older generation as well.
A world where a woman beyond the age of 18 loses the ability to have children or so they think. Adults must rely on teenagers to grow their family. A responsibility that any teenager should not bear on their shoulders for fear that it may get out of hand - and in this book it does. These girls are put into positions that make them grow up faster than they should have and completely changes their ability to slowly grow from young girl to young adult.
In a video on Goodreads, the author speaks about the craze about young girls getting pregnant and how that was the first thing that started her brainstorm that created this book. Although, the underlying theme is teenage pregnancy, I think the larger message is that our teenagers should not be put into positions to make adult decisions. Instead teenagers should still be making safe decisions that don't gravely impact the rest of their lives. I may be taking away a completely different message than intended.
A book for young adults. A definite read for women of the older generation as well.
The year is 2035 and a virus has made anyone eighteen and older infertile. Teenagers are urged to carry and deliver and there is a lot of money and fame to be made. The amateurs bump with their boyfriends and then their deliveries are auctioned to the highest bidder. Then there are the professionals, girls who hold out for a high valued contract.
Melody has a contract with the Jaydens. She was one of the first girls to make surrogating cool. The problem though, is that the Jaydens still have not picked out the perfect male and she is already sixteen. Most of her friends have already delivered or are working on their second bump. Her best friend Zen would love to bump with her but he isn't tall enough. So she waits.
Harmony is Melody's twin sister. They were separated at birth, and while Melody was adopted, Harmony was raised in the church. When she turns sixteen, she gets her file and realizes she has a twin sister. She decides to meet Melody and when she realizes that Melody is yearning to surrogate without marriage, she makes it her mission to bring God to her.
The two girls are complete opposites even though they are mirror images of one another. But when the Jaydens finally choose a perfect male for Melody to bump, the wrong person receives the message. What transpires will change the twins' lives forever.
In a society that hinges on young teenagers to procreate, it made this reviewer with a teenage daughter shudder at how accepted it was. Making love is for adults, but bumping is acceptable, in fact urged, if a delivery will be made from it. The characters are likable and the world is easy to understand, even with their slang and new age gadgets. The book ties up nicely but alludes to a second installment. There are sexual relations alluded to and some vulgar language but this book will make you think long after you close the covers.
Melody has a contract with the Jaydens. She was one of the first girls to make surrogating cool. The problem though, is that the Jaydens still have not picked out the perfect male and she is already sixteen. Most of her friends have already delivered or are working on their second bump. Her best friend Zen would love to bump with her but he isn't tall enough. So she waits.
Harmony is Melody's twin sister. They were separated at birth, and while Melody was adopted, Harmony was raised in the church. When she turns sixteen, she gets her file and realizes she has a twin sister. She decides to meet Melody and when she realizes that Melody is yearning to surrogate without marriage, she makes it her mission to bring God to her.
The two girls are complete opposites even though they are mirror images of one another. But when the Jaydens finally choose a perfect male for Melody to bump, the wrong person receives the message. What transpires will change the twins' lives forever.
In a society that hinges on young teenagers to procreate, it made this reviewer with a teenage daughter shudder at how accepted it was. Making love is for adults, but bumping is acceptable, in fact urged, if a delivery will be made from it. The characters are likable and the world is easy to understand, even with their slang and new age gadgets. The book ties up nicely but alludes to a second installment. There are sexual relations alluded to and some vulgar language but this book will make you think long after you close the covers.
Megan McCafferty is the author of the Jessica Darling books, hands-down my all-time favorite contemporary series. The dystopian novel BUMPED is a huge departure from her legacy, but you tone down your instinctual desire to compare it to the Jessica Darling books, it is a fantastically complex story that will provide fodder for thought for multiple rereads.
BUMPED is an example of a dystopian society that is so fully realized and self-sustaining that it becomes very difficult for us outsiders to access. I spent a significant portion of the first half of BUMPED trying to figure out the rules of Harmony and Melodys world, chock-full of futuristic terms, attitudes, and daily routines that seem extremely alien to us.
