Book Review: The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

When Dorrit Weger turns 50, she has to leave her beloved dog behind and enter the Second Reserve Bank Unit. She’s hit the age (50 for women, 60 for men) where without a spouse or children or an essential career, she is considered “expendable” and her biological material is property of the state to use and redistribute as they see fit.

This is translated from the Swedish, and it pulsates with a very practical, Scandinavian flair. The premise is chilling, but the presentation often lulls the reader into a grudging sort of acceptance (which is the REALLY chilling part, if you think about it). The residents of the unit, including Dorrit, feel like they are very well treated and cared for (and aside from being human guinea pigs for drug experiments and donating their organs, they are) and many actually form close bonds with other people for the first time in their lives.

There are no real individual villains here either. Even the director of the unit is unusually patient and kind. Everyone is treated with respect, and you can’t really blame anyone for just doing their job. Sure, it sucks that people like authors or artists who chose to contribute to the planet’s cultural well-being rather than to contribute to its overpopulation are considered inferior, but they are after all well aware of what happens to them if they don’t conform to their society. They’ve had time to consider their options.

Although the novel’s plot holds a big surprise that pumps up the drama midway through and ratchets up the outrage quotient, I might have liked to see how the author would have dealt with an even more extreme example…someone who followed all the rules and was still screwed over. Like, for example, a 50 year old woman who is in a car accident with her husband and children, and when they all die, she is considered expendable and sent to The Unit. How would the residents and staff react then?

Another big question mark for me was the reach of the society. It wasn’t clear was if this was limited to Sweden or more widespread. We hear about women “stealing sperm” from men in their desperation to get pregnant, but we don’t hear about people trying to escape to other countries.

Still, despite this frustating lack of insight on the society at large and the overall passivity of characters who accept things the way they are instead of trying to change them for the better, I really liked the way the novel raised a lot of thought-provoking questions about the value and meaning of life and presented a scarily-plausible dystopian future.

THE UNIT is available now in paperback. Find out more about it on the publisher's website.

My rating: 4 Zombie Chickens – An Excellent Example of the Dystopian Genre

See index of all dystopian reviews on Presenting Lenore