This Sci-Fi masterpiece has been on my to-read list for a while, but for some reason I kept passing it by in favor of other reads. Maybe it's because the blurb doesn't accurately convey the gripping, imaginative intricacy of the plot or the delicate balance of scientific advancement and Eastern religion that Bacigalupi weaves with his words. Maybe it's because the book's already earned so many awards, it doesn't need my stamp of approval. It was pure coincidence that this was the next book to fall into my hands, but I'm so glad that it finally did. It's landed squarely among my all-time favorite SpecFic books.
Years in the future, genetically modified foods have reduced natural plants and animals almost to nothing. The entire world population now depends on artificially designed plants and animals for sustenance, produced and owned by global "calorie companies." They combine and recombine the genes in these already modified food sources to stay one step ahead of rapidly evolving plagues like blister rust and genehack weevil, plagues that they created to force the rest of the world to buy their resistant food, but without genetic diversity at their disposal the battle is a losing one.
But something amazing is starting to happen in Thailand, which is not yet under the control of the calorie companies. In the past year, nightshades like tomatoes and tobacco, long thought extinct, have made a reappearance in Thai markets, resistant to the calorie plagues. And now another new fruit, some variant on the rambutan, has been reintroduced. All this genehacking brilliance has attracted the attention of Anderson Lake, who works to uncover the source of these new genehacks for a calorie company while under the guise of running a factory.
Hock Seng, Anderson's factory manager, is a Chinese refugee in Thailand. Little better than dirt, dependent on Thailand's Child Queen, he was once a trade mogul with resources and a large family. But after a bloody regime change, Hock Seng is left penniless and hunted. But he has a plan to reestablish himself by subverting Anderson Lake's work at the factory and using his position there to make his own deals to bring himself out of the gutter once again.
Both Anderson's and Hock Seng's plans are being thwarted by the White Shirts of Thailand's Environmental Ministry, who are charged with the protection of their kingdom's genetic independence and the protection of their people from both calorie plagues and calorie companies. They are largely corrupt, taking bribes and kickbacks in exchange for leniency, but Captain Jaidee remains the incorruptible Tiger of Bangkok. He, his dour lieutenant Kanya, and their men fight tirelessly to confiscate and destroy harmful generipped produce and calorie company seeds from being smuggled into the country. But as the Environmental and Trade ministries clash more and more often over Jaidee's dedication to his work he, Kanya, and the rest of the White Shirts are caught in the middle of increasing political upheaval.
Emiko, a genetically altered human being, was created to be the perfect assistant and companion to her Japanese patron. Dumped in Thailand when he returned to Japan, the high-class and impeccably trained New Person, as they are called, finds herself a playing for anyone who can play the owner at the club where she works. Bred to serve and entirely unsuited to the hot, sticky climate of Bangkok, Emiko is unable to see an escape from the life that is slowly killing her. But there's a slight possibility that she could overcome her training, her very genetic imperatives, to save herself.
These four characters are on a collision course as the calorie companies close in on Thailand, and the Environmental and Trade ministries spiral toward open war with each other. Meanwhile opportunists like Hock Seng puzzle over how to ride the upheaval to greatness. Through their different perspectives in the chapters we see the dramatic rebirth of a kingdom in a harshly beautiful future world that isn't necessarily too far off.
While none of the key players are ever aware of all the important details controlling the convergence of their fates, each is very perceptive in their own way. The details to which they pay the most attention are informed by their unique pasts, how they arrived at where they are in life and where, if anywhere, they desire to go next. Anderson's single-mindedness in pursuing the new genehacks blinds him to other issues that creep up on him; Hock Seng is crippled by his paranoia and memories of past losses; Kanya is torn between deals she has made in the past and her desires for the future; and Emiko is just struggling to continue, unaware that she will be the key to the unraveling and the rebirth of Bangkok. Each has their own strengths and flaws that pull the threads of the story together tighter and tighter together. Nobody is entirely good or evil, and they influence each other's lives and actions without even knowing it, bound together in a series of building events that eventually ignites the entire capitol city.
I haven't encountered many Sci-Fi books that blend technology and religion as well as in The Windup Girl. Buddhism and reincarnation, full of saints and karma, coexist perfectly with the technological advancement of the times. Biodiversity saints have arisen, and the New People pray to their own benefactor that if they serve well, they may be reincarnated as humans and added to the cycle of rebirth. A polytheistic culture puts the characters in a great setup to both foster and inspire the people to keep fighting for their future and the preservation of their struggling culture, even in the face of enormous odds.
The end of the story isn't so much a closure as it is the setup for a new chapter in humanity's progress that this novel doesn't happen to cover. The repeating pattern of Hock Seng's life, Anderson's fate, Emiko's struggle for survival and Kanya's redemption all open onto a new horizon with new implications and old struggles. Calorie plagues are still blowing across the world, and companies are searching for the next big genetic payload. Thailand's seed bank will never truly be safe, but it remains preserved for the time being. We don't know all the details of where things are when they settle again, after the storm as it were, but rather than being desperate for details I was content to consider the possibilities for all the characters.
If you're looking for lyrical writing, intricate plot, perceptive characters who remain human and flawed, and a truly innovative story line that makes you think and consider, pick up a copy of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's a completely alien world that pulls you in and makes it home to you as the pages fly by, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, for good reason, and you can pick up a copy any time at your local favorite local, independent bookstore.
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