Title: Bumped
Author: Megan McCafferty [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Dystopian, Satire
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher (via NetGalley)
Parental Advisory: sex, drugs, alcohol, language
Teachable Moments: abstinence, teenaged sexual activity, teen pregnancy, individuality, peer pressure

“One thing I appreciate about Harmony is that I don’t have to worry about encryption.  Her immediate intentions are totally clear:  She’s here to make me get religion.  And not just any religion, of course, but hers.  If I’m married along with the rest of her housesisters by the end of the month, I think she scores some major bonus angel points toward a heavenly set of wings or a halo or something.  Despite her invitations, I know I’m not welcome in Goodside and it’s not because they fear HPSV.  The Church is far more threatened by the possibility that I’ll infect their minds with sin.”

Summary (from the publisher):
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.

Opinion:
I loved this book.  LOVED.

Bumped is a satirical look at the highly controversial topics of abstinence, sex and teen pregnancy.  As McCafferty herself says in the forward to the book, the world is infatuated with the sex lives of teenagers and more importantly we tend to take that infatuation to extremes.  In this novel she fictionalizes these extremes in a way that allows the reader to be entertained and educated.

Melody and Harmony are twin sisters who were given away as children and adopted by separate families.  Melody was taken by relatively affluent parents who afforded her the luxury of freedom — what we would perceive as a “normal” teenaged life amongst family and friends.  Harmony, on the other hand, was brought into a stricter more religious lifestyle where expectations for behavior were much firmer and far more devout.   The strongest evidence of their difference is the fact that Melody has a contract to “bump” with a sperm donor and “preg” a child for a couple unable to have their own.  While, on the other hand, Harmony has sworn only to have sex after marriage and to keep the child created as her own.

It is this disparity between their lives that makes the story so compelling and profound.  Sure, seeing the different lifestyles is interesting enough but the juxtaposition brings an enjoyable intensity to the story and events.  Particularly when each sees certain value in the lifestyle of the other.  This is most noticeable in Harmony who spends time walking in the shoes of Melody as a series of events unfolds surrounding her contractual obligations.  For her part, Melody is discovering the value of the concept monogamy as she interacts with her longtime friend Zen. Though not as religious or devout as her sister she becomes more accepting of the choices Harmony’s made in her life as a result of this relationship.

Let’s talk about the world in which these girls live.  Built in a time where disease has stripped women over the age of eighteen of their ability to bear children, the world is now reliant on teenagers to carry the burden of maintaining the human race.  Sounds dark right?  Only it’s really kinda not.  Sure, it’s dire to some extent but unlike other books in the genre there is no real hideous persecution.  The only suffering we see is the emotional burdens of both teens baring children & giving them up and the women who are unable to do so.  Suffering which isn’t the central focus of the story at that.  People aren’t starving, they aren’t being tortured and their rights aren’t being taken away.  They live decent (sometimes affluent) lives with the one exception being ability to freely procreate.

McCafferty is a master at world building.  Not because the picture she painted was so vivid but rather because she constructed a world that was almost entirely built upon language and lifestyle.  So much of the society the girls lived in was akin to how we live now.  Reliance on technology — was the MiNet a Facebook or Twitter type network? — was prevalent and celebrity is the standard by which teens assess themselves.  The fact that society as we know it today could some day evolve to some level as this is not entirely unfathomable.  The futuristic feeling is there to be sure but it doesn’t vibe out as sci-fi.

Intelligent, witty, and wry Bumped has given teens the opportunity to learn about moral issues without being preached at, encouraging them to embrace abstinence or glorifying teenaged pregnancy.  It speaks to the consequences of both while at the same time exploring the emotional trappings of love and marriage.  It’s ingenious and entertaining and thought provoking enough to spark deep and meaningful conversation.

In case you haven’t already guessed I strongly encourage you to get to a bookstore and buy yourself a copy.  Run home, read it.  Digest the meaning behind the satire then pick it up and read it again.  I guarantee you’ll find even more to digest the second time around.