Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped                                                



Bumped (Bumped, #1)

Description from Goodreads.com   http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8517207-bumped
When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until 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 religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” 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.

I knew as soon as I finished this book I would need some time to think about how to review it. And I found myself kinda speechless. And I was really glad to find that I was not alone! But here we go: My first impressions while reading where shock, disgust, humor, and sad. I think the thing is this is a dystopian novel, although the world where your selling your body as a surrogate is not completely unknown to us but the immense inhumanity that came through the way it was handled disturbed me. Other things that disturbed me were the religious aspect and the adultery, lying, money hungry, jiggalo's and paparazzi. The part that had me the most heart broken was that these girls are genetically tested early in life for the likely-hood of having healthy children, not just healthy but then they are matched up to have the babies look as much like the paying parents as possible by mixing and matching the teens to "breed" together. The bumping contracts begin early in life, the girls are treated as a business deal than human beings. Girls can also choose to bump with boys that they are not contracted to bump with but the kids seem less likely to be bought from unmatched coupling.
It all leads to a society that has a very messed up sense of sex, marriage and family. The emotions are strong, raw and very real.
It was an intense read for me. And I honestly think that I barely touched on what the story has to offer. I can definitely see this one getting banned. There is a lot of religious views expressed, a lot of controversial behavior and several things that can lead to some healthy discussions and our views towards teenage pregnancy and how it has become popularized by television and reality shows.
I do not want to discourage anybody to pick this one up, I actually recommend that you do. I think it was a life changing book for me, this is one I will never forget. This book is going to be a topic for discussion and highly debated. May just make the next banned book list....and that is a very good thing. Even though the religious aspect and the business side of the whole thing made me very uncomfortable I do believe it can lead to very healthy conversations.
Please check out the Discussion Guide for this book here:Bumped Discussion Guide
http://www.meganmccafferty.com/news/
http://www.meganmccafferty.com/2011/04/more-bloggers-love-bumped/

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