Thursday, March 24, 2011

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Title Bumped
Author Megan McCafferty
Reading Level Young Adult; 336 pages
Publisher HarperTeen---Imprint: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date April 26, 2011




My first thought on Bumped was what are they talking about? Some of it I understood and some of it was like a foreign language to me! I understood the underlying premise of the story and it didn’t take me long to catch on to some of the slang and soon found it quite hilarious at times. I was expecting a darker dystopian world where the government forced young girls to become pregnant against their will but what I found was quite different. In fact, it was a refreshing change from the dark depressing worlds of most dystopian novels.

The story, told in tandem by Melody and Harmony, two twin sisters, who were given up at birth are reunited at age 16. They’ve both led extremely different lives. The world they live in is one in which a virus attacks women around the age of 18 or older making them sterile. They bid for the most genetically appealing young girl and make a contract with her to carry a baby with another genetically perfect man. The girl then is expected to “do the deed, born to breed” (pg. 10) at a very young age. This is compounded in their head. To be perfect in everything is what Melody strives at and she succeeds. She is beautiful, extremely intelligent, athletic and most importantly, doesn’t have the dreaded virus. Harmony on the other hand grew up quite differently; believing in the sanctity of arranged marriage and has lived in a Christian like compound that has had the opposite message but just as powerful. Believing that she should be engaged by 13 and married shortly afterwards, keeping her children as opposed to selling them to the highest bidder.

Ms. McCafferty did such a spectacular job with this story, where it was often light hearted and sometimes downright hilarious the underlying tragedy and consequences were always there just under the surface. I absolutely love the characters, even the snarky jerk that I won’t name. I quickly became invested in them, both the main and the secondary. It took me a while to like Melody but she did grow on me as she developed a voice throughout the book. The unique world building wasn’t understandable at first but the characters actually walked me through it and that was the fun part!

Bumped was fantastic, thought provoking and fun. The ending leads me to believe a sequel is on its way and this reader will welcome it with open arms! I would highly recommend this book!

10 comments:

  1. I saw this read on NetGalley and debated about reading it. I picked something else instead. I'm glad to hear you liked it. I like when books turn out different than you expected, but in a good way. I enjoyed reading your review.

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  2. Hm... I've been curious about it. I'm glad that the language did not get in the way. I, like Aimee, debated and went another way. Maybe I shouldn't have. Thanks for the review.

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  3. Thanks, it was different at first but I did like it. Really hard to write a spoiler free review on, though!

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  4. Hi Melissa,

    It's worth the read. I was expecting something much different but I was pleasantly surprised.

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  5. It's funny. I felt just the opposite about Melody and Harmony. I actually disliked Harmony at first but ending up liking her in the end. Thanks for the review!

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  6. Great review! I have seen this book around before, but I never wanted to read it until now. Thanks for sharing enough info about it to get me interested. :)

    -Sandra from http://sandrathenookworm.blogspot.com

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  7. Wow, that is a strange premise. From what I can tell, there are a lot of odd books out there lately. Wither has the same kind of "fast track" in life, and then there's Gone, with all of its children being the rulers.

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  8. Great review! I think part of what makes this novel so unnerving is the light and playful tone the society takes towards this disturbing situation! I was really confused at first too, but eventually caught the flow and meaning of the crazy slang lol. That cliffhanger ending O_O Gah!

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  9. this is a great review!! I cant wait to read it :)

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  10. I had a hard time writing this review. It was the first review after a 'slump' from being ill for about 3 months and like Casey said, it was light and playful but underneath it was incredibly disturbing.
    Writing a 'spoiler-free' review was hard because the book actually was hilarious half the time but in truth it was glossing over a much deeper issue.
    I'd recommend it to just about anyone because, dystopian or not, the issue at hand is similar to what teens are doing now despite the incredible amount of knowledge they have.
    I wish I could rewrite my review because I was hasty when I wrote it thinking only "watch for spoilers" so I didn't really say what I wanted to.

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