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In Wither by Lauren DeStefano, Rhine is kidnapped to become one of three "sister wives" of a wealthy young man.  The girls who are not chosen are killed.  This is not an uncommon practice in this future America where girls all die by the age of 20 and men die by the age of 25.  The only older people left are members of the "First Generation", a generation of test tube babies all born to be perfect in every way.  Their children, however, have a "virus" that kills them off early.

When the reader considers that early death is Rhine's only option and that includes struggling for food and fighting orphans and thieves, her lot in the home of this wealthy young man and his First Generation father is actually fortunate.  Her younger sister wife can't imagine why Rhine wants to leave, and her older sister wife is just waiting to die.  Bleak?  I guess so.

This bleakness crept into my bones as I read this book.  DeStefano makes the young husband, Linden, sympathetic, almost pathetic.  He knows nothing of the kidnappings.  He thinks his wives are all orphans who have chosen to be wives.  And then there is the shadowy Gabriel, the servant that forms an attachment with Rhine.  His character seems to exist only as the other leg of a love triangle.

 Rhine's actions at the end felt contrary to her character and to the loyalties she had formed while in captivity. 

That said, the book gives the reader a lot to think about - a lot of bleak why-are-we-all-here things to think about.  I just wish that Gabriel was as fleshed out as a character as Linden was.  Perhaps in the next book.


September Giveaway:  Don't forget.  Comment on the September Giveaway post with your first name and town and you could win a signed copy of Origami Yoda, a copy of Darth Paper  AND a Darth Paper finger puppet made by the author himself.  So amazing!

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Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing (March 22, 2011)
ARC: 356 Pages
Series: Chemical Garden #1
Genre: YA dystopian
ARC from Publisher*

From Goodreads. What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

Review
WITHER, by Lauren DeStefano, is a thrilling, chilling, and romantic story of fighting for what you believe in when your life-clock is slowing ticking away. DeStefano took science to the extreme of decimating the human race to a very short life-span. The consequences of technology and playing with nature are explored in this book, along with a girl's fight to survive and find her way home.

As a scientist by trade, I was definitely intrigued to read this book. The 'perfect generation' was created using science to the extreme, but the consequences of this affected each generation after. When this story begins, women's life spans only go to age twenty and men to twenty-five. To preserve the human race, women are stolen and sold to the highest bidder.

The idea of polygamy and 'sister wives' was interesting to read. Although Rhine was taken away from her twin brother, I felt that her situation could have been worse. Her relationship with her sister wives, Cecily and Jenna added an interesting dynamic to the book. I enjoyed the friendship between Jenna and Rhine. They both were similar minded and plotted together to plan Rhine's escape. Linden and Rhine's marriage was definitely different from the other girls and I was pleased to see that Rhine never faltered in remembering what she needed to do to escape. And my favorite was the connection between Rhine and Gabriel. They were both thrown into their roles at the mansion but had the smarts and willingness to do something to change it.

Although Linden's father was, in my mind, an evil scientist I was anxious for him to discover a cure for the virus that kills humans at their final age. His methods were barbaric and bone-chilling but hard times call for desperate measures.

Overall, this book was really fantastic. DeStefano definitely has a talent for great writing and creating characters and plot that really stick in your mind long after the last page is read.

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As a librarian, I read hundreds of titles every year, and a good percentage of them get tossed aside before the final chapters. Maybe I’m jaded, maybe my standards are too high, but if I’m not enchanted in the opening pages, I’m out.

I’m always looking for the next un-put-down-able novel.

Sigh.

WITHER is that book.

DeStefano plunges the reader into an alternate reality—a terrifying, near future. In the quest to eradicate disease and imperfection, mankind loses life span. Genetic engineering gives a first generation a healthy, unnaturally long life, but their children and grandchildren pay an unforeseen price. Now, a fatal, mysterious virus claims all girls at age twenty, and all boys at twenty five.

While the rest of world lies charred and broken, North America survives—a wealthy upper class feebly hangs on by forcing young women into polygamous marriages in order to sustain the population.

In WITHER, sixteen year old Rhine Ellery endures this fate. Against her will, she’s torn from her twin brother and spirited away to marry Linden, the son of a wealthy, controlling man. Linden’s father is a doctor searching for an antidote to the virus.

And he’ll do anything for a cure, no matter who has to die.

As Rhine discovers the secrets behind the good doctor’s work, the noose tightens. Imprisoned in Linden’s beautiful, illusory mansion, she has to find an escape or face living out her remaining days trapped a doll’s house.

Complicated relationships develop between Rhine, her captors, and her sister wives. Rhine’s emotions shift realistically, she matures into an intelligent, resourceful young woman determined to fight fate and keep hope alive for herself and for Gabriel, the brave and loyal servant who becomes her truest ally and soul-mate. Their fates are entwined–it’s their freedom which hangs in the balance.

DeStefano’s details are so vividly spun, her characters so fully formed, I found myself completely drawn in by page five. This is not a run of the mill high gloss, high concept novel. Yes, the plot zings, but the quality of DeStefano’s writing eclipses the premise.

Rhine’s voice—all at once, heartbreakingly real and elegantly melancholy—is WITHER’S pulsing lifeblood, its driving force. At turns, I devoured pages. At other moments, I lingered over passages, rereading sentences to savor their emotional heft and clarity.

I can’t overstate how much I enjoyed the book. I experienced the same thrill–the same rush of anxiety and sadness and hope–I felt when I first read THE HANDMAID’S TALE, THE HUNGER GAMES, and MATCHED. My favorite elements of all of these came to life in DeStefano’s debut.

WITHER is lush and literary and compelling.

It is worthy.

Hungry for more? Try this recipe for Better than Anything Cake. It’s *almost* as rich as WITHER.

Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: Book Review, Lauren DeStefano, Wither 3 Comments on WITHER by Lauren DeStefano, last added: 2/21/2011