THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2010


KLMNO BOOK WORLD


A world of trouble and despair in 22nd-century Bangkok


by Michael Dirda


excited science fiction readers as much as Paolo Bacigalupi’s “The Windup Girl.” I missed it last year when the book first appeared, but three recent events have made it a timely addition to the summer reading list. First, just two weeks ago “The Windup


N


Girl” was awarded the Locus Magazine Award for best first novel. Second, in May Bacigalupi received the even more prestigious Nebula Award — given by the Science Fiction Writers of America — for best novel of the year. Those are con- vincing literary endorsements. But the third reason to pick up “The Windup Girl” is for its harrowing, on-the-ground portrait of power plays, destruction and civil insurrection in Bangkok. Even though the book is set in an imagined future, its depiction of the city during violent unrest feels astonishingly true-to-life. Inadvertently, Bacigalupi of- fers a window on what it must have been like in Thailand’s capital during this spring’s strife and bloodshed. Though he stresses in his acknowledgments that the novel “should not be construed as representative of present-day Thailand or the Thai people,” its overall vision of this wondrous and decadent city is none- theless very close to that found in such contemporary thrillers as John Burdett’s “Bangkok Tattoo.”


By the end of the 22nd century, the world has been ravaged by deadly virus- es, the disappearance of entire species, the rising of the oceans and the loss of all power based on petroleum. Sailing ships and dirigibles transport goods. Com- puters still exist, but they are operated


ot since William Gibson’s pioneer- ing cyberpunk classic, “Neuro- mancer” (1984), has a first novel


ronment Ministry — supported by the brutally patriotic “white shirts” — main- tains stringent border and biological se- curity: It has been known to burn entire villages to the ground at the very first in- stance of deadly “blister rust,” “cibisco- sis” or “genehack weevil.”However, in re- cent years, the Child Queen has allowed the upstart Trade Ministry to gain power and to encourage some small-scale for- eign investment in the kingdom. Pretending to be a developer of in-


novative “kink-springs,” An- derson is in fact an agent of AgriGen, assigned to Bang- kok to orchestrate a covert yet aggressive initiative by the Des Moines-based corpo- ration. He employs Hock Seng, an aging but resilient Chinese who lost his ship- ping company, family and very nearly his own life a few years previous during the genocides in Malaya. Trust- ing no one, he dreams of re- establishing his name and wealth. By contrast, Jaidee, the so-called Tiger of Bang- kok, is the pugnaciously ide- alistic captain of the white shirts, determined to pre- serve his country against the onslaught of foreign influ- ence and corruption. His un- smiling Lt. Kanya suffers from some dark burden on her soul. And then there is Emiko, the windup girl. Windups, or New People, are essen- tially genetically modified test-tube ba- bies, creche-grown in Japan. In other countries they are branded and loathed as genetic trash, without true souls. All windups move with a herky-jerky gait, like puppets on invisible strings. In essence, Emiko has been designed


The world has been ravaged by deadly viruses, the disappearance of entire species, the rising of the oceans and the loss of all power based on petroleum.


by treadle-power, like old-time sewing machines. Guns shoot “razor disks” rath- er than bullets. Factories employ mega- donts — genetically altered elephants — to turn their dynamos. Even “the Empire of America is no more,” while something unspeakable happened in Finland. Not least, gigantic corporations like PurCal and AgriGen have become supra-nation- al forces, with their own armies. The Thai kingdom has so far survived,


in part because it has sealed itself off from the outside world, and through draconian measures managed to keep the food supply relatively safe. The Envi-


to be a supremely beautiful, compliant geisha. Obedience has been built into her DNA. Her skin has been made ivory smooth by reducing the size of her pores. Never intended to function in a tropical climate, Emiko has nonetheless been callously abandoned in Bangkok: Her patron decided “to upgrade new in Osa- ka.” She was then bought by the unscru- pulous Raleigh, a survivor of “coups and counter-coups, calorie plagues and star- vation,” who now “squats like a liver- spotted toad in his Ploenchit ‘club,’ smil- ing in self-satisfaction as he instructs newly arrived foreigners in the lost arts


of pre-Contraction debauch.” Raleigh’s nightclub soon features a


very special sex show: Each night the brutalized Emiko must suffer the atten- tions of an inventively sadistic co-work- er. Afterward, her body is for hire by any- one seeking a forbidden, transgressive thrill. The girl lives in near-suicidal de- spair. Until the night she meets Anderson, who tells Emiko of an enclave of wind- ups, “escapees from the coal war,” dwell- ing in the forests to the North. Emiko soon dreams of fleeing her sordid desti- ny and making her way, somehow, to this village. From the windup, the


