The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

The novel “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi was published for the first time in 2009. It won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial and Compton Crook awards as the best science fiction novel of the year.

Anderson Lake is a representative of AgriGen, a mega-corporation in the field of biotechnology. He works in Thailand, in theory running a local factory but in fact his purpose is to find a seed bank created by the Thais to allow their nation to survive the various diseases generally artificially created that affect plants all over the world.

Anderson Lake’s political and economic plotting clash against Captain Jaidee Rojjanasukchai, who works for the Thai Environment Ministry in order to avoid that nation to become a property of the mega-corporations. The power struggle within the Thai government also involves Emiko, a girl created by the Japanese through genetic engineering and for this reason not considered human and used as a slave.

“The Windup Girl” belongs to the biopunk subgenre, whose name was created by assonance with cyberpunk. The fundamental difference is that in the biopunk subgenre the stories aren’t focused on the consequences of the use of electronics and information technology but of biotechnologies. This novel shares with cyberpunk stories the vision that tends to be dystopian and the setting in a world practically ruled by mega-corporations.

“The Windup Girl” is set in the 23rd century, after global warming caused an increase in the oceans levels and fossil fuels are exhausted. Paolo Bacigalupi throws the reader in the Bangkok of this chaotic future without providing information about what happened to get to that situation, in particular the use of mechanical devices.

Evidently, the technologies for the use of renewable energy sources haven’t been sufficiently developed, maybe just for stupidity. For this reason, the energy is produced the old fashioned way, using animals, and bicycles are the main type of vehicle existing.

On the contrary, biotechnologies have been developed considerably but only to favor the greed of mega-corporations. Natural plants have been almost completely replaced by versions genetically modified to be sterile giving the mega-corporations control on crops.

In this situation, a seed bank is a treasure that can allow Thailand to maintain a real independence from the mega-corporations. This possibility, however, is threatened by the power struggle between the Environment Ministry, which monitors to safeguard that national wealth, and the Trade Ministry, which wants to do business with the mega-corporations that would enrich minister Akkarat and a few others.

“The Windup Girl” develops this complex political and economic struggle involving the various factions facing each other and in the middle there’s Emiko, a girl created by the Japanese through genetic engineering. She’s not considered human and for this reason is used in various ways, even degrading, and yet in some ways she’s the most human character of the novel.

The novel is divided into various subplots that follow the various protagonists. Luckily, their stories intersect often so it’s not very hard to follow them. Sometimes authors exaggerate in creating totally separate subplots with too many characters, forcing the reader to make great efforts to keep them all in mind. Instead Paolo Bacigalupi makes things easier from this point of view so for example Hock Seng works with Anderson Lake and Kanya is Jaidee Rojjanasukchai’s lieutenant.

The difficulties in “The Windup Girl” are others. Paolo Bacigalupi uses many words related to the period in which the story is set and also local terms. Most of the novel is used to build the situations that lead to the ending and often the pace is slow even though there are some action moments and twists. In the final part, the pace accelerates and there’s more action.

This choice is due to the fact that the this novel is character-oriented. Paolo Bacigalupi give us no scientific details on the biotechnologies used in the 23rd century. On the contrary he focuses on the characters and in particular on the protagonists of the various subplots, of which slowly wi discover motivations and agendas, when they have one.

The author doesn’t tell us much about the past of the characters, only some elements that he deems necessary, and occasionally uses some clichés. What matters is their future, particularly their choices. The protagonists find themselves in very difficult situations and how they decide to deal with them is one of the fundamental elements of the novel.

The moral and ethical issues are very important and each of the characters has their own vision. It also determines the priorities for survival, whether of their own or their nation’s. Despite the presence of greedy mega-corporations, there are no easy divisions in black and white but many areas of gray.

The global vision that comes out at the end of “The Windup Girl” is quite depressing. Adapting to the situations is crucial to survive but the price can be very high. Everyone can make their own opinion about the possible future of humanity and the possible changes it will have to do, even to itself, to survive.

“The Windup Girl” is a novel sometimes difficult to read for some of its features, complex due to the various stories it contains and pessimistic about the future it depicts. However, I think the result is wonderful for how Paul Bacigalupi manages to put together everything in a consistent manner so if the themes and style he uses to developed them don’t scare you I definitely recommend reading it.

11 Comments


  1. I2Q,

    “The Windup Girl” is a fantastic read. I enjoyed the world-building of the author. It is such dynamic, desperate and vivid description of a collapsing world with a worsening environmental situation.

    I really want to read a well made sequel to this because when I finished the book I wanted to keep reading. I was hooked.

    Check out my blog at:
    http://www.ink2quill.com

    what a good book.

    Reply

    1. I haven’t read his other novels but Paolo Bacigalupi seems to be focused on a grim future as their setting.

      Reply

      1. Hi Massimo,

        Yes, the author has chosen a bleak world. I would also describe it as desperate, hopefull, shocking, cruel, unforgiving and many other powerful words that make the world so vivid for us. I guess you could say that those were the ingredients he chose for his story.
        Forget the language barrier, I found myself asking how would I survive in such a world? (Some parts of the book are horribly cruel though)

        Check out my site at http://www.ink2quill.com

        I2Q

        Reply

        1. I guess you’d need to adapt very well to such a tough world, always watch your back and hope for the best as anything bad could happen.

          Reply

          1. Hey Massimo,

            Yes, in the world described in the book, watching your back is a given but I also think that survival depends on luck too. It seems like such an unstable, unpredictable place too.

            That is why the “new people” are the future.

            http://www.ink2quill.com

            I2Q


          2. Yes, probably in such a world there are too many elements you can’t control so you can be very skilled but a big flood can kill you anyway.


  2. Hey Massimo,

    If you want to read another good book that is grim try “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. It is grim but very good and the ending is unpredictable. It is better than any of the movie made from it. Some grim stories are good but I wouldn´t limit myself to just grim tales.

    Check out my blog at http://www.ink2quill.com

    I2Q

    Reply

    1. I read “I Am Legend”, the last time several years ago. Yes, it’s really a grim story but an absolute classic!

      Reply

      1. Yep it´s a classic for a very good reason. If you know of any good books just let me know. i´m have a very long list of books to read but I don´t mind lengthening it for a good read. As a matter of fact I welcome it. 🙂

        http://www.ink2quill.com

        I2Q

        Reply

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