The Windup Girl in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Feb 28, 2012 Kristen rated it really liked it

I don't typically describe books this way, but the best way to describe "The Wind-Up Girl" is deftly written. It took me about 100 pages to really get into the book, and during that time I was seriously considering if I had hit my limit on dystopic sci-fi portayals of the future. But I kept going, and I'm so glad I did. I realize now that Bacigalupi needs about 100 pages to establish the world he's created and the characters in it; once he's done that he interweaves their story lines and the plo ...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Erika rated it it was ok

Shelves: sciencefiction, dystopia

Meh, overrated. While I appreciate the dystopian vision that is so firmly rooted in our present, I think Bacigalupi was overly ambitious with this novel. He clearly had a very elaborately envisioned future world, but I think he erred in giving TOO many details, TOO many ideas, and then never totally following up on them. The world, for all its details, felt a bit shallow. There were many, MANY references to past events and other aspects of the world that never actually got explained, and so as I Meh, overrated. While I appreciate the dystopian vision that is so firmly rooted in our present, I think Bacigalupi was overly ambitious with this novel. He clearly had a very elaborately envisioned future world, but I think he erred in giving TOO many details, TOO many ideas, and then never totally following up on them. The world, for all its details, felt a bit shallow. There were many, MANY references to past events and other aspects of the world that never actually got explained, and so as I read this I felt like I was never given enough solidity to have any more than a partially formed grasp of the world he was trying to create, an issue I also had with Shipbreaker.

The narrative could have been told from about half the points of view, too - spreading the story over so many characters left it feeling fragmented and disjointed, especially since I really only gave a damn about half of them. I mean, I understand setting up a plot, but over 100 pages before the crux of the plot unfolds just so you can tell the story from the point of view of five different characters? I almost gave up on it.

I also really wish I knew WHY Bacigalupi had to make Emiko genetically programmed to climax from any and all forms of sexual stimulation. I understand her being programmed to obey and please, but being programmed to orgasm from rape? On the one hand I feel (and hope) that he was simply trying to make her the most pitiful creature ever - because of course, that does happen and so the sense of self loathing you get from Emiko as a result is totally believable. However, the way in which the extremely graphic rape scenes were written felt too much like the misogynist fantasy that women get sexual pleasure from and enjoy being raped for me to totally buy it. It was gratuitous and seemed like a cheap plot device aimed at being mildly erotic (gross), but then again I am notably squeamish when it comes to reading rape. Chop someone's head off with arterial spray? Totally cool! Brutal rape? Makes me want to vomit.

This is one of those instances in which I feel like, with the ability of the writer and sheer immensity of imagination that went into it, with a heavier editorial hand this book could have been GREAT. For me, though, it was just good - a flawed but mostly enjoyable read, not one that really stands out as one of the greats of science fiction as so many seem to be claiming.
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Jul 25, 2010 Andrea rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2010

I really, really wanted to like this book. The writing was compelling, the setting was fascinating, but I just didn't care about the eponymous Windup Girl character. She was annoying and boring--the Bella Swan of biopunk. ...more

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May 05, 2011 Jennifer Kronk marked it as to-read

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, library-book

This book got such great reviews last year I was really excited to finally pick it up. However, I am putting this back on my "To Read" stack. I just cannot get in to it right now. I don't know if it is the book or me but we are not connecting.
I think I'm going to track down the stories that came before this book and see if it helps everything make more sense. ...more

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