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)

Wow, What a Story

This book falls into the category of "hard science fiction" in my opinion. I've heard that term used for science fiction that requires a reasonable amount of intelligence on the part of the reader. I admit that I started listening to this book on three separate occasions but stopped listening after about half an hour. It wasn't until I listened to Ship Breaker and The Drown Cities that I realized that this book was by the same author. I know, it was a "duh" moment, but I bought The Windup Girl a long time before I listened to the other two books.

After enjoying Ship Breaker and The Drown Cities so much I searched to see what else the author had written and there was The Windup Girl and suddenly it all made sense. Therefore I recommend reading the other two books before you start The Windup Girl. Also I recommend the audio version rather than the written version because of the languages used. The narrator, Jonathan Davis, did a fantastic job with the various languages and accents and well as all the scientific terminology.

I have recommended this book to my friends who enjoy science fiction with the caveat that they read the other books first.

Mr. Bacigalupi is a talented author and I very much look forward to more books from him in the future.

Weird and imaginative and worth the work

I got Windup Girl in one of the $4.95 sales with little expectation attached. But this book has a kind of spark and soulfulness mixed with a touch of Blade Runner, that is worth listening to. Although at the time I thought the author's introduction was unnecessary, it came to have more meaning for me as I got deeper into the book. Don't give up too soon with this book as the early pages are completely bewildering. Hang in there and you will be glad you did.

Fanscinating sience fiction!

This book tells fantasic stories about people and revolutions in a possible future, which our grandchildren hopefully never have to face. I really enjoyed listening!

loved it

Creates a complete future world that was thought provoking.

An example of what sci-fi is supposed to be AAA +

A very well-thought-out look into the possibilities of genetic manipulation on society with masterful storytelling and strong characters.

Fresh, original, biotech scifi.

The author instantly pulls you in and pulls you along. The world is introduced through the characters, not through drawn out exposition. You're instantly transported to a part of the world you probably know little about, and to a future that's frighteningly plausible. The narrator is a master at pace and characterization. I'll probably listen to this one more than once.

cohesive alternative world

Would you listen to The Windup Girl again? Why?

I will listen again

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Windup Girl?

Anderson"s meeting with the government powers

What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He makes The windup girl's conflict more real.

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

I was edgy when her future was uncertain.

I wanted to lik it more.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I don't think so. To me, the book never seemed to really take off. I think I was expecting something bigger in scope than what I got, but instead I spent the whole novel inside the petty politics of one claustrophobic and drowning city with only hints of the bigger world outside. To be honest, I was bored most of the time. Individual characters showed hints of being truly interesting, but they got lost in the larger narrative.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It can be summed up in one word: meh. As with the book as a whole, the ending hints at bigger things, but fails to deliver.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I'm not sure if I have or not, but he did a good job.

Did The Windup Girl inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to feel slightly annoyed at the friend who told me to get it because I would love it.

If you like sci-fi, then give this one a try

This work has a vivid tactile feel to it; the humidity, smells, crowds, dampness, dirt, and squalor of the setting gets under your fingernails. My subconscious had an active couple of weeks while I was listening to this work. All of the scenes in the book look like a Thai version of Blade Runner. This work was written to be filmed. Bravo to Mr. Bacigalupi for creating such an imaginative addition to the bio-punk genre.

Narrator Jonathan Davis has a soothing baritone that lends itself well to the intensity of the story. His pronunciation of the few difficult Thai words ("Somdet Chaopraya") sound excellent to my untrained Western ears. There is an incongruity between his Western baritone and the Asiatic characters he is representing, however. Despite this he does a wonderful job of differentiating between the various characters using only the subtle qualities of a trained voice actor. I never had trouble identifying the characters that were speaking.

The plot introduces a consistent world-view based upon limited resources, nationalism, flawed economics, and stone age mysticism. Very heady stuff. His "kinksprings" fascinated me. Just hearing the words "algae bath" makes me sick to my stomach now. The ending was a real pleasure. If you like science fiction then I recommend you give this work a try.

intense story, fascinating world

woah. This story challenged my love of punk genres (stream, cyber, etc.) And it's fascination with the future of humanity. I was honestly disappointed with the shallowness of the characters, motivations overly simplistic our unexplored and think a great opportunity was squandered in the failure to explore the motivations of Andersonville and Gibson.