Bumped (Bumped, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Dec 28, 2010 Misty rated it it was ok

Shelves: recommended, dystopia-postapocalyptic, social-commentary, rant, series, arc-or-galley, read-in-2011, review-copy-solicited, parody-spoof-satire, ebook

2.5
I did another video review for this one (and if you want to watch it, you can here.) But if you're not into video reviews, here's a brief written review, in the language of Bumped:

It was like, rilly rilly all about young girls pregging for money. Like, for seriously young. But it was okay, 'cause they were being, like, patriotic, and all the hot girls go Pro anyway, and it's just a delivery, so who cares? And if creepy old guy agents are making you major bank on that pregg, and your creepy pa ...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Alicia rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2012

I’ll be honest. I had heard from some other people that they didn’t like Bumped much. They were quite disappointed by all the hype created for this book. I still found the premise for the book really interesting and wanted to read it. There were definitely some parts to the book that didn’t sit well with me, but I don’t think I was as disappointed by others.

What didn’t sit well with me at all was how babies were basically seen as property. Maybe it’s because I have an almost 4 months old daught I’ll be honest. I had heard from some other people that they didn’t like Bumped much. They were quite disappointed by all the hype created for this book. I still found the premise for the book really interesting and wanted to read it. There were definitely some parts to the book that didn’t sit well with me, but I don’t think I was as disappointed by others.

What didn’t sit well with me at all was how babies were basically seen as property. Maybe it’s because I have an almost 4 months old daughter, and the experience of pregnancy is fresh in my mind. When I would read about how the girls were given drugs to prevent the mother/baby bond during pregnancy and they referred to babies as “deliveries” or “preggs,” I found myself feeling upset. That bond is so precious.

Another part of the story that bothered me was how the teens were encouraged and paid to have sex and get pregnant. I can’t imagine a time when it would be okay for teens to have these masSEX parties trying to get pregnant. Or when it would be acceptable to use Tocin to facilitate sex when one of the partners wasn’t quite ready.

Even though these parts of the story bothered me, they still made me think. That’s the only reason I liked this book. The whole concept of teens being the only fertile part of the population really got me thinking. Could society really end up like that someday? The virus that led to the infertility, could it be caused by something we do now? Is there much difference between surrogates of present day and the surrogates in the book other than age?

Something that really stood out for me was how teen pregnancy was glorified in the book, primarily because of the need. It made me think of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom that so many people watch. While those shows might be meant to show the struggles of teen pregnancy, in some ways they glorify it. Here are these teen girls who have unprotected sex, get pregnant, and then find themselves with their own TV shows that millions of people watch. Could we eventually be a society that encourages teenage pregnancy rather than discouraging it? Could we eventually be providing teens with drugs to loosen them up for sex when they’re apprehensive rather than teaching them about abstinence and safe sex?

This book raised a lot of questions for me and really made me think. I’ll read the next book to find out what happens with Melody and Harmony.
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Jan 29, 2012 Susan rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, dystopia, science-fiction, young-adult

Even a poorly-worked out book like this one has a little merit. I'm giving it two stars rather than one for its interesting premise -- what if only teenagers were able to impregnate or conceive, and that ability was lost around age 18?

But that's about all I can say to recommend this book. The only character I really liked was Melody's boyfriend Zen. There were numerous places where what happened was so unlikely that everything connected with it seemed forced. One glaring example: (view spoiler) ...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Jayme(theghostreader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, 5-star-books

I liked this book more than I thought I would. I read the other reviews and they weren't very positive. I disagree. The first complaint about the book was the twins had stupid names-Melody and Harmony. They really didn't fit their names and that was okay by me. The second complaint was the points of view switch off and it is confusing to follow who was who and I didn't get that impression. I thought the two girls looked identical but had two distinct personalities. You can tell they were brought ...more

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Oct 20, 2010 Ashley rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, series, 2011

3.5 stars.

At first I just couldn't get into this book, but I wanted to so bad. I love Megan McCafferty and wanted to love this book. While I didn't love it I ended up interested and glad that I stuck with it. I will read the next one when it comes out. ...more

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