Book Review BUMPED by Megan McCafferty

Title: BUMPED
Author: Megan McCafferty
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 323

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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 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.

My review:  In the not-so-distant future, a wretched virus attacks all American citizens upon reaching adulthood, rendering them infertile.  Teens in their "reproductive prime" are contracted and paid for serving as surrogates for the desperate couples longing for a child.  Identical twins separated at birth, sixteen years old, discover who they are, decide to meet when both are at the precipice of their futures.  Melody is your typical all-American high school student with extra-curricular activities filling her life.  Harmony is a God-fearing, church-going girl who has never stepped outside of the expectations of her world.  Upon meeting, things don't go ever as anticipated.  Melody and Harmony begin to question their destinies and how they are intertwined with one another.

I had high hopes for this book.  I mean, it's a satirical, futuristic view of a very real issue.  The glamorization of teen pregnancy is an issue that is in our faces every day, with cast member of MTV's Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant reaching celebrity status.  As someone who is pretty passionate about social issues, I was excited to read it.  I discovered it in a used bookstore and as I am just getting back to my old reading self, I figured this was a good book to ease my way back.  I must say, having never read any of Megan McCafferty's works (in fact the only reason I had ever heard of her was because of the 2006 plagiarism scandal via Kaavya Viswanathan's pulled novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life).  This novel is told from both Harmony's and Melody's points of view.  I found very quickly that I was not invested in the story, I really just wanted everything to stay the same for both characters.  At one point, it seemed like it was never going to end and I was so confused on how the story could be wrapped up.  In addition, because this book takes place in the future, technology is abound and the creations that the author has infused into the story made it all that more confusing.  I had the most difficult time envisioning a MiVu, the MiNet, the various "bump" attire, the futuristic prescription drugs of choice.  The slang was equally difficult to decipher and took me quite a few chapters to "get it."  To compound the issue, the author introduced so many characters that I found myself having to go back to try to piece the story together.  Who was Malia again?  And Shoko?  Which one was Ventura Vida?  It was all so head-scratching.  

Ultimately, I believe McCafferty's vision was to invoke a discussion about rights to your own body, making your own choices, and glamorizing teen pregnancy.  Unfortunately, the message did not come through clearly.

Reviewed by Espe