Post by scourgewriter on Sept 8, 2010 7:44:01 GMT -5
I don’t think I will look at a durian fruit the same way again. Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel The Windup Girl is an unsettling and thought-provoking story that makes me want to compare it to Blade Runner. Set in the late 22nd century Bangkok, Paolo portrays a world recovering from the collapse of the oil economy and the effects of global warming. Gone are the days of the high-powered world of jet travel, fast food and cheap electricity. In its place kink springs, wound by genetically-engineered beasts of burden, power the limping, low watt industries of the new calorie-based economy.
Most nation states have been subsumed by the calorie corporations who wage the most brutal kind of competition by unleashing plagues on competitors’ crops, which in the process have decimated the natural ecology and killed countless millions with diseases not yet conceived.
In Bangkok, Agrigen’s representative Anderson Lake is seeking to leverage his company’s interests in a country with vast seed stocks of naturally evolved crops untouched by plague and still out of reach of the calories companies. Thailand has survived the times of the Great Expansion and the subsequent Great Contraction without having ever been conquered. When the plagues swept across the planet, Thailand’s Environmental Ministry rose up and successfully combated the plagues with the support of a nation united by the ruling royal family.
Other nations weren’t so fortunate. Malaysia, for instance, had descended into an ethno-tribalistic frenzy as Islamic Green Head Bands slaughtered ethnic Chinese as retold by Anderson’s assistant Hock Seng, a yellow card refugee living off the good graces of a nation that has little regard for his people, most of whom live in utter squalor in the sweltering and dilapidated skyscrapers built during the Great Expansion. Once a successful businessman and owner of several clipper ships, Hock Seng is haunted by the memories of Malaysia when his family fell victim to the fanatics. He readies himself for the time when he will have to flee Bangkok just like he did in Malaysia, bracing himself as the people in Thailand brace themselves for another plague that could hit at any moment.
Ever watchful for the introduction of a new plague is Jaidee, the Tiger of Bangkok and captain in the Environmental Ministry who saw Thailand through some of the worst plagues. Jaidee and his lieutenant Kanya are constantly at odds with the Trade Ministry who do not see the threat in collaborating with the foreign or farang calorie companies. Once widely respected for their courageous efforts in combating the plagues, the white shirts of the Environmental Ministry are now largely seen by the populace as extorting thugs.
Anderson Lake comes across Emiko, a Japanese genetically constructed being, known as new people who are referred to as a windup or a heechy-keechy. Windups, engineered by the Japanese are regarded with utter contempt in Thailand as they are believed to be soulless and are not considered part of the human race. They are illegal in Thailand, in fact as they have been used as soldiers by the Vietnamese who threaten their borders as well as pleasure models like Emiko, and as laborers.
It takes awhile for the plot to get rolling as Paolo dedicates a lot of time introducing the characters Anderson Lake, Hock Seng, Jaidee, Kanya and Emiko, telling us their story and what drives them. In the process, Paolo places the reader firmly in the gritty world of Bangkok of the future in durian fruit smelling detail. So, it takes a bit of patience, but in putting the dominos in place, Paolo delivers. Starting halfway through, the pace picks up and the lives of these characters become enmeshed in a story with geopolitical consequences. I found myself sympathizing with each of the characters despite their conflicting motives, a credit to Paolo’s ability to humanize his characters. Without any spoilers, the story ends in an unexpected but not unwanted way. Paolo leaves himself room for a sequel if he wants it, and I would be very interested to see what happens next.
I was impressed how Paolo combined the retro-fitted world of the Great Contraction with its dung fires and people using treadles to power computers with the futuristic innovations of genetically-engineered people and animals. It seems impossible that the two divergent technological paradigms could exist in the same world, yet Paolo illustrates how they are an integral part of the other in the calorie-driven economy.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a temptation to compare The Windup Girl to Blade Runner. There’s the obvious comparison of new people to replicants as both are genetically engineered beings used for labor, war and pleasure and are treated as slaves. There’s the dirty, overly crowded, urban dystopian setting in both, one with flying cars and the other with plodding genetically-engineered elephants known as megadonts. And corporations have hegemonic dominion in both as well. Now that I think about it, I’m trying to come up with a reason why I wouldn’t compare it to Blade Runner. One thing is for certain, whenever I bite into a fruit now, I wonder how long that variety of apple or orange will remain on this planet before a company like Agrigen or SoyPro deems it unwanted competition and decides to wipe it out.
