"The People of Sand and Slag" (2004) was my first exposure to Paolo Bacigalupi's work, and it blew me away. What sort of people would we be, what would we do to this planet, if we could engineer ourselves to live purely on bare rock? It was disturbing and depressing and it really stuck with me. The next year I read "The Calorie Man" (2005). Again, blown away. "Calorie Man" gave us a different and illuminating take on what powers economics, right down at the bottom. Since then I've been keeping up with his short fiction, most of which I've loved (with last year's "The Gambler" being another favorite). I looked forward to his first novel with keen interest. What I found in "Windup Girl" were many of Bacigalupi's strengths, but also a great bit glaring weakness that really hindered my enjoyment of the book.
"Windup Girl" has been review in lots of places. So this review is going to slant more towards critique... and that means I'm going to talk about the ending. Don't read any further if you hate having endings 'spoiled!' Don't say I didn't warn you... and don't make me haul out the tag!
"Windup Girl" takes place in Bangkok, Thailand. In this future, like modern-day Netherlands, Bangkok is holding back the rising waters that (literally) threaten to drown it. The world we're in is firmly the same universe as "The Calorie Man" and "The Yellow Card Man," (2006) both of which I recommend reading before embarking on the novel. I'm not entirely sure that the 'calorie man' concept came through clearly in the narrative if you read it without knowing the background. So, we have a post-oil near future. Global warming has hit in full with rising tides drowning many boats. In the absence of oil, everything from transportation to ...
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... so different from the images I have in my head of modern-day failed states--whether they be in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, or Africa--to shock me with how much worse things would be after the energy runs out. I still appreciate Bacigalupi's detailed vision of a post-oil future, but for me this milieu wasn't the best background against which to showcase that future. I must also mention that I was almost certainly put off the whole enterprise by the extraordinarily graphic and unpleasant descriptions of Emiko's sexual torture at the hands of her oppressors. I assume that Bacigalupi chose to show those scenes in such detail in order to make her ultimate revenge both justified and a cause of celebration. But I've never really been good at stomaching scenes like that; reading it hurt in a much more viscereal way for me than most other depictions of random violence.
...was a desperate act of a lonely, insane woman who could not bear to loose him. The structure of this story, however, is such that the important details are delivered in almost random order, without a clear road map that connects events. The ending comes as a morbid shock, until a second reading of the story reveals the carefully hidden details that foreshadow the logical conclusion.
The fact that they killed all the missionaries even after they had a nice visit seemed very disturbing and the idea that this behavior is not isolated to western intruders, but other tribes as well as internally committing brutal acts reeks of inhumanity. Another thing I find extremely interesting is that everyone is equal in this society. Males have been such a dominant figure in human societies over the centuries so it is strange that this particular culture is so balanced. These two ideas of balance and lack of hierarchy in a culture against a backdrop of intense savagery seem in conflict.
“We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life” said former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Since its establishment, the United States has grown through immigration, lending to a multicultural society. However, immigration and its government policies have become of great public interest due to illegal immigration at the Mexican border and violent events in the Middle East. For this reason it seems sensible to investigate the lives of immigrants so that U.S. citizens may take a stance on this disputed topic. Regardless of their origins, whether they are from Latin America, Asia, or anywhere else, immigrants seem to encounter similar endeavors. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, the author depicts the immigration of Indian citizens to the United States. Noting various matters ranging from motives to the cultural identity crisis, Lahiri exposes the struggles and ramifications of American immigration. The collection elucidates the lives of first and second generation
The Bachman's Warbler also known as the Vermivora Bachmanii, is a very unquie bird. It has a slender bill, eye-rings, lores, and a strip of darkened colored feathers from its beak to its eye. With colors of Yellow, White, Black, and Grey, that varies to determine the Warblers gender." It lived, and bred in seasonally flooded swap-forest, always near standing water, apparently showing a strong association with canebrakes of the bamboo Arundinaria gigantea, and blackberry"(Bachman's Warbler(Vermivora Bachmanii)-Bird life species Factsheet). It migrates toward the Cuba and Florida areas, but its habitat was usually near swampy forest areas. Besides singing this birds responsibility in its habitat was foraging." This bird could feed while hanging upside down to probe the bottoms of leaves"(Jon and Garrett). The Vermivora Bachmanii has not been proven to be a hundred percent extinct yet.