THE WINDUP GIRL By Paolo Bacigalupi Night Shade. 300 pp. Paperback, $14.95


smitten Anderson learns of a mysterious Gi Bu Sen, who has developed a new blight-resistant fruit that has recently appeared in the Thai markets. Protect- ed by the government and living in luxurious seclu- sion somewhere, this Kurtz-like farang can only be the renegade AgriGen scientist Gibbons, the greatest generipper in the world, long thought to be dead. He must be found and restored to the corpo- ration. It is because of his


genius — and the kingdom’s hidden storehouse of carefully preserved seeds — that Thailand has been able to stay “one step ahead of the plagues.” As the novel advances, the political machinations grow increasingly tense. General Pracha,Minister Akkarat, a sin- ister adviser to the queen named Somdet Chaopraya, even the so-called “Dung Lord” all vie for power. Meanwhile, the increasingly troubled Lt. Kanya convers- es with a ghost, one who knows her se- cret. While Emiko may be the titular windup girl, Kanya is the novel’s wound- up woman, a human kink spring under intense psychological pressure. When everything begins to fall apart, these two will determine the fate of Krung Thep, the City of Divine Beings— Bangkok. Readers of science fiction will recog- nize multiple influences on this excel- lent novel: Cordwainer Smith, J.G. Bal- lard, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, China Mieville and even, possibly, Mar- garet Atwood, who proffers a similar vi- sion of post-apocalyptic want, fanat- icism and gene-manipulation in “Oryx and Crake” and “The Year of the Flood.” Clearly, Paolo Bacigalupi is a writer to watch for in the future. Just don’t wait that long to enjoy the darkly complex pleasures of “The Windup Girl.” bookworld@washpost.com


Visit Dirda’s online book discussion at washingtonpost.com/readingroom.


DONOVAN MARKS/AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS


IN RECITAL: Justus Parrotta performs his own composition during a service at Calvary Baptist Church in the District.


Organ convention draws performers, enthusiasts


organists from C1


Dear Amy: My 18-year-old daughter is home this summer from college. She is smart, beautiful, funny, and unfortunately came home after gaining the “freshman 15.” She is usually very fashion-conscious, but lately she has been wearing clothes that are unflattering on her frame.


She has a somewhat large


chest, and biggish legs, yet seems to love wearing dresses and shorts that are way too short and tight. Can you help me find a way to tell her gently that she should be wearing clothes more flattering to her shape? She is not overweight, but her clothing choices frankly make her look chunky and inappropriately dressed. When she does wear an outfit suited to her body, she looks terrific. I’ve tried dishing out the compliments when she dresses well, but I hesitate to berate her when she dresses poorly. I am willing to take her shopping for better-fitting clothes, but dread


Comments on daughter’s clothes aren’t fitting ASK AMY


actually listen to.


how I will react if she tries on ill- fitting choices. What is the rule for


constructive criticism in this case? Frustrated Mother


My advice is to ignore every single instinct you have regarding your daughter’s looks. Whatever action you incline toward, you should do the opposite.


When you are compelled to comment on her clothing choices, be silent. Banish the word “chunky” from your vocabulary. Unless she is headed to a job


interview dressed like a streetwalker, you should not intervene. It sounds as if she could use some new clothes. If you’re able, you could point her in a positive direction by setting her up with a personal shopper, who will give the sort of non-biased, non-mom- based feedback that she might


Fringe Festival Opens


The Capital Fringe Festival — that massive celebration of offbeat theater — kicks off Thursday. Unsure which of the 100-odd shows to catch? Visit washingtonpost.com/fringe for previews, promising picks and descriptions for all of this year’s productions.


