The Windup Girl

By: Paolo Bacigalupi

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories.

There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

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.

BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Paolo Bacigalupi explains how a horrible trip to Thailand led to the idea for The Windup Girl.

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

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2010
• Nebula Award, Best Novel, 2009
• Best Books of 2009, Publishers Weekly
• 10 Best Fiction Books of 2009, Time magazine
• Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy 2009, Library Journal

"Paolo Bacigalupi's debut sci-fi novel is a stunner, especially as interpreted under the careful ministrations of narrator Jonathan Davis. The novel postulates a corrupt near-future society in Southeast Asia, where powerful corporations vie for control over rice yields by wielding bioengineered viruses as tools for profit." ( AudioFile)

" The Windup Girl will almost certainly be the most important SF novel of the year for its willingness to confront the most cherished notions of the genre, namely that our future is bright and we will overcome our selfish, cruel nature." ( Book Page)

"A classic dystopian novel likely to be short listed for the Nebula and Hugo Awards" ( SF Signal)

300 years from now..A nightmare Future

A long novel, set in a dismal future Thailand, there is no petroleum, all plant life is genetically modified and sold at high cost by the " calorie companies", computers are powered by treadle ( like old sewing machines), the world is full of tribes, and companies.
A fascinating view of the potential that our children's children may face if we don't make changes now, this novel was in dire need of a good editor before it first was issued in book form.

After a couple of slow first hours, I listened at one and a half speed and lost little I'm sure as the author spent chapters on, for example, a "Noe" fruit which I learned far too much about only to have it make no real difference in the plot.

But, it was fascinating to listen to the misery that people were living in, struggling to eat, living in dismal slums. The (former) US, which is now agro-corporations, hires these wretched people at minimal wage ( of course), enslaves genetically modified elephants for labor and is essentially the Ugly American.

The 3rd part, however, is much more exciting, and much of the plot is knitted together.

Jonathan Davis is an excellent narrator but he lacked the ability to keep his accents and names straight..one time a person might have an Asian accent, the next sentence he wouldn't. With all the Asian names, it can get a bit confusing for someone unused to the words.

Would I recommend it? Depends. It can be horrific to listen to, depressing and confusing but it IS a dark future novel, not one of peace and joy and life like Star Trek promised us on TV.

You'll have to decide for yourself if you want to spend a credit on an essentially depressing view of our future. I'm glad I did.

Wonderful surprise

This is not the type of book I usually read or listen to. I chose it because I wanted a change of pace over my usual read and because of the reader reviews .I am so glad I did. It is one of the best listens I have discovered on Audible.com and recommend it highly. I am not surprised to see it win an award. Can't wait to listen to his latest.

Award Winning

This book takes place in a futuristic Thailand where the world’s currency is based upon calories. This is not the only change from the world as we know it. We encounter beings that are used as slaves, solders and even for recreation. They are called New People and they were engineered to be stronger, faster, and obedient.

Overall this was an interesting sci-fi book and has won two of the biggest awards:
The Hugo Award and The Nebula Award.

Original, troubling world creation

Despite my hesitation after reading some less-than-favorable reviews, I took a chance on this book and rather liked it. Bacigalupi's hard-edged, confident, cerebral prose resembles that of William Gibson. The novel takes place in an ecological dystopia some 200 years in the future, an era when fossil fuels are nearly exhausted, sea levels have risen, and genetically-modified plants and diseases have run amok, wiping out original species. Humankind has regressed backwards both in technology -- relying on specially-bred animals and stored energy springs for power, and using boats and dirigibles to get around -- and in civility, living in a world of xenophobia, factionalism, and human exploitation.

The events of the story occur in a future version of Thailand. In Gibson-esque fashion, Bacigalupi introduces a motley cast of characters with intertwining stories, a hustling North American "calorie man" desperately looking to make a quick fortune from the discovery of lost foodstuffs, a duty-driven officer of a militarized environmental protection force struggling to hold pestilence out of the Thai kingdom, a genetically engineered sex slave who's despised by a xenophobic population but possesses a strange power, and a once-wealthy Chinese refugee who now must make deals to stay alive.

