Windup Girl

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Average customer rating 4.7 (23 comments)

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I confess I bought this book mainly because of the title and a quick read of the cover blurb. However after the first few chapters I didn't want to put it down. The author has created a believable world that is interesting and frightening at the same time. Following the lives of Lake, Emiko, Jaidee, Kanya and Hock Seng for this short time draws you in and keeps you reading. Calorie Men, White Shirts, Gene Rippers, New People all in their own quest for survival, profit and power set in a dystopian Old Thailand with elements of steampunk. I enjoyed this story and will be looking for some more books by Mr. Bacigalupi.

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The first two thirds of the book is mainly world building, which is long and somewhat dry. The windup girl is an interesting character who is barely in the story till near the end. Definitely a different mixture of genres - bio punk? I also have a problem with a world in which they can manufacture new life - plants and animals but are unable to produce solar or wind power and even have difficulties with radio cranks. I also have a hard believing that countries would adhere to carbon limits or taxes when their people are starving and the country is on the verge of collapse.

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Of all the sci-fi I've read recently, this is the most unique in its vision and one of the most thought-provoking. A little like Philip D Dick meets Margaret Atwood, with a little early William Gibson thrown in, this steam-punk meets cyber-punk dystopic vision still haunts me.

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What an excellent book! This is one of the best modern sci-fi/steam-punk books I have read in a very long time, as it reads like high literature with intriguing characters. The characters are very complex and Paolo Bacigalupi does an excellent job of showing the reader the many shades of gray each character inhabits. There are no blatently good, bad, black or white characters here.

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I found this book highly appealing to the scientist in me. I study plant breeding and genetics (so much of which has been converted to the 'gene ripping' in Bacigalupi's book.) There are some stretches, but ultimately the Calorie Companies of today own more than most are aware. Seed banks as the last vaults of our lost domesticated heritage and countries trying to protect themselves from growing plagues stand at the center of this novel while genetically engineered humans and cats fight for their right to exist in this dystopia. Well worth the read.

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Enthralling and deeply provocative, Bacigalupi's tale is convincingly set in a struggling Southeast Asia after world civilization has been wrecked and restored with the end of fossil fuel-based industrial society. This "civilization" remains tenuous and retains the basic political tensions of the previous era, however. In this brave new world a cast of richly defined indigenous and foreign characters plays out old and new dilemmas. The Windup Girl is a cutting-edge work that exemplifies the best of what imaginative fiction--what excellent fiction in general--can and ought to be.

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Paulo Bacigalupi has written an intense winner here, set in a near future SouthEast Asia with an examination of what happens when too many people chase too few resources and what it does to our societies. He also takes on what happens to minorities in such a situation, with an emphasis on the "windup girl", who is considered "not human" or "sub human" due to her genetic kinks. What really makes the story fly, though, is the close examination of what these kinds of conditions do to people, how they react in good ways and bad ways. It's enlightening to put yourself in the characters shoes and think how you would react to all the craziness going on. A great story, a great read, and a great author. A similar author you might enjoy is Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days, set in a near future India. Both are highly recommended, especially for hard science fiction readers.

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This book has all the qualities to make my five-star list: Great writing, complex plot and storyline, excellent character development, and relevancy. The windup girl is a heartbreakingly enchanting not-quite-human construct with a potential, but not predisposition, for inflicting bodily harm. Set in a believable and mesmerizing world filled with exceptional characters and beasts, the book seems truly prescient. I loved the book, and I’m very hard to please or impress.

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An amazing book. I was transported to the future world that had distinct elements of the past, a great use of mixing cultures and technology. Bacigalupi takes full advantage of the exotic setting and the adaptations of a broken world to create a compelling story and characters. This book would make for a amazing movie. I've recommended it to everyone.

