Ship Breaker

by

Published June 25, 2011 by Hachette.

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4 stars (1 review)

In America's Gulf Coast region, grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts by crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or by chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life...

3 editions

reviewed Ship breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

post-climate-apocalypse meets high seas adventure

4 stars

People who have read the (one year earlier) Windup Girl will find aspects of the setting familiar, but it is not identical. This book does not talk about calorie scarcity which really drives Windup Girl but focuses on resurgence of sail transport. A triumphant and uncaring capitalism probably prevents the book from being solarpunk.

As for plot, young boy from underclass rescues princess, has adventures on land and at sea. It is immersive and makes the point well enough about human driven climate change, but it didn't touch me as deeply as some other stories in e.g. Pump six. Not sure why, could just be the others were my first exposure to the author's world building.

I guess this is targeted at young adults? No explicit sex, some light (hopeless?) romance. Reference to impoverished women forced to sex work as a means of survival.