Amy's Review - Bumped

Title: Bumped

Author: Megan McCafferty

Genre: YA lit/dystopian

Format: Hardcover or E-book

Rating: 2 Stars

    I recently read Bumped with the Litwits book club on Tumblr. I was excited to start the book, because I’d just finished Divergent and the Hunger Games books, and was in a huge dystopia-frenzy. (I still am, actually.)
    Bumped follows twin sisters Melody and Harmony, in a future world where only teens can get pregnant. There’s a lot of pressure on teens to have babies and basically sell them to the highest bidder in order to keep up the world population. Harmony and Melody were separated at birth, so they’ve only just met when the book starts. Harmony is the religious one whose ideals dictate that she marry young to have her own babies. Melody is the modern one whose parents have signed her up as a professional surrogate mom. Both main characters are annoying.
    I can’t quite pinpoint why, but the book reads as a nice-quality fanfic, not a real novel. (Not that I could do any better.) The sisters are always harping on their values, and neither one is fleshed out as a real character. Instead of a single powerful Katniss, Tally, or Tris, we have two weak twins.
    And, the book isn’t truly a dystopian novel. There’s no powerful government controlling the teens’ pregnancies. Again, it’s all a mess of values. LD debaters would have a field day with this book.
    There’s also a bit of a love story. Two, actually, because of our mirror image protagonists. Harmony predictably has a Janet Weiss-esque shift to sluttitude, and Mel gets together with her male best friend.
    It’s not really worth writing more about Bumped. The story isn’t that great, but it is interesting. It’s a wonderful idea that could have been a lot more than it is. McCafferty is planning two sequels, which I’ll probably read because I’m crazy like that.
    Bumped would be good for a younger teen who likes edgy ideas and books that aren’t difficult to read.