Unbecoming is chilling. What starts off as a world that is supposed to be in the future, ends up being eerily close to now. This is a story about friendship, about access to birth control and abortion, and choice. Keep reading this book review of Unbecoming for my full thoughts.
Summary
In a not-too-distant America, abortions are prosecuted and the right to choose is no longer an option. But best friends Laylah and Noor want to change the world. After graduating high school, they’ll become an OBGYN and a journalist, but in the meantime, they’re working on an illegal guide to abortion in Texas.
In response to the unfair laws, underground networks of clinics have sprung up, but the good fight has gotten even more precarious as it becomes harder to secure safe medication and supplies. Both Layla and Noor are passionate about getting their guide completed so it can help those in need, but Laylah treats their project with an urgency Noor doesn’t understand—that may have something to do with the strange goings-on between their mosque and a local politician.
Fighting for what they believe in may involve even more obstacles than they bargained for, but the two best friends will continue as they always together.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Unbecoming is about this terrible reality we live in. In the United States we live in a world where reproductive care is going backwards. Where we aren’t able to get basic birth control, medical care which endangers women’s lives, and the freedom to choose. Unbecoming feels like a shade of our world. So close we could touch it. That it would haunt our nightmares. Grounded in friendship for Laylah and Noor they’re trying to put together a guide for abortion in Texas all while keeping secrets of their own.
How secrets push us underground, result in danger, and have un-foretold consequences. Unbecoming balances both Laylah’s secrets, her personal connection to their guide, and the loneliness she carries. For Noor and her investigation, it means that she may end up trusting people who don’t deserve our faith. That we can think we are so sure we know who’s wrong and right. While there were a few elements hastily wrapped up at the end, all in all Unbecoming was captivating.
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It’s no surprise that is rage inducing. That this world so close to ours broke my heart. The misinformation, the mis-reporting of facts, and the lengths people have to go to for basic medical care. It’s insidious. At the same time, it celebrates the bond of friendship and those around us who can hold our hearts and secrets. People who we trust, who betray us and show their hypocrisy. But others who come out of our fears to hold our hands.
Find Unbecoming on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.