Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Book stats:
Genre(s): Dystopian, young adult
Medium: Print
Number of pages: 326
Publish date: April 26th, 2011
Purchase: Amazon Book Depository
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.
Just in time for sci-fi and fantasy week on Goodreads! I think what intrigued me enough to read this was the stark contrast between McCafferty’s world and our own. In Bumped, teen girls are actually encouraged to become pregnant, because no one older can do so since the virus that swept through. The contrast between Melody and Harmony also seemed particularly interesting.
At first, I was slow getting into this book. I don’t know if it was because I was distracted or the book took a bit to get off the ground, but that’s how it was. Once I got into the middle, however, I was definitely more intrigued. I will be honest though, While I liked this first book, it was really the second in the series that endeared me to Melody, Harmony, and their world.
There is a lot of discussion on worldview and how where you’re raised shapes what you think. The girls wonder how life would be like had they each been in the other’s spot. Then of course there is the problem of mistaken identity just at the end of the book that hooks you in for the second story.
I enjoyed reading about the growth of the girls. At first they just blindly accept whatever they were taught, but slowly they begin to open their eyes and really see the world around them. In the second book they become even more rebellious, but I won’t spoil that for you, you’ll have to pick up the book yourself