And be sure to check out the trailer to my novel Scourge of an Agnostic God at www.scourgeofanagnosticgod.com. It’s a plucky apocalyptic tale that laments the death of pop culture and celebrates the human spirit, available at select Barnes and Noble locations and online wherever you buy books.
Most nation states have been subsumed by the calorie corporations who wage the most brutal kind of competition by unleashing plagues on competitors’ crops, which in the process have decimated the natural ecology and killed countless millions with diseases not yet conceived.
In Bangkok, Agrigen’s representative Anderson Lake is seeking to leverage his company’s interests in a country with vast seed stocks of naturally evolved crops untouched by plague and still out of reach of the calories companies. Thailand has survived the times of the Great Expansion and the subsequent Great Contraction without having ever been conquered. When the plagues swept across the planet, Thailand’s Environmental Ministry rose up and successfully combated the plagues with the support of a nation united by the ruling royal family.
Other nations weren’t so fortunate. Malaysia, for instance, had descended into an ethno-tribalistic frenzy as Islamic Green Head Bands slaughtered ethnic Chinese as retold by Anderson’s assistant Hock Seng, a yellow card refugee living off the good graces of a nation that has little regard for his people, most of whom live in utter squalor in the sweltering and dilapidated skyscrapers built during the Great Expansion. Once a successful businessman and owner of several clipper ships, Hock Seng is haunted by the memories of Malaysia when his family fell victim to the fanatics. He readies himself for the time when he will have to flee Bangkok just like he did in Malaysia, bracing himself as the people in Thailand brace themselves for another plague that could hit at any moment.
Ever watchful for the introduction of a new plague is Jaidee, the Tiger of Bangkok and captain in the Environmental Ministry who saw Thailand through some of the worst plagues. Jaidee and his lieutenant Kanya are constantly at odds with the Trade Ministry who do not see the threat in collaborating with the foreign or farang calorie companies. Once widely respected for their courageous efforts in combating the plagues, the white shirts of the Environmental Ministry are now largely seen by the populace as extorting thugs.
Anderson Lake comes across Emiko, a Japanese genetically constructed being, known as new people who are referred to as a windup or a heechy-keechy. Windups, engineered by the Japanese are regarded with utter contempt in Thailand as they are believed to be soulless and are not considered part of the human race. They are illegal in Thailand, in fact as they have been used as soldiers by the Vietnamese who threaten their borders as well as pleasure models like Emiko, and as laborers.
It takes awhile for the plot to get rolling as Paolo dedicates a lot of time introducing the characters Anderson Lake, Hock Seng, Jaidee, Kanya and Emiko, telling us their story and what drives them. In the process, Paolo places the reader firmly in the gritty world of Bangkok of the future in durian fruit smelling detail. So, it takes a bit of patience, but in putting the dominos in place, Paolo delivers. Starting halfway through, the pace picks up and the lives of these characters become enmeshed in a story with geopolitical consequences. I found myself sympathizing with each of the characters despite their conflicting motives, a credit to Paolo’s ability to humanize his characters. Without any spoilers, the story ends in an unexpected but not unwanted way. Paolo leaves himself room for a sequel if he wants it, and I would be very interested to see what happens next.
I was impressed how Paolo combined the retro-fitted world of the Great Contraction with its dung fires and people using treadles to power computers with the futuristic innovations of genetically-engineered people and animals. It seems impossible that the two divergent technological paradigms could exist in the same world, yet Paolo illustrates how they are an integral part of the other in the calorie-driven economy.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a temptation to compare The Windup Girl to Blade Runner. There’s the obvious comparison of new people to replicants as both are genetically engineered beings used for labor, war and pleasure and are treated as slaves. There’s the dirty, overly crowded, urban dystopian setting in both, one with flying cars and the other with plodding genetically-engineered elephants known as megadonts. And corporations have hegemonic dominion in both as well. Now that I think about it, I’m trying to come up with a reason why I wouldn’t compare it to Blade Runner. One thing is for certain, whenever I bite into a fruit now, I wonder how long that variety of apple or orange will remain on this planet before a company like Agrigen or SoyPro deems it unwanted competition and decides to wipe it out.
And be sure to check out the trailer to my novel Scourge of an Agnostic God at www.scourgeofanagnosticgod.com. It’s a plucky apocalyptic tale that laments the death of pop culture and celebrates the human spirit, available at select Barnes and Noble locations and online wherever you buy books.