Ship Breaker

By: Paolo Bacigalupi

Narrated by: Joshua Swanson

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

Pretty Good

Would you listen to Ship Breaker again? Why?

No..no need.

What did you like best about this story?

It was pretty interesting

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

Not much, really. He was ok, but not the best I've heard.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Book title is find as is.

Any additional comments?

Pretty good but not "gripping." I had no trouble stopping when I needed too. There have been other books where I would keep driving around the block just to keep listening.

Master of his Genre

Big shout out to Paolo Bacigalupi. As in the Windup Girl, Ship Breaker and the companion work, Drowned Cities are futuristic worlds so completely imagined that every detail falls into place. Beautifully written, very well narrated, Ship Breaker will leave you with many questions, but fully satisfied. More please.

Good stuff

Don't let the whole "YA" thing turn you away from a good book; it almost did me.

The narration is painful at times.

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

The story is is entertaining but the narration is painful.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Certainly could use a different narrator.

Would you be willing to try another one of Joshua Swanson’s performances?

No.

Very good story

If you believe in global warming as a man made disaster that is getting worse and worse, then this is your kind of an apocalyptic story. Always keeps you interested with interesting plot twists.

"The Windup Girl" for YA readers

Paolo Bacigalupi is destined to be one of the Grand Old Masters of science fiction in another couple of decades. His books are uniformly excellent and capture perfectly the aesthetic of modern SF. His pet theme is environmental and economic catastrophe creating an impoverished, post-oil world. Ship Breaker reads very much like a YA version of his Hugo and Nebula-winning The Windup Girl. Although it's never explicitly stated that Ship Breaker takes place in the same world, it is similar enough that it very well could.

The main character, Nailer, is a ship breaker, a teenager who lives his life crawling around in old vessels trying to salvage anything that will earn a little coin. It's a dirty, dangerous job, yet he considers himself lucky to have it, because the alternative is worse. The dystopian element is not an oppressive government, but a nonexistent government, in a world of drowned cities.

When a storm washes an expensive ship and a pretty girl ashore, Nailer and his friends have to decide whether to help the girl or strip her ship (and her) for parts. Obviously we know which way Nailer must choose for the story to go further. The rich girl turns out to have been fleeing from enemies of her wealthy and powerful family, and so Nailer is dragged along on an adventure that will take him far beyond any horizons he'd previously imagined.

You can tell this is a YA novel by the fact that Bacigalupi tones down the violence a little (but there are still some pretty gruesome deaths), and sex is only implied. The story is kept fast-paced and adventurous, with Nailer going from one close call to another. I'd compare Ship Breaker favorably to one of Heinlein's juveniles; its science and worldbuilding is (of course) more contemporary, but the story is very much a boy's adventure, with a pretty girl (who has plenty of will of her own) as a motivating factor.

Highly recommended: if you liked The Windup Girl, you should like this somewhat lighter story told in a similar vein, and it's better than a lot of adult SF.

Continuous entertainment

What did you love best about Ship Breaker?

The storyline. It has continuous entertainment and excitement

Who was your favorite character and why?

Nailor the Ship Breaker

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

Nothing. I'd prefer a different narrator

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Clipper

Very innovative! Kept me totally absorbed!

I loved this book. A friend recommended Paolo Bacigalupi’s short story “The Fluted Girl”. It was so unique I really wanted more. I am not disappointed.

shipbreaker

This is my 3rd novel from author and coincidentally it is my third favorite. tied for first and second is "the windup girl" and "the water knife". I really, really like those two and thought "shipbreaker " was good.

I liked it, especially the reader

this book had different levels to the story. I really liked it, especially the reader.