The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi
★ Top 25 book of 2009 · #23 on Best Books of 2009
Set in a world where bio-terrorism serves corporate profit, this novel explores how such tactics might push humanity toward a post-human future. It returns to the universe of two earlier award-recognized short stories.
Best for: Science fiction fans interested in biotech, corporate power and human evolution
The Windup Girl is #23 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Windup Girl is about
Bangkok in a future shaped by climate change and engineered biology is the setting for Bacigalupi's first novel. Thailand has kept its independence from the powerful calorie companies by guarding its seedbank, and outsiders are determined to find it. Anderson Lake works for AgriGen and runs a factory as cover for the search. His manager, Hock Seng, a refugee with his own scheme, plans to steal the factory's designs.
Emiko is a windup girl, a genetically modified human built to serve and then abandoned in the city. Meanwhile Jaidee, a zealous captain of the Environment Ministry's White Shirts, and his protégé Kanya enforce the country's defenses as a new plague begins to spread. Dark, gritty and richly atmospheric, it asks who controls food, who pays for progress and what becomes of those made to obey. It suits readers of thoughtful science fiction.
The Windup Girl on the Best Books of 2009
The Windup Girl came out in 2009. Of the 42 books first published in 2009 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #23 on our Best Books of 2009 list.
Why it made the list: 223 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (50 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2009 list
- The Magicians Lev Grossman, #21
- Too Big to Fail Andrew Ross Sorkin, #22
- The Gathering Storm Robert Jordan, #24
See all Best Books of 2009 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2008 Best Books of 2010.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 148 want to read it, 6 are reading it now and 69 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 50 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 40 | 55% |
| Reader love | 62 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 19 | 20% |
Questions about The Windup Girl
When was The Windup Girl published?
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was first published in 2009.
Was The Windup Girl one of the best books of 2009?
The Windup Girl is #23 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar. 223 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (50 ratings).
Why is The Windup Girl on the Best Books of 2009 list?
223 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (50 ratings).
More of the best books of 2009
- The Last Olympian Rick Riordan, #1
- Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, #2
- The Maze Runner James Dashner, #3
- The Help Kathryn Stockett, #4
- Dork Diaries Rachel Renée Russell, #5
- I Will Teach You to Be Rich Ramit Sethi, #6
See the full Best Books of 2009, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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