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The Windup Girl Paperback – January 1, 2009
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What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of "The Calorie Man" (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and "Yellow Card Man" (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
- Print length359 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNight Shade
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2009
- Dimensions6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101597801585
- ISBN-13978-1597801584
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Editorial Reviews
From Bookmarks Magazine
Review
WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD, THE NEBULA AWARD, THE LOCUS AWARD, THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD, AND THE CAMPBELL MEMORIAL AWARD
It’s ridiculous how good this book is. . . . Bacigalupi’s vision is almost as rich and shocking as William Gibson’s vision was in 1984 . . . I hope he writes 10 sequels.”
Lev Grossman, TIME
Reminiscent of Philip K. Dick’s Blade Runner.... densely packed with ideas about genetic manipulation, distribution of resources, the social order, and environmental degradation ... science fiction with an environmental message, but one that does not get in the way of its compelling story.”
Sacramento Book Review
This complex, literate and intensely felt tale, which recalls both William Gibson and Ian McDonald at their very best ... clearly one of the finest science fiction novels of the year.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A captivating look at a dystopic future that seems all too possible. East meets
West in a clash of cultures brilliantly portrayed in razor-sharp images, tension-building pacing, and sharply etched characters.”
Library Journal (starred review)
"When it hits its sweet-spot, The Windup Girl embodies what SF does best of all: it remakes reality in compelling, absorbing and thought-provoking ways, and it lives on vividly in the mind."
The Guardian
"Bacigalupi never slides into moralism or judgement ... Ultimately that's what makes this debut novel so exciting. It's rare to find a writer who can create such well-shaded characters while also building a weird new future world."
io9
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Night Shade; First Edition (January 1, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 359 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1597801585
- ISBN-13 : 978-1597801584
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #134,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #971 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #2,519 in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (Books)
- #4,705 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Paolo Bacigalupi’s writing has appeared in WIRED Magazine, Slate, Medium, Salon.com, and High Country News, as well as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. His short fiction been nominated for three Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, and won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction short story of the year. It is collected in PUMP SIX AND OTHER STORIES, a Locus Award winner for Best Collection and also a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly.
His debut novel THE WINDUP GIRL was named by TIME Magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Internationally, it has won the Seiun Award (Japan), The Ignotus Award (Spain), The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (Germany), and the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (France).
His debut young adult novel, SHIP BREAKER, was a Micheal L. Printz Award Winner, and a National Book Award Finalist, and its sequel, THE DROWNED CITIES, was a 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of YA Book, A 2012 VOYA Perfect Ten Book, and 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist.
He has also written ZOMBIE BASEBALL BEATDOWN for middle-grade children, about zombies, baseball, and, of all things, meatpacking plants. Another novel for teens, THE DOUBT FACTORY, a contemporary thriller about public relations and the product defense industry was a both an Edgar Award and Locus Award Finalist.
Paolo's latest novel for adults is The New York Times Bestseller THE WATER KNIFE, a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States. A new novel set in the Ship Breaker universe, TOOL OF WAR, will be released in October.
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The story follows several discrete storylines and characters, each with their own motivations and demons. Anderson is a `calorie man', a westerner who ostensibly manages a factory that manufactures kink-springs, a renewable power source. Jaidee is a member of the Environmental Ministry, tasked with maintaining a barrier between Thailand and the rest of the world and the dangers that it poses. Emiko is a windup, a genetically engineered woman, designed by the Japanese for servitude and for sex, who has been abandoned in Thailand and fears that she will be mulched (killed and burned for energy). In addition to these main characters, there are a number of other background characters who are just as complex as their counterparts. In a nut-shell, Anderson has come to Thailand on the behalf of a major Agricorporation that is hoping to gain a foothold in the country in order to obtain rights to the country's gene banks. While he is ostensibly looking for ways to combat the plagues, Thailand officials believe that the corporations have far more sinister and selfish motivations for the gene banks. While in the country, he has to walk a narrow line to stay in the country, as the Environmental Ministry intends to keep Thailand free.
Captain Jaidee is a leading member of the Environmental Ministry, and throughout the book, it is clear that the country is not necessarily unified in its position to remain away from the rest of the world. Limited trade and imports occur through the actions of the Trade Ministry, which is at frightening odds with the Environmental Ministry, to the point where open bloodshed and crimes are committed on both sides to try and force their position upon the rest of the country, which eventually interrupts into violence, which helps to push forward some of the plans that Anderson and others have laid to gain more traction into the country.
