**"A wildly inventive, funny, and ultimately quite heartfelt novel, The
Unraveling is a chaotic romp of gender deconstruction packaged up in a
groovy science-fictional coming-of-age tale." --**Chicago Review of
Books
In the far-off future, Fift is a Staid-gendered youth-working towards
logic and thoughtfulness-just trying to figure out zir life in the
bustling, but rigid social system of Fullbelly. And as if mastering zir
three bodies and making zir twelve parents proud weren't enough to
handle, Fift's growing relationship with Shria, an at-times emotional
and passionate Vail-gendered bioengineer, is a controversy waiting to
happen.
When Fift and Shria wind up at the center of a scandalous art spectacle
that sparks off a multilayered Unraveling of society, Fift is torn
between zir attraction to Shria and the safety of zir family, between
staying true to zir feelings and social compliance . . . all while zir
personal crises suddenly take on global significance. What's a young
Staid to do when the whole world is watching?
In his intricate and thoughtful debut novel, Benjamin Rosenbaum brings
warmth, heart, and humor to this story of growing up in the distant
future, interrogates exactly who a utopia is for, and how social
structures only change when everyone has a voice. Like Chana Porter's
The Seep and Monica Byrne's The Actual Star, Benjamin Rosenbaum's The
Unraveling is the latest in a line of science fiction that challenges
gender, society, and culture, while showcasing an inclusive, expansive,
and creative vision of what the future can be.
