PJ Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Genre: Young Adult,  Dystopian
SciFi Element: Post-Apocalyptic World, Zombies

Order Online:  Amazon.com
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Review copy provided by Amazon Vine.


PJ's QUICKIE POV:
What can I say about BUMPED? Compared to the wonderful dystopian titles that have been released this year, BUMPED, well should be BUMPED, right off the shelf. Rilly, rilly. This book was for shock value only, a controversial topic was picked, expounded upon but was not taken to a logical conclusion. It was all window dressing with no heart or soul. The concept was interesting but the implementation was mind-numbingly vapid and then labeled a satire. Yet, the whole time I was reading it was like a train-wreck - I just couldn't stop, no matter how bad it was.


REVIEW:
In the future of BUMPED adults over the age of 20, because of some widely spread disease  are rendered infertile. It is the patriotic thing to do for teenagers to get pregnant and hand over their babies for adoption. Because of this phenomenon American consumerism takes over and those evil profit moguls step in and begin to exploit teenagers for birthing and money making purposes. Factions form and among the pregnant and wanna-be preggo teens Pros and Ams are made. Pros are girls that are sponsored by couples desperate for children. Their "sperm" is chosen for them and they are given money to stay pristine until their optimal conception time when the hired sperm steps in and they BUMP. Purely professional. Then thre are the Ams, the amateurs who just BUMP with their boyfriends, or in orgy parties, or just with random optimal sperm donors around their school and town. Once conception is achieved there baby goes up for auction.

Melody has been primed for her PRO position since she was a newborn. Her parents, economist, rightly guessed the way the world was heading and prepped their perfectly adopted child to be a high grossing baby making machine. They just didn't expect for Melody's identical twin sister to show up in her godreak attire and change Melody's whole world.

All I can say is that someone was watching a little too many Sixteen and Pregnant on Mtv and came up with this book. Complete train wreck. Let's write a book with a lot of sex talk, religious talk and consumerism talk - squish it all together in one controversial read and let everything sort itself out in the end and so we don't get too heavy, shove in some comedic portrayal and label it a satire. I'm surprised they didn't blame the disease on global warming or conservative thought just to jack up the controversial topics a little bit more.

Because of the statement before, you might think I didn't like this book because it offended me. And honestly, it didn't offend me, because I really couldn't find what stance this book was taking on anything. At first it seemed it was against religion...because of the ridiculous way the "godfreak" sister was portrayed. But as the book progressed it seemed to take a a pro-Christian outlook. I just couldn't garner the message through all the glitz and I think that was my problem. Maybe I just don't get satire. Maybe I need a glowing neon sign that says "Message" for me to get it. In then end the only thing I got out of it was Bump for Love Not Money -- so don't be a prostitute. Good message, but really how many people need to be told that?? LOL

Dislikes -

1. The vapid future speak, words like bump, preggy, rilly, it was forced and halfway through a paragraph I would be completely confused because I wasn't following all the trendy jive and then it would smooth down into normal speak. The tone didn't flow.
2. How everything was so extreme - the religious twin was dressed from head to foot and even in a veil, they had fake pregnancy bumps that tweens would wear around because it was cool to be pregnant. Seemed a bit over-the-top.
3. The fact that this wasn't really a dystopian. Melody was railing against an ideology instead of a ruling body.
4. It was like Brave New World meets Tila Tequlia.
5. There was just really no plot, just a lot of controversial topics.

Likes -
The idea was original.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
I can't recommend this book. I also do not recommend this for teens. And it is not about the sex or the cursing or the hinting at racism, orgies, and blatant materialistic behavior. No, it is none of those things. It was the fact that all of those things are included in this book, but there is no definitive message interlaced in with these things to counteract the negative messages. Yes, in the end Melody railed against the box she was placed within - but it wasn't because she had her own way of thinking and needed to express herself. No, it was because of the actions of other people around her. In the end she made the right decision because of choices other people made for her, not because of herself. It just painted a bad picture and I don't think this is suitable for young consumption.










Like this, Like That:

1. Sixteen and Pregnant - Mtv