The Windup Girl

I read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigialupi. It's an engaging book that weaves between the perspectives of several characters in a 23rd century Thailand where global warming and bioengineering have been taken to their logical extremes. It definitely felt like a product of the 2000s/2010s when things like genetically modified plants and CRISPR and cloning were in the dominant zeitgeist.

For me, it's a book where the world building and character perspective weaving is what carries each page forward, rather than one grand narrative plot. The best parts of the book are when you can see multiple character perspectives slowly converge into the same scenes or different ends of the same situation, in an Infinity War style "everyone is here!!" kind of payoff.

I recommend the book for it's fantastical world, but it also felt like a very male-centric book in terms of its plot and characters. So it's an uncomfortable recommendation?

Some random thoughts and themes I had about the book:

Misogynistic undertones but maybe that's the point? By having a reader think about it?
Things are always changing. Things can change in an instant. Don't get too attached to something because it's going to change.
Humans always live on despite how hopeless it might seem.
Everything comes down to chance and luck.
Backstabbing vs. loyalty for gain.
What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have a soul?
What happens next? The book's ending leaves it in a conclusive but open state. Enough for the reader to keep thinking about the book afterwards but not feel unresolved.

last updated 2026-05-03