Ship Breaker

By: Paolo Bacigalupi

Narrated by: Joshua Swanson

Printz Award Winner, 2011

In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota - and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life.

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a thrilling, fast-paced adventure set in a vivid and raw, uncertain future.

©2010 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

"Narrator Joshua Swanson makes this harsh dystopian world all too believable. He adjusts the pacing to fit the intensity of the action and gives each character a voice that fits his or her personality. This is superb listening for teens—and adults too—even those who aren’t big fans of science fiction." (AudioFile)

A Fine Story; Not The WindUp Girl

On it's own, this is a likable book. The characters in Ship Breaker are fine and appropriately likable/hatable, but Bacigalupi has engaged me more deeply with less time and words in previous work. Also, I'm not a YA reader, for whom this book is intended. There are elements here reminiscent of RLS' Treasure Island (without being derivative), but I picked this up because I wanted to know more about the world I saw in The WindUp Girl. There's too little of that here for me, but if you liked Bacigalupi's The Alchemist, I think you'll be happy with Ship Breaker.

I read WindUp Girl less than a month ago, and then proceeded to DEVOUR everything else published by the author over the last few weeks. I read that Ship Breaker was set in the same dystopian future of WindUp Girl and wanted more of that. If you too are looking for more of that, you're better off reading and re-reading Bacigalupi's short story collection Pump Six. Indeed, shorts like 'Pop Squad', 'The People of Sand and Slag' and 'Pump Six' will stick with me longer than anything in Ship Breaker.

Still, I do leave this book thinking more about its big theme –the ties that bind people together– into families (genetic and impromptu), gangs, corporations, and the nature of loyalty, and what we do with all those things when everything else breaks down.

I'm sad there's no more Bacigalupi to devour at the moment, but interested in reading something like Cormac McCarthy's The Road that may give me what I'm looking for.

* NOTE - While I'm used to Jonathan Davis reading Bacigalupi, Joshua Swanson does a great job handling the voices of men, women, children, and even dog-men.

More conventional than his other stuff, but great

I enjoyed Bacigalupi's "adult" novel, The Windup Girl, but felt that its convoluted plot and lack of easily sympathetic characters made it hard to recommend outside speculative fiction fan circles.

Shipbreaker, however, a young adult novel set in a vividly grimy, frightening future, trades some intellectual complexity for a more accessible, visceral reading experience. Though apocalyptic fiction seems to be all the rage now, even in YA, this book is certainly near the top of the class. From its relatable characters to its convincing scenes of action and danger to its sense of a complex, lived-in world, Shipbreaker offers plenty that will genuinely speak to adolescent readers (though the uncompromising violence, scary adult characters, and modest amount of profanity might be a little too much for children) and grown-up ones, too. Of course, there are "messages" here, as well, in Bacigalupi's vision of a world environmentally and economically decimated by capitalism run amok, but he presents them in a smart, unobtrusive way, without talking down to his audience.

Totally recommended, and a book that puts Bacigalupi into the "young speculative fiction writers with something to say" category. Compared to the Windup Girl, this novel is a bit more conventionally plotted, but perhaps a better intro to Bacigalupi. If his vision draws you in, that book offers a richer experience.

Top Five Fave Author

I first learned of Paolo Bacigalupi when I won a copy of The Windup Girl at our local library. Was hooked immediately by his intelligent foresight. Great characters & dialogue, and especially by his understanding of the less fortunate among us & visceral knowledge of the plight any of us might face under the right ( or wrong) circumstances, or just by the simple luck of birth.

Bacigalupi writes intelligent bleeding edge near future as well as or better than most out there. As the title of my review said, he’s in my top five. And he writes books you can read and re- read, always picking up something new.

Poor boy meets rich girl.

I bought this one as a daily deal from Audible.com; I found that this is a great way to try books that one might not every try otherwise. Ship Breaker is set in a dystopian future where a poor boy meets a rich girl. Although there is nothing new with this kind of plot, It was still a great book about how they were thrown together and the adventures they have together. I would recommend it to any fan of dystopian si-fi. It makes a great teen reader as well.

Engaging Listen

I was pleasantly surprised at the easy flow of this story. I haven't found PB's books to be easy to follow in audio before, having to rewind and re-listen to parts before actually grasp them. But this was one of the books in my wish list, and it was on sale, so I took a gamble.

And, I enjoyed it!

Fast moving plot and action, it felt as though the story was rushing head-long into the jungle (of Louisiana, maybe?) and then.....run smack into a barrier. The story stopped. Literally. So....I'm feeling a little bit unfinished, without closure.

Still, it was enjoyable and I will probably download the 2nd in this series, even though I see that it isn't quite a continuing story.

Survival, treasure, Love, Ships, trains, Pirates!

Survival, treasure, Love, Ships, trains, Pirates!
So well Richard and cold feel like you're there

Engaging story of post-oil earth

Although the narration is stilted with odd pauses, the story pulled me in. This post-oil earth is full of haves and have-nots, engineered bodyguards and corporate intrigue.

Good postapocalyptic story

Bacigalupi invents a colorful and detailed future where human and quasi-human toil to survive. Grim but not without hope. The story takes place in a tropical and swampy South Coast and follows the struggle of two teenagers to escape their enemies and survive in a relentless world. The two protagonists come from very different background and yet learn to be with each other. The scenario and story show great inventiveness. Well written and read.

Loving this author!

This is the second book I've listened to from Paolo and even though the description didn't seem up my alley (about people working to dismantle ships) the story and characters sucked me in. Just like Water Knife, don't let the title / summary dissuade you -- the author could make an adventure of sweater knitting!

Lord's name taken in vain

good writer's should have a vocabulary to express their meaning without using out Lord's name in vain. other than that, the story theme was good.