The Windup Girl

Ankur Sinha reviewed The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Review of "The windup girl"

4 stars

In a dystopic world where cities have been/are being swallowed by the ocean, genetic modifications/viruses and the sort have killed billions in many countries and destroyed ecosystems and large corporations that provide disease resistant strains of food and tech wield far too much power, this book focuses on happenings in Thailand.

The world building is great---lots of ideas that I hadn't run into before, so it was certainly fresh. It also gets points from me for not being based in the west. I think reading the short story (the calorie man) and the novelette (the yellow card man) that came before this one would perhaps have given me a clearer idea of the world---this one sort of assumes one is familiar with it.

It does start a little slow (again, maybe it took me longer to understand the scene because I hadn't read the earlier texts) but it picked up …

In a dystopic world where cities have been/are being swallowed by the ocean, genetic modifications/viruses and the sort have killed billions in many countries and destroyed ecosystems and large corporations that provide disease resistant strains of food and tech wield far too much power, this book focuses on happenings in Thailand.

The world building is great---lots of ideas that I hadn't run into before, so it was certainly fresh. It also gets points from me for not being based in the west. I think reading the short story (the calorie man) and the novelette (the yellow card man) that came before this one would perhaps have given me a clearer idea of the world---this one sort of assumes one is familiar with it.

It does start a little slow (again, maybe it took me longer to understand the scene because I hadn't read the earlier texts) but it picked up pace and held my attention quite quickly. Lots of things happen, different characters come together. Politics, hunger for power, rage, revenge, helplessness, but also kindness, friendship and loyalty. All in there.

Totally worth a read.

Content warning: the book includes graphic depictions of rape (that I'm not entirely certain were necessary in such detail)

Arbieroo reviewed The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Review of 'The Windup Girl' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I gave up circa p100. I don't care about any of the characters and there is no discernable plot after 1/5th of the book. The writing is repetative and the ideas not nearly as original as many seem to think. My faith in winning awards as an indicator of quality is further eroded; it's down to bedrock, now.

Bill Day reviewed The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Review of 'The Windup Girl' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

For anyone who has ever worried about genetically modified organisms, incurable plagues, climate change, war, famine, or global dominance by giant corporations, this book is your worst nightmare. The eponymous heroine of the book is a genetically engineered and enhanced "New Person" who is enslaved in a decadent future Thailand, riven by internal political division but gamely attempting to fight off floods, epidemics, and the giant food consortia that now dominate the earth. Self-interest and survival are the dominant motivations of the characters, and yet the story is nevertheless engaging, fast-paced, and instructive.

Leaf 🍂 reviewed The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Review of 'The Windup Girl' on 'Storygraph'

1 star

Ah, this book... I feel like this was last year's "really important book that you need to read but may not like much". It hit really hard in the almost presciently relevant to our times area, but not so hard in the keeping me excited section. Partly, it was the fact that I had so much trouble engaging with the #1 protagonist... I have a limited amount of patience for asshole protagonists, and he wore it out right at the start. Partly, too, I was really unprepared for some of the really graphic sexual violence that occurs pretty close to the opening of the book. I know it's meant to drive home just how abused and discarded that character is, but it's so abrupt and feels gratuitously detailed. Maybe, thinking back, it was necessary... so just let this review stand as a trigger warning to others who might be sensitive. …

Ah, this book... I feel like this was last year's "really important book that you need to read but may not like much". It hit really hard in the almost presciently relevant to our times area, but not so hard in the keeping me excited section. Partly, it was the fact that I had so much trouble engaging with the #1 protagonist... I have a limited amount of patience for asshole protagonists, and he wore it out right at the start. Partly, too, I was really unprepared for some of the really graphic sexual violence that occurs pretty close to the opening of the book. I know it's meant to drive home just how abused and discarded that character is, but it's so abrupt and feels gratuitously detailed. Maybe, thinking back, it was necessary... so just let this review stand as a trigger warning to others who might be sensitive.

I definitely felt like I was slogging through. I'm glad I read it, but I wish it hadn't felt so much like a required assignment.

Edit: After further thought and further reading, I'm no longer all that happy I read this. My creeping discomfort at the white male protagonist crashing around in Thailand was really my white privilege shielding me from how damn, horribly bigoted the whole thing was. Japanese geisha robot doll, really? Old Thai factory manager being judged selfish for not always thinking of Mr. white guy first? The portrayal of Thailand as a neverending jungle slum full of people who hate androids?
Again I'm not Thai or Malaysian or Japanese, so I'm sure I'm missing tons, but I now feel justified in saying that I really disliked this novel.
The misogyny in here was awful!