I enjoyed the calm intensity that Bacigalupi brings to his story, the vivid sense of a declined world in motion, where people are nonetheless surviving and living their daily lives as best they are able. I appreciated that the author didn't try to lead readers by the hand, but left us to soak up his reality and a set of intrigues already underway. The Windup Girl's setting, texture, and level of literacy feel quite different from a lot of other science fiction books, but its images and scenes stuck with me more than most. Perhaps this one will be remembered for painting a stunning vision of the-future-in-the-hazy-distance for 2009, in the same way Neuromancer did for 1984.

Criticisms? Well, some readers have complained that the plot is slow-moving and the characters aren't very involving. The former charge -- arguably true in this case -- rarely bothers me in a good novel, but the latter is hard to deny. The characters, cogs in a complex plot, never quite become sympathetic (we hardly learn anything about the backstory of the American), and the only one I found truly interesting, the vile but mesmerizing Dr. Gibbons, doesn't get much stage time. Still, the book swept me up as its plot strands converged towards a blazing finale, and I would certainly consider Bacigalupi a writer to keep an eye on.

The audiobook reader deserves a lot of praise, with subtle but distinct differences in accent for the various characters.

Absolutely terrific

One of the best books I've purchased in 5+ years with audible.com.

Don't listen to the detractors, this book ROCKS!

What can I say? An engrossing story, masterfully told, and unique in concept. Just hear it.

Solid but not spectacular

It gets hold of thailand pretty well - though the narrator could have gotten some help with pronunciation. It's concepts of the post carbon energy economy are limited and are as though the author hasn't read anything on the topic since 1970. Good first book, better than most but not yet up to something like the Diamond Age. I would read this author again.

Great ideas, but doesn't quite deliver

Like most sensationalized headlines in the news, when you get into the actual story I felt this book fails to deliver. There are so many interesting ideas brought up, but just a tantalizing glimpse that the author never really delves into. You never hear exactly what is going on in the world, exactly how it all happened. I feel like, as the reader, I had to do too much of the work with my own imagination. For example, his characters drop ominous hints about "what happened in Finland" but never really talk about what it was. There is a desperate hunt for VS attempt to protect/hide a potential seed bank, but really, why would a government keep a seed bank if it is not going to be used in the event of some Apocalypse- which has obviously taken place? If it is to protect every single plant from some sort of disease (also never really explained) than what good is it to keep the seeds if they can't be used? I don't really know why, this is one of those areas where the author forces you to come up with your own believable inference that fits his story and I'm just not that creative. The actions of the characters is even more mystical to me. Let me rephrase, the actions of the entities - government and commercial factions - that create the situations our characters find themselves in- don't make sense to me. I just finished it and I have no idea why the warring factions took a lot of the actions they did. I don't think he justifies the escalation or provides sufficient motive for the overall conflict that our characters find themselves in. A lot of reason has to be suspended and a lot of imagination added. I read the book because of the world it takes place in and wanted to see the imagination that created it. Unfortunately, the world is just interesting background color and really not what the story is about. It feels almost like this book should have been a sequel- as if something should have come before and I started in the middle.

early impression: well-executed tripe

Fair warning for the first three chapters: extended and lasciviously detailed violence, and a brutal public rape scene that is apparently the de-rigueur motivating background for female characters in "edgy" fiction. Thai and Malay cultures are treated with the sort of casual contempt that might put you off if you're sensitive to that issue. Bad science.

Not super-impressed so far. Hoping the pace will pick up and the characters will become more interesting.

Good narration - almost disappears into the background, and the reader gets through the rape scene without over-acting. It's hard to pitch that kind of thing just right. Amused by the choice of stock (but subtly rendered) character voices.

We'll see how the rest of it goes.

I'm sure it's unfair to review based on a few chapters, but I'm not sure I'll have the patience to get much further along. Figured some forewarning is warranted.

Amazing detail amazing world

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The detail to the world and characters almost lost me and yet that made it very difficult to stop listening. The world had gone so wrong all because of mankind.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Emiko the windup girl was so real in the story, I had felt sorry for her and her life. Another innocent placed in unacceptable conditions out of her control.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?

Emiko and Anderson tied for first place.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The treatment of Emiko was very disturbing her programming of reactions sad. No control in her own life.

Any additional comments?

One of the hardest audio books I've listened to. The depth and detail made everything so real at times I wanted to jump ahead. It was a grind sometimes difficult other times I hated to stop. So glad I listened all the way through well worth my time.