Raves for The Windup Girl
September 30th, 2009 | by Paolo |The reviews on The Windup Girl have been astonishingly good. Here’s the roundup, with links to the originals:
Publishers Weekly: (Starred Review) “Complex, literate and intensely felt tale, which recalls both William Gibson and Ian McDonald at their very best… clearly one of the finest science fiction novels of the year.”
Library Journal: (Starred Review) East meets West in a clash of cultures brilliantly portrayed in razor-sharp images, tension-building pacing, and sharply etched characters.
SF Signal: (Five out of Five Stars) “Disturbing… beautiful, fast-paced, exciting…and also a novel of hope. Unlike many dystopian authors, Bacigalupi knows that at our core humans always struggle against any challenge. While we may not consistently do right, we consistently hope to do better.”
SciFi Wire: “[an] extraordinary, virtuoso, shock-immersion rendering of [a] transformed world.”
Nancy Kress: “The political maneuvering is constant, intricate, and all too believable. So is the inevitable violence. However, more interesting than either are the choices — moral, practical, philosophical, emotional — that the characters are driven to make.”
Io9: “The Windup Girl is obviously about the geopolitics of the present… and yet Bacigalupi never slides into moralism or judgment. All his characters have their flaws and heroic moments … Ultimately that’s what makes this debut novel so exciting. It’s rare to find a writer who can create such well-shaded characters while also building a weird new future world.”
BookPage: “The Windup Girl will almost certainly be the most important SF novel of the year.”
I’m honestly blown away at the response. I felt very unsure of this book as I was finishing it, so it’s a huge relief to hear from more and more readers that it works for them. I think this is the moment where I thank my wife and son again for putting up with me for the last three years while I was writing it.
10 Responses to “Raves for The Windup Girl”
By Jon Stahl on Sep 30, 2009 | Reply
Congratulations, Paolo! Can’t wait to read it!
By Daniel Abraham on Sep 30, 2009 | Reply
So that means you’re going to totally stop talking about how you aren’t sure you can write a novel, right? ;)
By Paolo on Oct 1, 2009 | Reply
lol. That would imply that I’m rational.
By Book Calendar on Dec 7, 2009 | Reply
It was a great book. Very international in flavor. Looking forward to your next one.
By Avi Flax on Dec 27, 2009 | Reply
Congrats! I’m in the middle of the book and I’m loving it!
By Wm. Jared on Jan 1, 2010 | Reply
I am amazed. The problems I had with the book were minor indeed, minor enough that I would give the book ten stars of ten, as I figure it’s probably a 97/98% or so (and 9.8 stars rounds to ten).
For this to have been your first novel, Mr. Bacigapuli, is utterly astounding. One hopes that you have not passed, with your first novel, a point of sustainability and can no longer keep up such exemplary work. You have set the bar high for yourself, high indeed, and I for one look forward to your upcoming releases.
Also, I enjoyed many of the themes in the book. Although not as directly philosophical as Brave New World, many of the points raised I believe are much more relevant to modern society. This book, I believe, could become another dystopian classic.
By Soon Lee on Jan 6, 2010 | Reply
Loved it: it’s my favourite book of 2009.
BTW, the Hock Seng character in “The Windup Girl” was Tranh in “Yellow Card Man”? I’m glad it got changed in “The Windup Girl” but am curious as to why it was Tranh in the first place.
By Paolo on Jan 6, 2010 | Reply
Yes, you’re right. Same character, but with a name change. It was Tranh, because I was busy shooting myself in the foot the first time around. I’ve got a link to a website where I talk about that, actually. I’ll dig it up for you.
By Soon Lee on Jan 6, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the explanatory link. I recall finding the name Tranh incongruous when I read “Yellow Card Man”, but waved it away thinking that perhaps he’d adopted a Vietnamese name as a way of obscuring his ethnic identity.
By Tim Moorman on Jan 25, 2010 | Reply
Paolo,
I just finished the last pages of The Windup Girl only moments ago. I am on fire. My pores are not up to the task of cooling my fevered brow. I gulp water; I pant explosively.
Well, that was the most fun I’ve had since Rhianna’s GQ cover.
My compliments for a very fine book. I already miss Emiko and Kanya, and look forward to many more characters as interesting and surprising.
Please continue the great work, and may your calorie count remain strong, your algae baths untainted.
Tim Moorman