Key themes
- A future where genetic engineering and energy scarcity have remade everything
- Emiko, the windup girl, as both property and person
- Bangkok as the last sustainable city — and what sustains it
About this book
What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning au
Published in 2009, The Windup Girl won the Nebula Award and tied for the Hugo Award (with The City & The City). Bacigalupi developed the world over several earlier short stories set in the same universe.
Discussion questions
- Emiko is a genetically engineered 'windup' person, designed to obey and treated as disposable. How does Bacigalupi develop her — and what does her gradual assertion of will represent?
- The novel's future is shaped by agricultural monopolies and genetic plagues. How does Bacigalupi build this world — and what does it extrapolate from present-day concerns about biotechnology and corporate control of food?
- Bangkok is rendered with extraordinary specificity — its politics, its black markets, its relationship to the rising seas. What does this setting do for the novel's argument about sustainability and survival?
- The novel has multiple perspective characters with competing interests. How does Bacigalupi manage this — and whose perspective do you find most compelling?
- The Windup Girl won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (tied) and the Locus Award. What does it do that earned this recognition — and how does it compare to other climate-focused science fiction?
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