The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist

Synopsis


The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist, is quite possibly one of the creepiest books I've read in a long time. You spend the whole book with a serious case of the heebie-jeebies and at the end, you are really thankful that it is only a dystopia, and not the way things actually are.

The premise of the novel is a world in which those who are childless (women at the age of 50, men at 60) are required to go live in the Unit, where they must participate in medical experiments and donate organs as needed, until it slowly kills them. Dorrit, the main character, sees her friends there donate kidneys, parts of their livers, as well as participate in experiments that have serious repercussions, like brain tumors. Ultimately, every person there must make the "final donation," in which every part of them donated. This can be done when the person is getting too sick to participate in experiments, or just if those in charge decide it's time. It is incredibly haunting to listen to Dorrit describe so matter-of-factly what is happening to her and to those around her.

Despite the creepiness, and in fact probably because of it, I absolutely loved this book. I loved how even though these people are basically living in a body farm, everyone around them is wonderful - beautiful gardens, huge library, gourmet restaurants, state-of-the-art sports complex, etc. I enjoyed how qualities like loyalty are considered a detriment, and therefore something to avoid at all costs. There were a couple of decent plot twists that I found truly surprising, which made the end of the book truly unexpected.

**SPOILERS**

It was interesting to see how Dorrit's relationship with Johannes developed - it was a very typical courtship, which in that society is essentially outlawed. When Dorrit discovers she's pregnant, it is really unexpected. After all, she is 51 and her lover is in his 60s. As for his reaction, it is clear that he is not just happy about her pregnancy - there is something else going on - and when the reader (and Dorrit) realizes that he has gone for his final donation the next day, it is so tragic. As Dorrit points out, if she had gotten together with him in "the community" (ie. life outside the Unit) and gotten pregnant, then neither of them would have ended up there, and they could have had a very happy life together.

When Dorrit is able to escape from the Unit, it is virtually unbelievable that she would choose to go back, but that is what she does. She chooses to give her baby up for adoption (the other alternative would have been to have the entire fetus transplanted to someone else early on in the pregnancy), and then presumably does her final donation not too long after that. Despite the fact that she appears to recognize the heinousness of the Unit, the values have been so ingrained in her that she cannot stay away, under the guise of giving her baby a better life.

At the end of the book we realize that it is in fact something that Dorrit herself has written (the character is a novelist), which is not an altogether original or surprising ending. The only problem I had with it is that the sex scenes in the book are relatively explicit, and I found it hard to believe that she would write that about her own body and experiences, but maybe that is part of the new mentality of that world?

Final Thought

All in all, a great book! I highly recommend it. After having read this and the Millenium series, both of which take place in Sweden, I definitely do not have a strong desire to go there. I am sure similar issues are present in North America as well and I would love to read a book with a comparable dystopic view that takes place closer to home.