The Windup Girl in Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p

Jul 20, 2019 Benjamin Fasching-Gray rated it liked it

Shelves: f-sf

Much of the abuse the Windup Girl survives was made more unpleasant by the lingering feeling of geisha-fetishism, and then that spilled over into a general sort of questioning how "orientalist" the whole book was. After the Windup Girl's sex-work, if that's even a fair description, the next yucky Asian stereotype was the Chinese character fulfilling all the antisemitic tropes that people usually identify by claiming that the Chinese are like the Jews of South East Asia, by which they usually wan Much of the abuse the Windup Girl survives was made more unpleasant by the lingering feeling of geisha-fetishism, and then that spilled over into a general sort of questioning how "orientalist" the whole book was. After the Windup Girl's sex-work, if that's even a fair description, the next yucky Asian stereotype was the Chinese character fulfilling all the antisemitic tropes that people usually identify by claiming that the Chinese are like the Jews of South East Asia, by which they usually want to mean the small business people who are a minority with a precarious existence but in this book all the unspoken meanings come out: the character is sneaky, greedy, has a secret stash of wealth... this is balanced somewhat with descriptions of his trauma (surviving a genocide, how's that for another parallel?) That none of the foreign devils were all that sympathetic helped a little, but I think to really enjoy this book you need to put aside the kinds of concerns that I can't put aside and just enjoy the Thailand setting the way that Billy Idol enjoyed the real Thailand: "It's not just the drugs, it's the sex!" Except here none of the sex seems truly consensual and much of it definitely isn't, and of course, people who read books about the dangers of genetic engineering in a post-climate catastrophe world are not likely to be as carefree as Billy Idol. This book does not have a lot of sex, don't misunderstand me, it's about food security and genetic engineering and kinetic energy and refugees and climate change, but the sex and sex-work stuff is so off the hook wrong that it takes up more space in my head that it did on the page.

In the first hundred pages or so, there is some repetition in the exposition of character motivation, but once all the characters are properly introduced and the plot begins to tighten up things get more exciting. The bleakness of this future, where humans seem to have learned nothing from the consequences of environmental damage, where patriarchy, racism and capitalism are more firmly in the saddle than ever, works well and motivated me to be even more cautious about things like eating organic and using less plastic. Despite the bleakness, it is optimistic in that humans have survived in this future and may even survive in whatever comes after this book, but it's not exactly "happy end" and it's definitely not an at-one-with-nature utopia. That it all comes across as plausible makes it more powerful than sillier stuff like Mad Max: Fury Road although the latter draws the connection between our social dysfunction and the environmental devastation in a clearer way.

This book also has ghosts in it, which I am glad I didn't know going in because I would have maybe avoided it, thinking of paranormal romance or something, but actually the one ghost with the most dialogue is great and helps make one of the living characters more interesting.

I feel like my review has been pretty harsh and will probably turn people off from reading the book but I did like it a lot, it just had a bit of an uncomfortable aftertaste. I am looking forward to reading more from Bacigalupi, who, it must be said, has done a lot of research and work with Asians and who points out in a disclaimer that his future Thailand has nothing to do with the real place. ...more

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