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The Windup Girl

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The Windup Girl

By: Paolo Bacigalupi
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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About this listen

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories.

There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.

BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Paolo Bacigalupi explains how a horrible trip to Thailand led to the idea for The Windup Girl.

©2009 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2009 Audible, Inc. Adventure Dystopian Genetic Engineering Hard Science Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fiction Biography

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Critic reviews

  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2010
  • Nebula Award, Best Novel, 2009
  • Best Books of 2009, Publishers Weekly
  • 10 Best Fiction Books of 2009, Time magazine
  • Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy 2009, Library Journal
"Paolo Bacigalupi's debut sci-fi novel is a stunner, especially as interpreted under the careful ministrations of narrator Jonathan Davis. The novel postulates a corrupt near-future society in Southeast Asia, where powerful corporations vie for control over rice yields by wielding bioengineered viruses as tools for profit." ( AudioFile)
" The Windup Girl will almost certainly be the most important SF novel of the year for its willingness to confront the most cherished notions of the genre, namely that our future is bright and we will overcome our selfish, cruel nature." ( Book Page)
"A classic dystopian novel likely to be short listed for the Nebula and Hugo Awards" ( SF Signal)
All stars
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Initially I found this hard going, however, the further in I got the more the story unfolded and the intricacies unraveled. Such a well told and beautiful story of political, personal and sociatal corruption and collapse.

Give it time.

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where do I start. this story has a fantastic story, well designed characters and an oppressive setting that captures the distopian genre.

My only issue was the gratuitouse rape scene towards the end of the book. far too much detail.

fantastic story, well told.

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Well written bio-punk dystopia set in a ravaged and failing near future in which energy and food are scarce and monsanto-esque argichem/biotech companies hold the world in a symbiotic stranglehold. The Thai setting felt very fresh to me. There are a lot of names, terminology and political machinations which means you definitely need to pay close attention, but its worth it!

Intricately imagined dystopia

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Writing, narration, production - all excellent. The book is inventive, interesting, captivating, imaginative and not a little profound 'round the edges. Wished it'd never end...

Just marvelous

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This is amazing, it's a must read for sci-fi fans. I wish there was a movie.😭😭

OH MY GAAD!!!!

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The story meanders a little in the middle but the ride is enjoyable and the ending is well worth the wait.

Excellent story and narration

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I really enjoyed this book. Having read some of the reviews I decided to listen to it at 1.3 speed because the narrator, whilst, very expressive, speaks extremely slowly. I found it a novel plot with lots of twists I kept changing my allegiance being constantly torn between which side to root for. Gripping to the very end I would definitely recommend a listen.

Intriguing and very well imagine story

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okay this was a hard review for me because I liked the idea and the way the story initially set up but somewhere in there the writer just seemed to tumble out words and ideas maybe a standalone novel wasn't the right thing here. wasn't keen on the very cringe worthy accents either

iffy

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I enjoyed the book but had to persevere through the first half as it took a lot of time setting up the characters.

Slow start

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Just not for me. When a author spends a third of a chapter saying the same thing fifteen different ways you know you're reading "literary" science fiction. After several chapters I still had no idea what the story was about. The combination of world building, background colour, an obsession with proving how much the author was immersed in the culture being described and the mixture of languages used to show off that culture left me cold.

So longwinded.

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