Emiko's titular character is somewhere between the various storylines. As an artificial biological construct, she is a representation of what is wrong with the outside world in the eyes of a secular nation that believes heavily in the value of one's soul and rebirth. To the Thai people, she is a soulless being, one who is against nature, and essentially lumped in with the problems of the world. Thus, Emiko, who is unsuited for Thailand's climate with reduced pores (she overheats easily) and a body structure that makes her stutter while moving, which makes her a literal odd woman out, and thus a target to the Environmental Ministry (also known as White Shirts for their uniform) who see her as a threat to the country's independence.
Futuristic worlds are a common element in Science Fiction, but it is very rare to have one that is so deeply realized as Bacugalupi's Thailand, one that takes the current state of existence for the country and extrapolates into the future with hypothetical events. The portrait that he paints of the world is very scary indeed, and the constructed world has reacted accordingly though a number of levels. What makes this novel so interesting is just how everything fits together. There are economic elements that make sense, social, biological and political, all of which are not mere exposition in a prologue in the novel, but where they are an active part of the storyline. This, in a way is one of the best examples of show, don't tell, a writing exercise that I remember from creative writing courses. What is even better (or sobering, depending on how you look at it), this world makes sense. I can see major corporations putting profit ahead of common sense, and I can see the world going to hell in much more vivid detail now. Furthermore, Bacugalupi posits the power struggle between various departments of government, each with their own agendas and motives, both at odds with one another, which trails up through to the very end of the book.
There's a strong look at morality and ethics when it comes to bioengineering and the eventual fate of the species, and how our role fits within a society such as what we see in the future. Emiko, a Windup, is shunned, hated, in reaction to what she was, and what she represented: something highly unnatural. By the same token, there are holes in that sort of feeling, as one character confronts towards the end of the novel. One thing that particularly stuck in my mind was how much of evolution is an unnatural, random occurrence, verses how much of it is conscious decisions that any sort of creature makes that better enhances their chances of survival? In this world, survival is predicated on the work of gene rippers and scientists who remain just a couple of steps against plagues - it is noted that the windups are built for a purpose, and that they are immune to most problems in the world because of their unique design. Like the clashes in the Thailand government, there is a larger struggle at stake, survival, with both sides making valid arguments for their continued existence. In a sense, this story is a look at how the human race might choose to survive, and enter a new stage of development. To me, this is a very profound element to the story.
When all is said and done, there is one big theme that goes through and through with this book: survival. Each element of the book deals with this very issue, from the ultimate survival of the human race in a hostile world, to the immediate survival of several characters who are neck deep in political and economic conspiracy to the various branches of government who want to see their vision of the future for their country to survive the coming turmoil.
What truly stands out for this book is the rich detail and fantastic prose. I've purposely taken my time with this book so that I could absorb as much as I could. What Bacugalupi puts together is a superior story, one of the best science fiction novels that I have read in a long time, one that takes the best from well thought out characters, plausible economics and science and a complicated story.
(Originally posted to my blog)
Science fiction has always been used as a means of exploring, and the settings sci-fi stories are placed in have traditionally reflected that intent. Often the goal was to in a sense explore the places that were unfamiliar to humanity at large, or the people or situations that might be found there. Stories therefore tended to be set very far away from the familiar- 20,000 leagues under the sea, on the moon, or on worlds that could only be accessed by a blue box capable of traveling in time and in space. As time has passed, however, that has become increasingly less frequently the accepted setting for science fiction. Stories are more often being placed closer to home, often in Earth's present, near-future, or familiar parts of our past. The aforementioned traveling blue box, from the Doctor Who science fiction series, exemplifies that trend: the older doctors were off-planet far more frequently than the current batch, who are busy warding off yearly alien invasions of London. Windup Girl continues this trend, set in a Thailand which is clearly in Earth's not-so-distant future. This trend suggests that as reading audiences have become more sophisticated, we're finding more and more to explore in places closer to home- the differences can be more subtle and still hold power. That impression is reinforced when we notice that Windup Girl, although set on Earth, is set in a country with which most of its readers have little experience. Differences in culture and climate, although probably subtler than differences between planets, are now enough to capture our imaginations. History also tends to suggest that environments that were once wholly alien, ripe for exploration, are now less so: we've been to the moon, and we've been using telescopes and deep-space probes to thoroughly explore celestial bodies further afield for some time now. To find fresh territory, it seems literature must return to the old.
