I have a lot of books I've bought or received in a fury of excitement, only to have them languish on the shelves. This is one of those books.
by Paolo Bacigalupi
Set initially in a future shanty town in America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dissembled for parts by a rag tag group of workers, we meet Nailer, a teenage boy working the light crew, searching for copper wiring to make quota and live another day. The harsh realities of this life, from his abusive father, to his hand to mouth existence, echo the worst poverty in the present day third world. When an accident leads Nailer to discover an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, and the lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl, Nailer finds himself at a crossroads. Should he strip the ship and live a life of relative wealth, or rescue the girl, Nita, at great risk to himself and hope she'll lead him to a better life. This is a novel that illuminates a world where oil has been replaced by necessity, and where the gap between the haves and have-nots is now an abyss. Yet amidst the shadows of degradation, hope lies ahead.
A while back, I read a lot of really good reviews of this and one of Bacigalupi's other books, The Wind Up Girl. Both were sort of steampunk/dystopianish and sounded really cool, so I bought them both. But like many books, they've just been sitting on my shelves, occasionally getting shuffled to different shelves, waiting patiently for me to read them...
So, what do you guys think? Anyone read this? What's on your tbr pile?
i just got windup girl as a gift and looking forward to it. i want to see you read more serious steampunk in 2011. i think you'd like it.
ReplyDeleteThis was nominated/won the best YA something or other award for 2010. So I hear it's pretty good. I'm thinking of putting it on the 2011 to read list.
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