Paolo Bacigalupi's debut novel, "The Windup Girl", is a frightening and brilliant look at the near future of the world. Bacigalupi did an amazing job in creating an artificial future of the world. Gene ripping, megodonts, windups, and various kinds of exotic diseases are all part of Bacigalupi's well thought out world. Strangely, Thailand was the economical center of this world. It had everything. Gene ripped fruits, megodonts in factories, windups as toys, and blister rust all made up the wonderfully horrifying future Thailand.
"The Windup Girl" is a bit jumpy. It started out with Anderson going to Thailand to inspect a company, then the book started talking about Emiko, the windup, and her new life away from Japan, then the book suddenly takes you to captain Jaidee and Kanya with their battle against trade. Somewhere in the middle of the story, they suddenly start introducing ghosts and such. In my opinion that's the only bad part of the story. This story was very captivating. Usually in books, I don't like reading about the evil characters. In "The Windup Girl", every character was equally entertaining to read about. I especially liked reading about Anderson and his problems with Hock Seng, the owner of the company Anderson was visiting. Another aspect that made this book incredible was Bacigalupi's attention to detail. This level of detail made me feel like I was standing in the artificial world of Bacigalupi. I could see, hear, feel, and smell everything that happened in the book. Two thumbs up for "The Windup Girl".
"Strangely, Thailand was the economical center of this world." Why was it strange that Thailand be the center? You need another layer of explanation.
ReplyDelete"It had everything. Gene ripped fruits, megodonts in factories, windups as toys, and blister rust all made up the wonderfully horrifying future Thailand." A lot of this is repetition that you already said beginning with "Gene ripping, megodonts, windups..." which means it's redundant.
You should also explain why it's so "horrific" and "frightening." It is not enough to merely state - you must back up as well.
"The Windup Girl is a bit jumpy. It started out with..." You switch been present and past tense, from "is" to "started". I'd say to stick with past for now, with "The Windup Girl was a bit jumpy."
Also, why _exactly_ is it jumpy? You described how it has many characters and many things going on at the same time, but is it jumpy because it keeps flashing/jumping back and forth between the different scenes? Explain.
"In my opinion that's the only bad part of the story." It's not enough to only state this sentence. Why is that the only bad part of the story? Because it's not believable? Because it's too choppy? Because you don't like ghosts in general? Imagine if I said, "In the middle of Cinderella, they suddenly introduce a pumpkin carriage. In my opinion that's the only bad part of the story." Why why why?
"In "The Windup Girl", every character was equally entertaining to read about." You should probably mention how there is no clear cut "evil" character, and everyone is in shades of grey.
" This level of detail made me feel like I was standing in the artificial world of Bacigalupi. I could see, hear, feel, and smell everything that happened in the book." You need examples in this. Provide one or two sentences of description that gives the reader an idea of how Bacigalupi is great at painting details.
Also, it should be "economic" center, not "economical."
ReplyDeleteYour assignment for today is to read these book reviews: http://www.illiterarty.com/reviews/book-review-hitchhikers-guide-galaxy-douglas-adams
http://elliotisnotawriter.blogspot.com/2009/09/book-review-hitchhikers-guide-to-galaxy.html (In this one, pay special attention to that paragraph that starts with "It sounds pretty cut and dried, but Douglas Adams does")
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/09/review-the-windup-girl-by-paolo-bacigalupi/
Read those reviews, and pay attention to their format. Ignore the parts that summarize - concentrate on the commentary. For example, in the third review, "This book is not an environmental screed. It presents no simple answers and no simple villains or heroes." Doesn't that express your own thought - that you normally don't like reading about evil characters, but this book doesn't have clear cut good or evil?
Your task for today is to write a review of any product in your house (not a yo-yo), that's at least the same length as the post I'm commenting on. Two paragraphs.