The ending for me was gold, because she decided to withhold information from the police. She knew that there would be no real justice since the murderer was an old man that was sick and would probably die in a few months or so. She decided to take the parker shot gun and give it to the victim wife.
I thought that this book was confusing. It was confusing because there were too many characters. Some of the characters would be in the book for just one chapter. Sometimes they would leave then come back later in the story. Over all I did not like the
The girl’s attitude throughout the story was not likeable. Had she changed, the plot would be more realistic. On page 2 and 4, the girl loses control and chases the group of girls with her fist balled tight. If the girl showed some patience or self-control, she would not have had the need to use violence. Throughout the story, Raheem and the girl have lots of arguments. If Raheem and the girl had a better understanding of each other, then they wouldn’t have had the need to have arguments.
Usually, upon finishing a book, I think about it for a little while, write my review and then wave goodbye and move onto the next book on my TBR shelf. But with this book? There is a distinctively dull and painful ache that has yet to fade. I don’t know how else to describe it. I hurt, my heart hurts, my head hurts – everything hurts and every single part of me wants more of it.
The social commentary in the film is overwhelming, sometimes seeming to drive the slow-paced plot. The director gives the film a dark undertone, to show the violent lifestyle of the people in the West.
Evaluate the ending of the book. Considering how the book unfolded, is it an effective ending? Why or why not? Remember to include specific evidence from your book!
There was a man in the beginning who’s father dies. His father's last wish was that his ashes be spread across the guy's mother's grave. So throughout the movie he's trying to find out how his mother died and where her grave is. He ends up going to stay at somewhat of a bed and breakfast place. The owners didn't want him to stay since the lottery was coming up but their daughter convinces them to let him. And throughout his journey they get closer together. Well it just so happens the girl's mother was the one chosen to be stoned to death. Once the lady was killed the mayor set the man free. But the cops didn't… So they began chasing him… along with the other men they set off for him. While he's running a car pulls out in front of him and it just so happens to be the girl. She saves him and then takes him to the bus station and lets him go. In the book none of this happened… And I think if they were to add all of this it would be much better.
In conclusion, the elements of foreshadowing in the story are so similar to the last few exhilarating pages in the book that they effectively give away the ending of the novel. Overall the novel benefits from these elements used and is entertaining to read.
" Oil is the life blood of our modern industrial society. It fuels the machines and lubricates the wheels of the world’s production. But when that vital resource is out of control, it can destroy marine life and devastate the environment and economy of an entire region…. The plain facts are that the technology of oil-- its extraction, its transport, its refinery and use-- has outpaced laws to control that technology and prevent oil from polluting the environment…" (Max, 1969). Oil in its many forms has become one of the necessities of modern industrial life. Under control, and serving its intended purpose, oil is efficient, versatile, and productive. On the other hand, when oil becomes out of control, it can be one of the most devastating substances in the environment. When spilled in water, it spreads for miles around leaving a black memory behind (Stanley, 1969).
The ending of the story is very effective as a cliff hanger. No one knows
...g through the motions, her eyes tearing up, her lip quivering, the music swelling. It's too much and I resent it, but it makes me worry. I'm certainly not worrying that the plot will not go exactly how I know it will go. I worry, instead, that it will go that way. I worry that she'll stop running, that she'll move to New York to be with Her Man, that she'll say she's sorry for whatever shortcomings she might have displayed during their brief and apparently enchanting courtship, that she'll change herself to fit his idea of what she should be. She has to do it and I know she will. But it still makes me sad, knowing that she has to do this to make everyone else feel secure — again and again, in movie after movie — that they're also making the proper apologies and the right choices, because any other choices are unimaginable for Pretty Women and their gonnabe mates.