The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Named one of the best novels of the year by Time, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Locus and the American Library Association. Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, the Compton Crook Award and the Campbell Memorial Award.
Post-apocolyptic, dystopian, future Earth, cyberpunk and probably more, this science fiction read is astoundingly good. OK, great. Really great. Paolo is a rich writer who tells this story set in a future Thailand through the viewpoint of several characters: Anderson Lake, a calorie man trying to unlock Thailand’s secret new food sources and trying to discover their seed bank for his corporation; Hock Seng a relocated Chinese man who escaped genocide and dreams of reclaiming his lost standing in the world; Jaidee, a revolutionary who fights for the good of Thailand; Kanya, his second-in-command with motives of her own; and Emiko, the windup girl created as a bioengineered toy.
The nuance and reality of this story are stunning. It’s like reading a tapestry. Like life, it’s beautiful, twisted and brutal. Yes, it’s that good. It deserves all the acclaim it gets. I’m really glad I bumped into this book.
I won’t say anything more about it, because if you haven’t read it yet, I’d hate to spoil it for you. Paolo is my new science fiction author hero. I hope he keeps writing and is prolific.
I eagerly await Paolo’s next book. You can learn more about him and his work at: http://windupstories.com/
Have you read The Windup Girl? What’d you think? If you haven’t, have you read Paolo’s Ship Breaker? I have that in my TBR pile.
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I LOVED The Windup Girl and Ship Breaker. He also has a novelette, The Alchemist, which is also excellent. If he continues to write at this level, I’ll be reading him as long as he’s published. Just a very powerful writer. I’m glad you found him Mary.
I read it a year or so ago. I liked it too, although I don’t think it quite hit me on such a raw level it did you. He’s written a YA book or two – one of which I’m pretty sure is in his Windup universe.
I loved it, too, Stuart. I have Shipbreaker in my pile of books, but haven’t gotten to it yet.
I’ll keep reading if he keeps writing, Rusty.
Looks like a great story. I love stories set in other countries in the future. Gives a different perspective. And I think I’ve read one of his story stories about a calorie man. Blew me away.
A calorie man would be from the Windup Girl universe, Nigel. It’s good stuff.
I liked The Alchemist a lot but not this book, both because of the characters I could not sympathize with and with the nasty business the Windup Girl of the title gets subjected to. There were some interesting ideas in there, but not enough to get me to keep reading.
I ordered this book several months ago after winning a gift card. I’m finishing up a Karen Marie Moning book today and have two others, but I think it is number three on my TBR pile now. Yay! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the story. It reminded me how much I wanted to read the book.
I enjoyed the complexity, Rich. But can understand the story might not be for everyone.
I really loved it, Ciara. The writing is fabulous. I started an Octavia Butler. She’s fabulous, too.