The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

This book made it on to my reading pile purely on the basis that I wanted to see what all the fuss was about following its several award wins including the Hugo and Nebula awards.

In my opinion 'The Windup Girl' is a remarkable achievement in scale and scope.  Though it takes place in a small geographical location it manages to encompass the entirety of our world.  It takes a topic that is both current and contentious and extrapolates the possible results to the bleakest degree you could imagine.

The novel is set in a futuristic version of Earth where the genetic modification of the world's crops has devastated the natural world and the human population along with it.  The modified genes have created diseases that cannot be beaten, what crops remain are controlled by giant 'Calorie Companies' and the world has 'contracted' - no more air travel, electricity, international trade or anything else that we take for granted in our modern world. A viable plant seed is now the most sought after currency on the planet, something I found to be a great concept and one which has the writing prowess to back it up.

Paolo Bacigalupi has created a distinct world which, while obviously ours, is as alien as a planet light years away.  The novel is relentless in its vision.  There are no cheerful scenes to break the mood or give even the slightest respite and, with each chapter told from a different point of view, had a disjointed quality.  The writing style is brutal though deeply engaging and visceral in its descriptiveness.  It made me feel deeply uncomfortable much of the time but I believe this was the intention of the author.

My one real problem with 'The Windup Girl' was the complete lack of any, even vaguely, likeable character.  Anderson Lake is purely a Company man who believes money and power will cure all, Hock Seng (his refugee assistant) is equally obsessed with status, money and its trappings and both men will do anything to get it.  Jaidee is the closest the book comes to a hero and is at least honourable but that is as far as it goes.  Emiko, the eponymous 'Windup Girl' does induce a certain level of sympathy for the majority of the tale but even she has this stripped from her. In fact, some of the scenes centred on Emiko are truly barbaric and not for the faint-hearted.

This is an astonishing book and, though I cannot say that I enjoyed reading it, I can honestly say it will stay with me for a long time.  'The Windup Girl' is definitely worth reading but I would not recommend it for everyone - it is very adult, graphic and hard to read in places.  If you, as a reader, are open to a challenge then this is one for you.