Connected to science fiction's response to other cultures is science fiction's response to what might be called the Other, or otherness, where that term refers to living beings different in some respect from ourselves. Human history has struggled to come to terms with the presence of other humans from whom we differ, and that struggle has manifested in conflict of religious, racial, and cultural origins. The mind and being of someone with whom we simply cannot connect, for some reason, is a whole new stage of exploration, and therefore a topic for science fiction. Science fiction's response to the Other has changed a great deal over the years. The initial response is exemplified in "Arena", by Fredric Brown, which features a human and an alien doing battle for the survival of their race. In this portrayal, there is nothing sympathetic about the Other. No name for their species is given; no attempts are made to develop their culture. The alien's body is radically different from ours, round and, in the perception of the human, disgusting. Its mind is similarly repulsive; the human narrator is able to briefly connect with it and finds only raw, inexplicable hatred. For the science fiction this story exemplifies, the human's actions are the right response to the Other: he outwits the monster and kills it, saving his species. A few decades later, Star Trek features exactly the same story with Kirk and an alien. Although in many ways still repulsive, this alien representative of the Other is more sympathetic- its humanoid, and his culture has a name and motives for its actions. Kirk takes the noble approach, sparing his enemy and saving both their cultures. Science-fiction's attitude towards the Other is more moderate. It is tempered still further by the time "43 Anterean Dynasties" was written. In that story, the representative of the Other is also the narrator, and is an intensely sympathetic figure. His culture is well-developed, noble, sophisticated, and oppressed. We are the "aliens" in this story- rude, ignorant, and oppressive. Implicitly, the right response to Otherness in this story would have been to allow the other culture to flourish peaceably beside our own, learning from each other along the way. Since The Windup Girl does not have any aliens, it might be easy to think that it does not deal with Otherness, but this is not truly correct- it approaches the issue of the Other from many different perspectives. Emiko is an Other to everyone else in the book by virtue of being a genetically-modified human; Anderson and Hock Seng are Other to the Taiwanese because they are foreigners. Through them, The Windup Girl furthers science fiction's response to the Other, neither taking the wholly-evil approach of "Arena" nor the wholly-sympathetic response of "43 Anterean Dynasties". Each one of those characters is the narrator at some point it the story, and reasons are given for the reader to sympathize with each of them: Hock Seng has lost everything- family, friends, fortune. Emiko is a lost young woman, abused and taken advantage of, trying to survive. Anderson Lake dies an undeservedly unpleasant death, with only one person to stand by his side. But each is also alien and abhorrent to the reader in various ways. Emiko eventually comes to disregard human life, to the point of sizing up innocents as potential kill targets and, in the end, seeking to replace humanity with genetically superior beings like herself. Hock Seng's attitudes about women and lack of dedication or loyalty to much except keeping himself alive is off-putting. Anderson Lake treats the woman he's involved with (Emiko) quite badly, and is serving a morally questionable company to undermine the national sovereignty of Thailand. In this contrast, The Windup Girl is giving us a truly modern view of those we perceive to be different from ourselves: conflicted feelings of both sympathy and repulsion, and by having a wide variety of characters with that quality, the book illustrates that virtually everyone is conflicted in that fashion- everyone, Other and familiar, has pieces of themselves we can relate to, and pieces we would be repulsed by.
Arguably, science fiction's tendency to explore relationships between people who can't quite understand each other is just one part of its broader tradition of studying contemporary social issues and society's fears about the future. Star Trek, again, exemplifies this, taking on Cold War themes in the Federation-Klingon relationship, and tackling racial tension issues in episodes like "Let that Be Your Last Battlefield." Books like Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? question what it means to be human. That trend in science fiction shows no sign of declining, and The Windup Girl vigorously takes part. Environmental consequences of choices we're making now define the world in which the story takes place. Transportation and human living conditions have been fundamentally altered by global warming. The prevalence of monoculture crops contributed heavily to the famines that shaped the recent past of the story, and the struggle to recover from the loss of many species is the driving force behind Anderson Lake's part of the plot. The Windup Girl also shows the reader one possible set of results of the genetic technologies we're developing now, and questions the meaning of "human" if we continue to go down this path. Emiko is a genetically modified human. The reader cannot deny her humanity. and yet she is denied basic human rights. The question of how we should culturally and legally handle people such as Emiko in the future is thereby implicitly explored. There are also environmental consequences to our genetic tinkering, like the production of super-capable `foreign' species like the cheshires, which can wipe out native populations. Finally, issues of national identity, racism, and race are also explored. Can Thailand truly be a sovereign nation if it is dependant on another country's companies for continued survival? How do foreigners deal with living in a country that has a strong sense of national identity? The reader is brought in close contact with vicious racism and nationalism run wild in the character of Hock Seng, whose family is killed and life's work is destroyed as a result of those passions. The answer to the questions The Windup Girl asks are not clear, in the story or out of it, but the fact that science fiction will continue to ask them is far more certain.
