Written by: Lauren DeStefano
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Released on: March 22, 2011
Source: eARC from the publisher
4 out of 5 stars - I liked it, now go read why.
Synopsis (from Simon and Schuster): By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.
When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?
I didn’t want to like this book. You see, I’m a mom of three and while none of them are teenagers, my oldest is turning 12 next month and the premise of WITHER hit my motherly instincts and hit them hard. Teens dying at 20 and 25 years of age? That stopped me dead in my tracks, literally. Then I thought, wait, am I not the very mama who encourages her kids to broaden their horizons by making them read something that might be out of their comfort zone? So, I opened up WITHER and could not put it down until I turned that last page.
I don’t even know where to begin this review but I’ll start with Lauren’s writing. In her capable hands, they story is dark, painful and yet, maintains an unexpected level of hope. Her world-building is extremely detailed which is needed to explain a world where genetically engineered children have shortened lifespans. As a reader, you immediately expect them to grow up faster and experience more in much less time. The very different back-stories of the four wives (I’m including the first wife who appears briefly at the start of the story) illustrate a new world, a new America where there appears to be a frantic search for a cure for this virus. As a result, the efforts to continue the human race have become cruel – I’ll just mention the child slavery and widely-accepted, underage polygamy. As you can imagine, these efforts do not stop the virus and the deaths.
See what I mean? The subject matter is something that should have made me stop reading. Instead, Lauren made me think of our current society glamorizing teen pregnancies through TV shows and celebrities as well as the sickening amount of child trafficking that occurs in our world. If such a virus existed right now in our time – what would we do? What would our governments do? I’m a very liberal mother and still I kept thinking about the possibility.
While the premise was hard for me to stomach, the characters filled me with hope especially the protagonist, Rhine, who was determined to not accept her fate. I loved how she struggled to understand her sister-wives. In fact, I loved how the wives’ relationships developed over time. Every single one of them felt very real and I admired Lauren writing in those natural ebbs and flows of friendship and understanding. I even understood Linden (the husband) and surprisingly, I liked him.
So yes, the subject matter is heavy, but the character development is masterful. I would recommend this for older teens because of the implied sexual content and an accurately depicted birthing scene. I would also recommend it for book clubs because, boy, do I want to discuss this with my fellow bookworms.
What I’m trying to tell you, MMs, is don't shy away from the subject matter, like I almost did. If you want to see how a talented writer handles a controversial world in a way that will leave you feeling hopeful, pick up WITHER and do it now. Also a quick aside, even though this is a series, the story stands alone and in a world of predictable cliff-hangers, I was relieved and pleased at the feeling of completion at the end of this first story.