The Unit (Audible Audio Edition) Ninni Holmqvist Suzanne Toren Audible Studios Books
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When Dorrit Wegner turned fifty, the government transferred her to a state-of-the-art facility where she can live out her days in comfort. Her apartment is furnished to her tastes, her meals expertly served, and all at the very reasonable non-negotiable price of one cardiopulmonary system. Once an outsider without family, derided by a society bent on productivity, Dorrit finds within The Unit the company of kindred spirits and a dignity conferred by 'use' in medical tests. But when Dorrit also finds love, her peaceful submission is blown apart and she must fight to escape before her 'final donation'.
The Unit (Audible Audio Edition) Ninni Holmqvist Suzanne Toren Audible Studios Books
We're all bound to feel dispensable in one way or another at some point in life, and Holmqvist's book takes that notion to the not-so-distant future when it's a given that the childless in society will be sent to live out their final days at a facility where they engage in various experiments and donations until they have nothing left to give. The irony of course is that this is the first time most of the residents have ever felt a sense of belonging. The author's prose is sparse and to the point, and it's refreshing how everything plays out as it should given the parameters of this futuristic society. Its simple prose raises significant political and personal questions as to what has value in this world on multiple levels.Product details
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The Unit (Audible Audio Edition) Ninni Holmqvist Suzanne Toren Audible Studios Books Reviews
Imagine living in a society where single or childless people are considered dispensable. Oh, wait, we do. Okay, imagine that these people are legally dispensable. In The Unit, a Scandinavian dystopian novel, women over fifty and men over sixty, that are single, childless, and working in nonessential professions are sent to live in Reserve Bank Units. Here they have a comfortable living environment, everything they could want or need available to them at no cost. In exchange, they are expected to participate in drug testing and donate an organ or two or three, until the make their final donation, the heart. These organs are given to essential people, those with children, those needed by society.
The Unit begins with Dorrit, who has turned fifty, works in the arts and has no children. She has to leave her house and her dog behind and move into one of these units. She quickly adapts to her new life, making friends and enjoying what the facility has to offer in the way of restaurants, exercise and swimming facilities, bookstores, and gardens. She does miss her dog, Jock, who she gave a a nice family but is not allowed to find out how he is. Because Dorrit is so healthy, the experiments that she participates in are much nicer than some of the other residents. But then Dorrit meets a man, falls in love, and miraculously becomes pregnant. But Dorrit will not be allowed to keep her baby, though she decides not to abort, it must be given to someone necessary. This changes how Dorrit has thought of her life and thinks of her new circumstances.
This book was thought-provoking, but not really political, focusing mostly on Dorrit and her personal experience. The details of this government and society are mostly alluded to, though we know that Dorrit and others are aware of what will happen to them when they turn fifty. It is not known if the dispensable can leave the country before age fifty or if other countries engage in this practice. Sperm banks are available, so it leaves one to wonder why they don't have kids just to avoid this fate. In Dorrit's case, she actually had an abortion when she was in her twenties, thinking she had plenty of time to start a family.
Now that she is pregnant, Dorrit rethinks how she had always thought of her life as a free-spirit and the way she thought of mothers.
A lot was left unanswered, but I think the author just wanted to focus on Dorrit and her story and that I believe was the downfall of this novel. To take such a society but only portray it in a microcosm defeated the powerful effect the novel could have had.
While an interesting subject, it could have been explored more fully, explored more relationships and lives of other characters. Perhaps the point of view of those living in the outside, essential world would have provided an interesting contrast.
As a single, childless, forty-year old, this did hit close to home. Of course, I was most upset that Dorrit had to leave her dog as my dogs are my children. But then also, that was the relationship that the author portrayed the most poignantly, it almost had me in tears.
my rating 3/5
This started out as a very interesting concept if you're single and childless by a certain age, society puts you in a community apartment with all your food and amenities paid for, but you're harvested for organs and a guinea pig for new medicine to help better society.
The novel was a missed opportunity. While the first 15% or so was super interesting, the last 1/2 of the book dragged on and became pretty boring and predictable. This could have been SO much better in another author's hands.
A pleasant read with deceptively simple storytelling that poses some big questions. (I'm reviewing this on my second read of the book. The first time, I breezed through it, set it aside and then was surprised how it lingered. This time, I gave it a closer read.)
The narrator Dorrit Weger describes life in a world where at age 50, for women, and 60, for men, people who have not had children or made "needed" attachments become "dispensable." They are moved to group homes where they take part in research experiments and then donate organs (until their final gift) for the benefit of society.
The story takes place in the utopian confines of the dispensable Unit, a windowless luxury shopping mall where everything is free and Dorrit is free to spend her time eating, exercising, writing, and forming loving relationships with the other dispensables. There's exploration, not action. Our protagonist is passive, partly how she became dispensable.
At the same time, she's threatened by a sinister dystopia, imprisoned by distant laws and bureaucracy, and under constant surveillance. Over time, dispensables sicken and display the wounds of the experiments they must take part it. Dorrit's friends disappear as they make their final donations. The dispensable are constantly aware that their worth lies in their monetary value to their more "needed" counterparts in outside world. Their lives, attachments, arts, and pleasures have no value otherwise.
Far from being didactic, the novel lends itself to interpretation and offers itself up for questioning. Recommended for book clubs.
Pairs well with Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.
The Unit is where the "dispensable" are sent- people that are not needed ie non parents- and used for medical testing and organ/tissue harvesting to be used for the "indispensable" ie parents. I loved this book so much I got through it one sitting easy. The book focused on one character, Dorritt, and her relationships formed inside the Unit, the testing and 'donations' done there, inducing the 'final donations', and how those interact and change those relationships and mentalities.
I was surprised a little by the ending, which I always enjoy, as it was not the ending I was predicting throughout the book, but still a great end! I am hoping the author keeps going with this imaginary world and comes out with a second book. I feel like the idea of dispensable and indispensables would be great to explore from another side such as the workers at the unit, or the indispensables receiving the donations...
We're all bound to feel dispensable in one way or another at some point in life, and Holmqvist's book takes that notion to the not-so-distant future when it's a given that the childless in society will be sent to live out their final days at a facility where they engage in various experiments and donations until they have nothing left to give. The irony of course is that this is the first time most of the residents have ever felt a sense of belonging. The author's prose is sparse and to the point, and it's refreshing how everything plays out as it should given the parameters of this futuristic society. Its simple prose raises significant political and personal questions as to what has value in this world on multiple levels.
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