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)

a fun adventure book

I enjoyed this book. A fun telling of an individual beating the odds and making more of his circumstances but still being a decent person.

Excellent Story

A good read, suspenseful, well narrated, riveting. My wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly! Highly recommend it!

Enjoyable - But I've Read it Before

Ship Breaker is a solid story with a complex and well described world. Yet oddly enough, this never gripped me - I was reminded so much of authors such as Homer Hickman who write about boys coming of age with good hearts who have to overcome the evil that humans do - and deal with a frustrating, confusing, inscrutable girl as well. It's almost become a cliche and I've read this so much that I never invested in the characters or story of Ship Breaker as a result.

Story: Nailer is a scavenger in the lowest dregs of a weather-ravaged, dystopian gulf area shanty town. He spends his day crawling derelict oil tankers to get enough scrap for a few bites to eat every day, and hopefully avoid his vicious, drugged father. Then, after a category 6 hurricane, a luxury yacht washes up in front of him and he may have the find of his life. But then he finds a girl his age alive inside and everything that seemed so easy just became very difficult.

Certainly, the author doesn't pull punches and shows just how mercenary society can be (or really always is) with the breakdown of order as in a dystopian milieu. And as with so many of Hickman's novels, the boy and his family are virtual slaves of corporations (or mining companies, etc. etc.), given just enough to survive but never enough to break free. This is the gravitas in which the characters find themselves and circumstances will force them to break free in a do or die gambit.

But along with the 'family enslaved' trope, there is always the somewhat upper class girl who drives the boys nuts. We have to go through all the motions of the love/hate relationship, the bickering, and the boy wondering why girls have to be so difficult and opaque. Yes, boys just can't figure out girls and it's because the girls are just weird. At least the authors give the girls backbones. But at the same time, completely and utterly unlikeable. In Ship Breaker, I wish the girl had been quiet and intelligently thoughtful, rather than cagey and unreadable.

The heaviness of the society and dog-eat-dog world are quite depressing. I know many prefer this dose of 'reality' in their books, and as such, I certainly can see why this was so highly rated by so many. Ironically for me, if the boy had actually been more mercenary (i.e., smart) I would have enjoyed this story a bit more. Saving one person's life at the expense of 10 others never makes much sense to me but I leave that for the philosophers; certainly, it means the boy retains his soul intact.

So yes, a solid read with a few problems that I wish an editor had fixed (repeated words and choppy sentence structures became annoying, especially with me listening to the Audible version).

Note that I listened to the Audible version and the narrator did an excellent job.

Well done YA story

This was an enjoyable, easy-to-listen-to, interesting YA novel with a fine narrator. If you like YA novels, go for it!

NOT just a "tween" story.

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

I'm a big fan of Baciagalupi, so it isn't surprising that this novel really appealed to me. Very good story, very engaging, and....well, I bought both the audio book and the eBook. The story was that compelling.

What other book might you compare Ship Breaker to and why?

I'd compare it to any of his other books. His dystopic views of the future seem quite plausible. I can't think of another book quite like this.

Which scene was your favorite?

Too many to list.

Good listen

I enjoyed Ship Breaker. I was entranced by the milieu, and interesting characters. Sometimes the story sputters, as the author over-explains character motivation, but the tenuous bits of drama are enough to keep me listening. I found the performance good but not excellent. I would listen to the voice actor again. Four stars all around for a listen well worth your time.

Poetry written in waste of humanity

Any additional comments?

Bacigolopi turns the story of disposable humans into a love story with poetry. Despite or maybe because of his almost cruel and very clear direct look at humanity at its most desperate, there is beauty in his world. Swanson's voice reflects it all wonderfully. It is still a book you want to listen to in one sitting.

Excellent!

I had already read The Windup Girl by Bacigalupi, but Ship Breaker is an even better story. I never wanted to turn it off. I wish the narrator had just forgone the accents. It bothered me the whole time, but the great story managed to overcome the the so-so narrator.

great story

read very well . kept my interest the whole time. want to try another on oh his books

GREAT first novel in a WONDERFUL trilogy

JA (for the main characters; not the plot), post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Bacigalupi - a gifted imagination focusing on water issues in the future. I have enjoyed Bacigalupi's adult novels (Windup Girl, Water Knife) and thus eagerly picked up this trilogy. I was not disappointed. Cutting to the punchline: I highly recommend all three books, which each read fine as a standalone novel (because each one features a different main protagonist) but is also fantastic read as a trilogy.

This first book concentrates on a boy who lives the life of a "ship breaker." His job is to salvage recyclable items (copper wire, for instance) in sunken ships. The world is post-global warming and the south-eastern part of the U.S. is submerged. Nautical maps map out streets and high rises in cities as potential dangers to ships. The world is divided into haves (internet, power, good food) and have-nots (none of the above, plus searingly difficult labor and/or life in a militarized zone). The ship-breaker finds a ship with a very wealthy girl on it. The decisions the ship-breaker must face and the consequences he contemplates along various paths are interesting and bring him closer to characters in his world that lead to the next two books.