No space ships. No swords. Just brilliant creativity. Intriguing plot that never ends. Superb characters. Minor characters explored in-depth. Major characters rich with flaws and humanity. Delightful violence.
This book, without ridicule or adulation, delves respectfully into the thinking and worship of the devout. It imagines a future that becomes terrifyingly more plausible with each passing day. It explores racism and bigotry with a light touch and deft hand, showing how it feels for both the haters and the hated. It seamlessly ties in sex with the plot and without preaching depicts how sexual abuse brings out the worst in even the gentlest among us.
It is a wonderful to read on a phone with eKindle because search engines are just a tap away to learn the meaning of the Thai phrases. And by all means do look them up. This book paints pictures, plays sounds, brews aromas and constructs a world that the reader can see, hear, smell and touch. Each word matters. Highlight, annotate, take notes. Enjoy the rich texture of this book. It will leave you smiling like a cheshire cat.
Top reviews from other countries
Al lettore è richiesto quel piccolo sforzo di adattamento e di ricostruzione storica che ha il pregio di rendere la narrazione piu' immersiva e anche -perchè no- di suggerire subito l'abbandono della lettura a chi non è portato al genere, al metodo e allo stile. Chi invece ne resta affascinato arriverà alla fine senza pentirsene.
Certo concordo con altre recensioni sulla necessità di aggiungere un glossario dei termini Thai utilizzati copiosamente nella narrazione.
Mi auguro che altri romanzi di questo autore possano essere tradotti in Italiano.
Did that all sound complicated? Well, it is. The world-building in this book is incredible, and the sheer scope of Bacigalupi’s imagination makes up for all sorts of difficulties. For example, all the characters are racist. It makes sense for the story, but it’s hard to like them! Having endowed us with a super-complicated world, the author then reaches for the literary stars by using third person present: “Lake reaches for the glass.” Great for judges of literary prizes, not great for readers trying to understand the fourteenth made up word on the page. Finally, we have the magically wonder girl, whose voyeuristic sexual abuse is excused because it gets her superpowers, and she has her revenge. Nope, never heard that trope before.
Why am I being so super harsh on a book I gave five stars? Because if any of these things in the early chapters put you off, stick with it. As the story hurtles into the final act you come to care about these characters, murderous gits or not. This book grows from imaginative world building to powerful character stuff – it has things to say, and things that will stay with you. Bacigalupi has taken risks with style, form, format and character, and they pay off.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2021
Did that all sound complicated? Well, it is. The world-building in this book is incredible, and the sheer scope of Bacigalupi’s imagination makes up for all sorts of difficulties. For example, all the characters are racist. It makes sense for the story, but it’s hard to like them! Having endowed us with a super-complicated world, the author then reaches for the literary stars by using third person present: “Lake reaches for the glass.” Great for judges of literary prizes, not great for readers trying to understand the fourteenth made up word on the page. Finally, we have the magically wonder girl, whose voyeuristic sexual abuse is excused because it gets her superpowers, and she has her revenge. Nope, never heard that trope before.
Why am I being so super harsh on a book I gave five stars? Because if any of these things in the early chapters put you off, stick with it. As the story hurtles into the final act you come to care about these characters, murderous gits or not. This book grows from imaginative world building to powerful character stuff – it has things to say, and things that will stay with you. Bacigalupi has taken risks with style, form, format and character, and they pay off.
"We are nature. Our every tinkering is nature, our every biological striving. We are what we are, and the world is ours. We are its gods. Your only difficulty is your unwillingness to unleash your potential fully upon it."
Like Bacigalupi's other novels, this is also a rollicking ride that locks you in from the first pages. It has an almost noir thriller edge about it as characters scrabble for survival, uncertain of shifting political allegiances.
Another brilliant addition to the future imaginings of the clifi genre. Loved it!