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ELEPHANT: This contemporary dance troupe is among the offerings.


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Dear Amy: “Tired Teacher”was frustrated


by parents who bullied her via e-mail.


My husband worked for more than 18 years as a youth pastor. After many years of getting “beat up,” we found a reply to the unfair and often untrue complaints parents made to us because their teens were pitting their parents against us. This is what we say: “If you promise not to believe everything your son/daughter says about me, I will promise not to believe


everything they tell me about you.” Carolyne


I’m happy this worked, but I think it puts the burden on the wrong person: the child. If parents behave badly, their behavior should be emphasized.


Dear Amy: The letter from the “devout


It’s notable that the Kennedy Center organ is not being fea- tured at all. Its problems are ev- idently so pronounced that the city’s organists have simply giv- en up on it. The organ has been variously called the king or the queen of instruments (the German- speaking world prefers its or- gans female). Whatever you call it, it’s big, temperamental, idio- syncratic. Its performers play with feet and hands, balanced like bugs on a narrow seat be- fore multiple keyboards, one above the other. And those per- formers have to adapt to the in- strument. One organ may have three manuals (or keyboards), another five, and each has its own panoply of stops — that is, buttons on the console that en- able a player to choose a range of sounds to blend in different parts of the piece. Most organs have a similar group of standard stops — trumpet, oboe (hautboy) and vi- olin — but many larger instru- ments have their own distinc- tive touches thrown into the mix. The Washington Cathedral has an ophicleide stop; the Cen- tral Synagogue in New York has one labeled “shofar.” These stops are of great interest to or- gan players, and Monday’s con- cert program reflected their pri- orities: Instead of listing the players of the National Gallery Orchestra or the members of the Cathedral Choral Society, it listed all the stops on the ca- thedral’s organ. For the person playing it, the organ is often a solitary pleas- ure, and it’s certainly a solitary job. Few churches have more than one organist; few other in- stitutions employ organists at all. The organ convention is therefore a rare chance to talk shop with colleagues or engage with concerns specific to the job.


Catholic” who tells her son that Mary leaves babies on the doorstep compelled me to write. Iam a devout Catholic about to


have my fifth child. My children are all well aware that the baby is growing inside mommy and will come out when he’s good and ready. Pregnant women are a staple at


any Catholic Mass. Catholic children who attend get used to the sight of women with growing bellies and know exactly what it means. What this woman is telling her child is actually superstitious and opposed to Catholic teaching. The letter did give me a good


laugh, however. As did your reply. Sadie, an Ardent Reader


Amen, sister.


Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@ tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.


© 2010 by the Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Media Services


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Just how wide-ranging these are — and how specific — was clear from the workshop topics. You could focus on Bach’s music or contemporary American or- gan literature, work on various aspects of choral conducting, or discuss the relationship of the organ to worship in general. One session examined percus- sion, tailored to music directors seeking to incorporate world music into worship services. Another looked at career op- tions for young organists in a difficult economy. Members of the guild are at least able to share the experi- ence of having been bitten by the organ bug, be they top pro- fessionals or simply rabid organ fans like Bruce Westcott, a re- tired money manager who doesn’t play but goes to conven- tions and travels to hear, in per- son, the great organs of the world.


And for many, hearing the


Washington Cathedral organ was a highlight of the week. The instrument certainly has its foi- bles, and cathedral officials have spoken of replacing it, but among organists it remains a source of national pride. Larry Sharp, an orthodontist from Winchester, Ky., who describes himself as a hobby organist de- spite holding a weekly church job, said he always makes sure to tune in when events in the ca- thedral are televised — for in- stance, Ronald Reagan’s funeral —so he can hear more of the or- gan. “It’s got more presence than it does on TV,” he said. The closing concert of the


convention is open to the pub- lic: At 8 p.m. Thursday, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Renée Anne Louprette will per- form a recital including the world premiere of a piece com- posed for the convention. The concert will begin with several pieces on the basilica’s carillon. midgettea@washpost.com


For the person playing it, the organ is often a solitary pleasure, and it’s certainly a solitary job. The convention is therefore a rare chance to talk shop.


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