The Unit
Book DescriptionOne day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for  biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where  she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the  few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women  over the age of fifty and men over sixty–single, childless, and without jobs in  progressive industries–are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered  outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and  psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the  final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this  near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself  living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is  resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.  But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a  reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape,  and…well, then what?The Unitis a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of an experiment,  in which the “dispensable” ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of  sacrificing for the “necessary” ones. Ninni Holmqvist has created a debut novel of humor,  sorrow, and rage about love, the close bonds of friendship, and about a cynical,  utilitarian way of thinking disguised as care.A Q&A with Ninni HolmqvistQuestion:The Unitis not set in the present, but its echoes of present-day  issues are clear and ominous.  Describe the world ofThe Unit.Ninni Holmqvist:The Unitis a dystopia set in a near future. It is  about people who don’t have any children or anyone else who loves them and need them, and  who aren’t useful to the society in any other way either. These people are called  “dispensable,” and they are picked up at their homes at a certain age (women at 50, men  at 60) and taken to special units (“reservbanksenhet” in Swedish) for biological  material, where they are supposed to serve the society through participating in various  tests (like animal testing but made on people), but also, eventually, by donating organs  to those of the society’s  needed citizens—the ones who produce and raise children,  the loved ones, the ones who contribute to the economic growth—who are afflicted  with severe illnesses and need organs from healthy bodies to survive. Dorrit Weger, who  just turned 50, is one of those dispensable. She is a writer, childless, quite poor, and  lives alone with her dog. The story begins with her arrival at the unit, an  establishment/institution she immediately finds a lot more comfortable and human and  loving and beautiful than she ever could have expected.Question:The Unitraises a number of complex—and sometimes  disturbing—ethical questions.  Do you see the novel as having a central moral  theme?Ninni Holmqvist:The book is above all written as a critique of society and the  way political leaders today see everything in figures and numbers. But my aim was also to  raise questions like: What is freedom? What is human dignity? How do we humans value our  selves and each other?  ButThe Unitis also very much a story about love (Dorrit  meets the love of her life at the unit, a man called Johannes, and she also,  miraculously, gets pregnant) and friendship and loyalty.Question:Who did you writeThe Unitfor?  Did you have  someone—personally, or in society—that you intended the story for?Ninni Holmqvist:My intention was that it is for everyone. But I guess it might  especially appeal to middle-aged single people, childless ones. But also people who are  in or are close to other categories of “dispensable” people: disabled people for  instance, long time unemployed persons, culture workers. And people who are critical of  capitalism and economism. Perhaps also people who don’t mind being provoked.