The Windup Girl
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009 Hugo Winner - 2010 Premise: In the near future after some kind of economic and ecological collapse, forces of corporate greed, national pride, personal honor, fear, self-preservation, and self-discovery clash in Thailand. I had trouble starting this review. I kept telling myself that I was conflicted about the book, but I actually just have two simultaneous opinions: 1: Despite a slow start, I found the world and plotlines fairly compelling by the end. 2: Holy heck, I did not need that much extremely violent rape to understand the dystopia, thanks. It also hurt the book that it took forever to introduce a viewpoint character that wasn't (at least at first glance) a greedy asshole. However, despite a pretty bleak and violent worldview throughout, many of the characters get what they seem to deserve in the end, which I appreciated. However, as soon as any character seemed to be about to do something important or emotional, at least half the t