THE WINDUP GIRL - Discussion Thread ***Possible SPOILERS***

I am about to start reading my copy of the Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl and thought I would start a discussion thread.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of this one!

I will start of by saying the book contains great world building and fascinating characters. I found this to be quite an engaging story and the social commentary aspect had me thinking about a lot of things, especially where we are heading right now with genetically modified foods. On a personal note, I have followed Monsanto's activities - in particular their diligent defense of IP in their generically modified seeds -for a number of years so for me this story had a 'Hummm, what would happen if' fell to it that makes for a bit of a chilling read as not being all that far fetched from a possible reality decades from now.

That being said, I do have some quibbles with the book that I hope others will be able to enlighten me about......

1) What ever happened to Yates? He is a part of the story at the start and then he gets referred to in the past tense. Was he shipped back to the Des Moines? Did he die?

2) The nightshades - was that explained in the book? I recall mentions of Anderson trying to discover where the ngaw - what is known as Rambutan - and there was much detail about that but I seem to have missed the whole story behind the nightshades.

3) I am a bit confused about the ending.... in particular the decision Kanya makes. If I view it from the perspective that the seed bank cannot be safe in anyone's hands, not even the current government and I get the instantaneous removal of the seed bank to parts unknown but I am still at a loss as to why the slaughter in the seed bank.

Overall, I found this to be a very engaging page-turner and I look forward to everyone else's comments about the book!

The nightshade family, which includes tomatoes and tobacco, had been presumed to be wiped out by one of the plagues that wiped out native species. When he saw them reappearing in the market he was curious where the seeds came from. His main objective in Thailand was to try to find sources for seeds of plants that were presumed extinct.

I believe Kanya was removing the seeds from the reach of people like Anderson and hiding it from entities like the Trade Ministry who would love to sell off the seeds to companies out of country. It almost seemed like a religious thing like preserving parts of the cross in hidden parts of cathedrals.

Ahhh..... I remember mention of the tobacco - must have missed the tomatoes - so that makes a lot of sense now! Thanks mamzel!

I am about halfway through the book and I have to say, this is one of the most vivid world building I have ever read about! Not an easy book to read, but huge on the "Wow" factor.

I just took a peek at Bacigalupi's website and he says that his next book is another YA book called Drowned Cities. Here is the cover:

I finished it today. Was able to get some quality reading time while in work over the last couple of nights. Added a review to the book page and my thread too.

I finished it today as well. My review is posted on both the book page and my thread, I rated it 4.5 stars. It would have been a 5 star read except I never felt totally absorbed by the story, instead I felt like I was on the sidelines ohhing and ahhing over the author's abilities.

This headline in April's "Discover" magazine really jumped out at me.

Rice Reconnaissance Repels Bacterial Assault
Bacteria are quite the talkers. Lying low inside their hosts, they scheme up attacks through coded biochemical messages that are largely imperceptible to the immune systems of plants and animals. But in December researchers published the first evidence that some plants have broken the code, allowing them to listen in on chatter and thwart infection.

> 9 - That is just frightening.......

re: the Discover magazine article ... appears to me to be a likely candidate for their annual April Fool's article

re: The Windup Girl; fantastic story, but as mentioned above, I wish that Bacigalupi has pursued some of the genetic plant story-lines he started early on ... and I hope that he will continue to write stories based in this world. I'm dying to learn more ...

one more comment about genetic foods; Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire has a section on genetically modified potatoes that is ... not exactly frightening, but definitely eye-opening.

I went back to the magazine to look for any indication that it was a hoax but didn't find any. I don't normally read this magazine but it looks like all the articles are written in a much lighter style than my regular, Science News. The next article was about a fish I have read about - the hagfish. This is how this article opens:

The Deep-Sea Slimer
Sharks are superb predators, but even they are no match for the animal kingdom's most disgusting yet effective defense: the gag-inducing slime of the hagfish.

I had a difficult time reading about the abuse that Emiko suffers. Some of those scenes were just rough. I do agree that the world-building was fantastic. It really made me think about the what-ifs.