Scan barcode
A review by thebookhaze
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
3.0
I didn't expect to like it very much, but it actually wasn't too bad in terms of entertainment factor. I enjoyed reading it and speculating about the kind of world that would need teen procreation to prevent the extinction of the human race.
I believe that there are many scientific flaws in the story, but the premise is interesting enough that I was able to ignore them and just enjoy the story for what it was.
One thing that's worth debating about though, is the view that the parents of the pregnant teens (and the rest of society) are terrible for pimping their daughters out at really young ages (at 11 years vs 14 or 15). And yes of course, pimping them out for producing babies is a terrible thing to do to teens at any age, but based on the book, it was illegal for under 13 years, which means it's perfectly acceptable and legal for those 13 years old and older to produce babies.
Now, for the sake of discussion (again, the whole pimping them out thing is wrong), if fertility is lost at about age 18, and pregnancy for each girl takes about 40 weeks or so, wouldn't it make more sense to allow *every* girl who has had their period to start procreating?
Let's go further for the sake of discussion. Technically, the moment a girl gets the period, she is physically ready to be a mother. Mentally, emotionally, that's another story, but physically, she is ready, at whatever age she gets her period, 10 years old or 16 years old.
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT advocating pimping your daughters out or marrying them young or whatever. That is wrong. Period. (No pun intended.) However, in an evolutionary point of view, I'm wondering if females were meant to start procreating the moment their bodies are ready, and that it should be ok, as long as they are also ready mentally and emotionally, and go into it without being forced by anyone else.
Here's why I think that way; we know in history that girls were married off as soon as they became women (getting their periods). These girls were our ancestors, and while there were arranged marriages back then, the point is that it was the cultural norm and the girls were ready for it. Maybe some weren't, but that's true today at any age anyway, which brings me back to the discussion.
My grandmother was married at 15 and gave birth to my mother at 16 years old. She had a total of 7 children with my grandfather. She had a good life and she loved my grandfather. She grieved everyday for him for more than 20 years until she finally joined him in the afterlife. She was 15 when she got pregnant, but I think I'd say she was ready at that age, wasn't she?
My mother got married at age 20 and had my brother at age 23. She lives to be a mother, and she and my father are still completely in love and just celebrated their 37th anniversary.
I got married at 28, and I'm 31 years old now and not a mother yet. And there are more and more people getting married (or not) and having kids at a later and later age, well into their 30s and 40s.
What I'm saying is that it's such a prevalent idea that people that marry young are missing out on their childhood and that we should allow kids (up to 21 years old) to be kids, but what if we're wrong? We know that some kids grow up faster than others if put in situations where they are forced to grow up faster and they do fine though we lament their lost childhood. But what if we were meant to be grown up as soon as we reached puberty and that we've pushed adulthood further away?
There's already been articles written about our current generation pushing their adult responsibilities right into their 30s and 40s. So we aren't actually losing out on our childhood when we mature young, but we've been extending our childhood gradually and pushing it into our 30s and 40s.
There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but I just wanted to point out that age (physical maturity) has nothing to do with mental and emotional maturity. In this day and age, we have 14 year-old kids becoming parents, and we also have 40 year old adults becoming parents for the first time. It's all about each person's individual readiness.
Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling on... this review doesn't really speak for the actual story, but it does speak about how the book triggered thoughts about these issues, and I think books that make you think are always a good thing.
I believe that there are many scientific flaws in the story, but the premise is interesting enough that I was able to ignore them and just enjoy the story for what it was.
One thing that's worth debating about though, is the view that the parents of the pregnant teens (and the rest of society) are terrible for pimping their daughters out at really young ages (at 11 years vs 14 or 15). And yes of course, pimping them out for producing babies is a terrible thing to do to teens at any age, but based on the book, it was illegal for under 13 years, which means it's perfectly acceptable and legal for those 13 years old and older to produce babies.
Now, for the sake of discussion (again, the whole pimping them out thing is wrong), if fertility is lost at about age 18, and pregnancy for each girl takes about 40 weeks or so, wouldn't it make more sense to allow *every* girl who has had their period to start procreating?
Let's go further for the sake of discussion. Technically, the moment a girl gets the period, she is physically ready to be a mother. Mentally, emotionally, that's another story, but physically, she is ready, at whatever age she gets her period, 10 years old or 16 years old.
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT advocating pimping your daughters out or marrying them young or whatever. That is wrong. Period. (No pun intended.) However, in an evolutionary point of view, I'm wondering if females were meant to start procreating the moment their bodies are ready, and that it should be ok, as long as they are also ready mentally and emotionally, and go into it without being forced by anyone else.
Here's why I think that way; we know in history that girls were married off as soon as they became women (getting their periods). These girls were our ancestors, and while there were arranged marriages back then, the point is that it was the cultural norm and the girls were ready for it. Maybe some weren't, but that's true today at any age anyway, which brings me back to the discussion.
My grandmother was married at 15 and gave birth to my mother at 16 years old. She had a total of 7 children with my grandfather. She had a good life and she loved my grandfather. She grieved everyday for him for more than 20 years until she finally joined him in the afterlife. She was 15 when she got pregnant, but I think I'd say she was ready at that age, wasn't she?
My mother got married at age 20 and had my brother at age 23. She lives to be a mother, and she and my father are still completely in love and just celebrated their 37th anniversary.
I got married at 28, and I'm 31 years old now and not a mother yet. And there are more and more people getting married (or not) and having kids at a later and later age, well into their 30s and 40s.
What I'm saying is that it's such a prevalent idea that people that marry young are missing out on their childhood and that we should allow kids (up to 21 years old) to be kids, but what if we're wrong? We know that some kids grow up faster than others if put in situations where they are forced to grow up faster and they do fine though we lament their lost childhood. But what if we were meant to be grown up as soon as we reached puberty and that we've pushed adulthood further away?
There's already been articles written about our current generation pushing their adult responsibilities right into their 30s and 40s. So we aren't actually losing out on our childhood when we mature young, but we've been extending our childhood gradually and pushing it into our 30s and 40s.
There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but I just wanted to point out that age (physical maturity) has nothing to do with mental and emotional maturity. In this day and age, we have 14 year-old kids becoming parents, and we also have 40 year old adults becoming parents for the first time. It's all about each person's individual readiness.
Anyway, I'm sorry for rambling on... this review doesn't really speak for the actual story, but it does speak about how the book triggered thoughts about these issues, and I think books that make you think are always a good thing.