The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi - A Vintage Unasked-for Book Review

Back in 2020, at the height of lockdown, I decided to read all of the books I'd bought over the years, but hadn't yet read.  One of those books, I bought right after it was published, and had it on various shelves for 11 years.  That book was The Windup Girl.

I wrote about my experience reading it back in November of 2020, and had some good online discussions with friends.  It was a hard read, and for many reasons. The first, was that it took place in a world that had been ravaged by pandemics. These pandemics destroyed both humans and our food supplies and basically devastated the world. Everyone became very insular, and the value of human life was non-existent.

There are about 4 main characters, including the windup girl Emiko.  Emiko is essentially a replicant; smarter, stronger, and more resilient then any non-genetically engineered human, but with built in biological flaws. These flaws were things like, her pores were too small to sweat, so she overheated easily, and all of her movements were jerky and robotic, like a tik toc toy, so she couldn't effectively blend into human society, or even run away.  The way Emiko is treated in the book is brutal and pretty damn awful.  I really think this book should come with a warning in the front.  For anyone who has experienced any type of abuse, especially sexual, this is not a book they should be reading.  I had issue with the way the author kept traumatizing the character too. Once, ok, I guess I get it.  It's to underscore both the horror of the characters predicaments, and the lack of value placed on human life in this world.  However, the author kept brutalizing this character. It made me think that they might have enjoyed writing those scenes, which is disturbing on a lot of levels.

Overall, despite the horrific and violent scenes throughout the book, 3/4 of it was very well written.  I felt that the end, however, was a bit rushed.  We know the fate of two of the four main characters, assume what may have happened to a third, and flat out have no idea what happened to the fourth. There is actually some speculation about the 4th character, but it's circumspect at best. At this point in the book I was invested in all of the characters, and wanted to know what happened to them; so that was disappointing. 

Overall my unasked for review is to not read this book if you want any sort of peace of mind. I actually immediately gave it away after I finished reading it (not to anyone specific btw).

This concludes a vintage unasked for book review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Emily Wilde Trilogy, By Heather Fawcett

Image
                 For my Unasked for Book Review of Book One in this series, please go here:  Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherworlds came out this past February (2025).  This is, supposedly, the last book in the Emily Wilde series. I read the 2nd book,  Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales,  last fall. I was extremely satisfied with this trilogy. Heather Fawcett not only weaves a compelling series with lots of action and adventure, but she creates characters that are loveable, complex and compelling.  I found myself rooting for Emily and Wendell's relationship, laughing at their banter, and worried for them at the situations they found themselves in. I loved the secondary characters introduced in all three of her books as well; finding myself just as attached to those Emily and Wendell cared about.  The world building in this series is really fun and enjoyable as well. ...
Read more

The Grace of Wild Things, By Heather Fawcett

Image
  I seem to be on a Heather Fawcett reading kick right now, having just finished her Emily Wilde  trilogy, which I greatly enjoyed. The Grace of Wild  Things  is a wonderfully sweet story.  It is loosely based off of  Anne of Green Gables but with magic, fairy's, and witches. It's not long, a rather short read/listen.  The audio book was only 8 hours.  I love the Anne of Green Gables series, and have read and reread the Lucy Maud Montgomery books quite a number of times. So, when I heard that Heather Fawcett had written a book based off of those books, it was a no brainer for me to read. Grace, the protagonist, is an orphan like Anne.  Unlike Anne, Grace is a witch.  The book explores themes of found family, loss, home, community, friendship, loneliness and belonging. Like Anne, Grace is imaginative, kind, loyal, has a temper, and consistently finds herself in scrapes. I enjoyed the entirety of the book, including the ending.  I wou...
Read more

The Divine Cities Trilogy, By Robert Jackson Bennett

Image
  The Divine Cities Trilogy is written by Austinite author Robert Jackson Bennett. I became aware of this series because I recently read Mr. Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , for my book club.  I liked The Tainted Cup  well enough to look into the other novels Mr. Bennett has written. When I read the premise of City of Stairs , book one in the trilogy, I did so with no intention of definitively reading the other two in the series.  I was intrigued by what the first book seemed to be about and I ended up enjoying it very much. I read, or rather listened, to the other two books, and was equally entertained and enjoyed them as well. The world building of this trilogy is quite well done, and Mr. Bennett explores many interesting themes throughout the three books.  These themes include the nature of war, belief, oppression, trauma, and all the various aftermaths. One of the reasons the books are so good, is that this is done so on a very human and relatable level, w...
Read more