Pages: 336
Genre: YA/Dystopia
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.
Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pegging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.
Bumped by Megan McCafferty takes place in a dystopian world in which a virus has made everyone over the age of 18 infertile. Now teenage girls are payed to be surrogates. In the world where Bumped takes place being pregnant as a teenager is actually a good thing!
Twin sisters Harmony and Melody (I love the names!) were separated at birth and they’re completely different. Harmony is the goody-two-shoes church girl who wants to take her sister to the Goodside to save her from the sin that “bumping” for pay is, while all Melody wants is to score a good pregnancy deal. A case of mistaken identity, though, could destroy their perfectly-laid plans.
The book started a bit slow for me. There was way too much telling. Telling about Melody’s past, telling about Harmony’s past, etc. And it honestly confused. There are things such as the MiChat that threw me off. I had absolutely no idea what they were! But as I read on I managed to figure it out. After I got past the book’s slow start, I actually began to enjoy it. The pacing became faster, the characters more interesting, and a lot of scandalous things were revealed. I enjoyed the character’s voice, and I loved the terms they used (like “for serious”, “bonerkiller”, and “spermhood”). And the songs the characters they listened to were hilarious!
The book was a good read, but there were some things that bothered me. Close to the end of the book, there was this 11-year-old who was pregnant. This freaked me out! 11-years-old pregnant! And the whole pregnancy obsession was like the Justin Bieber obsession girls have these days. And when I read that one of the characters lost his virginity at the age of fourteen I was aghast. Fourteen! This book was like 16 and Pregnant gone extreme. I clearly see that McCafferty threw all those things in the book to show teenagers, parents, and people in general how bad teenage pregnancy can get! It’s the sneak peek of an eerie future I don’t want to live in!
Another thing I would like to point out (it’s so important that it got its own paragraph) it the sex parties. The cheerclones (cheerleaders) had orgy parties in which they would all “bump” with boys and hope to get pregnant. That right there screams “desperate” and “slutty” to me clear and loud!
Personally, I loved this book. L.O.V.E.D. It was wonderful, fast-paced, and had a great message. I loved the characters, especially Zen, Melody’s best friend. He was sweet, charming, but was a bit too much of a pervert. I liked Jondoe at first, but at the end of the book I didn’t whether to believe him or not. And the end! Oh, it was so brilliant and it left me hanging! I really hope there’s a sequel!
I loved this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. Some might find it too disturbing and even sickening! So read at your own risk! Now I will leave you with one last message: Be safe, don’t do drugs, and use a condom if necessary!
Au revoir, darlings!
~MS