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This scifi novel scratches so many of my itches. First there is the world building, set some centuries hence where oil has run out, the seas have risen, many states have collapsed and the most powerful and wicked forces are the calorie companies. These controllers of food and flavor break governments, use diseases as a tool or corporate power and act like general bastards. The book is set in Thailand, one of the worlds few independent states, but one where the Ministry of Trade, disposed to working with outsiders, and the Ministry of the Environment, given to doing ANYTHING to protect the country, are constantly at odds, even killing one another in order to meet their mission. I also like that Bacigalupi is sparing in his detail. We know that terrible things have befallen much of the world, but we get only slight details. Backstories pertinent to the plot, like the Malayan massacre of the ethnic Chinese are slowly revealed by characters. The slow telling makes the story in many ways sadder as you digest it over time. I appreciate that Bacigalupi forces us to imagine so much of the detail. I hope he never tells us. It will end up as lame as the Clone Wars or the Butlerian Jihad most likely. These skills would be great, but unimportant if it wasn't a good story. This one is quite the story. The many main characters experience frequent ups and downs and it is never clear who, if any of them, are going to prevail, or at the very least get what they seek. There is one Macguffiny character that feels underutilized or perhaps is there to tee off a possible sequel. I didn't love that element, but it was a minor complaint. This is my favorite scifi novel in quite some time.

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This is one of the most vivid, insightful books in the post-apocalyptic genera. Bacigalupi writes with sharp clarity and a brilliant eye for detail. I've heard some criticize it because it is difficult to follow with no main protagonist and no real hero. I disagree. I think this book achieves its goal much better by following several characters through time, experiencing the same overall events from different perspectives and different motivations. Nobody is evil, nobody is good - they're all just human in tough situations. I also appreciate the scientific approach to the word - each aspect of this future earth has been extrapolated through possible circumstance from our now, and in that it serves as a morality tale, but certainly doesn't preach. Read it. It's worth it.

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An interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic future, where calories are everything and the gene-splicing calorie companies are king of the world's food supply, which has been reduced to just barely disease-resistant varieties. Bacigalupi's world is seductive, intriguing and entirely plausible, which makes it easy to get pulled into the book quickly. An excellent read that, sadly, leaves you wishing for more.

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after reading the reviews and synopsis i wanted oh so badly to enjoy this book. however, it was a grave disappointment. the idea behind the book has endless possibility. bacigalupi could have constructed a world you wouldn't want to step out of even despite the dystopia. the primary thing lacking was character development. i must admit that i may be over critical because i am on a "the wise man's fear" hang over. that book completely absorbed me and i didn't want to let go.

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Steampunk or biopunk? You decide. Either way, this award-winner makes for a great read whether you are enjoining reading it in your own backyard or on a beach on Titan.

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Part Neuromancer, part BladeRunner, part Oryx and Crake, this is a wonderfully interesting and unique on a not-too-distant future. If you enjoy dystopian fiction, you'll love this. I couldn't put it down.

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Global warming and genetic modifications have created a world ruled by corporations and military dictatorships, in a story of faith, deception, and the nature of humanity.

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Greatly innovative and well researched vision of a future world.

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From the first page, Bacigalupi creates a plausible, realistic, terrifying future. The oil boom has gone bust, and now the world relies on genetically engineered plants and animals to supply energy and food. Of course, the United States holds agricultural patents on most things. In Thailand, a "calorie man" - agent of the US-based AgriGen - is on the lookout for new or generipped fruits. He meets a genetically perfect girl, grown in a lab to precise specifications: The Windup Girl. I love the level of detail in his sentences - I get lost in the way he weaves words and plot and descriptions. The story flows very easily and it's almost impossible to put down. I'm loaning the book out to all my friends.

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This book deserved to win all the awards it has

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With The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi presents a world fantastical beyond imagination yet distinctly possible given the current global climate.

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Amazing, colorful, despondent, dystopian view of the future. Arturo Perez-Riverte meets Vernor Vinge.

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I just finished this book and was sad to see it end. I hope there is another forthcoming. Paolo balances detail, violence, and drama very well. Each day I looked forward to picking this up. I encourage everyone to check out his unique vision.

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Set in a dystopian Bangkok, The Windup Girl is a fascinating glimpse of an all too plausible future when the oil has run out, the oceans are rising and calories are a scarce commodity. What makes this novel truly brilliant is the way the author has grounded his story in Thai culture and history: it remains the unconquered, never colonized country. Each character--an expat "calorie man", an ethnic Chinese refugee from Malaysia, a genetically engineered Japanese "windup girl," and a pair of Thai officials--is deeply flawed yet sympathetic, planning and scheming to get ahead, unaware of the larger forces that will determine Bangkok's future.