Saturday, October 28, 2017

The Unit (by Ninni Holmqvist)

Super enjoyed this one. I forget where I read about it, but was probably seduced by the premise, which is extremely similar to that of one of my favorite novels, Never Let Me Go.  In this version, women over 50 and men over 60 who have not yet had children are considered "dispensible," live their final years in an all-inclusive luxury resort prison, have a variety of experiments performed on them, and gradually donate their organs to the "needed," people with children and families of their own.

The main character (and unreliable narrator, everyone knows how much I love a good unreliable narrator) is Dorrit, and the book discusses her life in The Unit, the friendships she makes, the difficulty of leaving behind her life and her dog Jake, and what happens when (like Kath in Never Let Me Go) she falls in love.  The premise is similar and yet where the two novels end up is so different. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it, but as a woman in her 40s who could easily see herself living Dorrit's solitary life and enjoying it, I found it thought provoking and moving.

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