This may make BUMPED feel like a tryingly slow-moving novel, but once you get into their societys groove, you quickly realize just how much Megan McCafferty has accomplished. If our currently label-preoccupied, materialistic, and consumeristic society were indeed to suffer from a mysterious virus that makes all adults infertile, you can bet that the resulting society would be almost exactly the one McCafferty has created here. All of the new vocabulary that Harmony and Melody use effortlessly can be traced back to our current world, so that once youre successfully immersed in the story, you really get it.
At first both sisters came off as a bit flat and indistinguishable for me, but as the story went on they blossomed into uniquely complex individuals that I found myself really rooting for. Melody seems like shes got everything figured out and going for her, albeit in a rather boring way. The deterioration of her perfect life forces her to finally confront herself with what she really wants, rather than what she was brought up to want. Harmony starts off as an irritatingly preachy girl, but as she becomes further entangled in Melodys world, and deals with emotional turmoil of her own, I found myself liking her more and more for her determination to do right and stay true to herself in a manipulative world that she does not quite understand.
Supporting characters like Melodys pregnancy club friends, Melodys charming best friend Zen, and Jondoe, the star stud whose sperm is in high demand, all have a delightful roundedness to themroundedness that does not mean they are perfectly bland characters, but instead have the ability to fight for what they want, even if we may not necessarily agree with what they want.
BUMPED is a layered book that will be good for multiple rereads, as each successive reread reveals a new layer of characterization, wordplay, and world-building that you may have noticed in passing in the first read-through but become really impressed by only in subsequent rereads. This, I think, is Megan McCaffertys ultimate gift as an author: she has a fierce talent for and dedication to writing books that can be enjoyed at multiple levels, good for a permanent fixture on your reread shelf. Avid lovers of her Jessica Darling books, such as myself, will, I think, appreciate that the most about her first foray outside of Jessicas well-known world, and as a result Im really looking forward to the sequel and whatever Megan has to share with us next.
BUMPED is an example of a dystopian society that is so fully realized and self-sustaining that it becomes very difficult for us outsiders to access. I spent a significant portion of the first half of BUMPED trying to figure out the rules of Harmony and Melodys world, chock-full of futuristic terms, attitudes, and daily routines that seem extremely alien to us.
This may make BUMPED feel like a tryingly slow-moving novel, but once you get into their societys groove, you quickly realize just how much Megan McCafferty has accomplished. If our currently label-preoccupied, materialistic, and consumeristic society were indeed to suffer from a mysterious virus that makes all adults infertile, you can bet that the resulting society would be almost exactly the one McCafferty has created here. All of the new vocabulary that Harmony and Melody use effortlessly can be traced back to our current world, so that once youre successfully immersed in the story, you really get it.
At first both sisters came off as a bit flat and indistinguishable for me, but as the story went on they blossomed into uniquely complex individuals that I found myself really rooting for. Melody seems like shes got everything figured out and going for her, albeit in a rather boring way. The deterioration of her perfect life forces her to finally confront herself with what she really wants, rather than what she was brought up to want. Harmony starts off as an irritatingly preachy girl, but as she becomes further entangled in Melodys world, and deals with emotional turmoil of her own, I found myself liking her more and more for her determination to do right and stay true to herself in a manipulative world that she does not quite understand.
Supporting characters like Melodys pregnancy club friends, Melodys charming best friend Zen, and Jondoe, the star stud whose sperm is in high demand, all have a delightful roundedness to themroundedness that does not mean they are perfectly bland characters, but instead have the ability to fight for what they want, even if we may not necessarily agree with what they want.
BUMPED is a layered book that will be good for multiple rereads, as each successive reread reveals a new layer of characterization, wordplay, and world-building that you may have noticed in passing in the first read-through but become really impressed by only in subsequent rereads. This, I think, is Megan McCaffertys ultimate gift as an author: she has a fierce talent for and dedication to writing books that can be enjoyed at multiple levels, good for a permanent fixture on your reread shelf. Avid lovers of her Jessica Darling books, such as myself, will, I think, appreciate that the most about her first foray outside of Jessicas well-known world, and as a result Im really looking forward to the sequel and whatever Megan has to share with us next.
