Continuing on my quest to read through the Printz award winners and honorees, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi was the next one on the list. The setting of this YA dystopian adventure novel is in the future of the U.S. Apparently there was a cataclysmic shift in weather and the seas rose swamping much of the gulf coast. Hurricanes became stronger with the power to completely decimate cities. The book centers specifically on the Louisiana coastline, west of New Orleans.
Opening the book in media res is usually a device that I appreciate, but not in this case. Bacigalupi, in my opinion, doesn’t do a good job at helping the reader make sense of what happened to make the world the way it is. It was frustrating because the setting plays such a big part in relationship to the plot. This was a large factor in what kept me from really enjoying the novel.
The story focuses on a group of teenagers who are stripping oil tankers, stranded on their beach, of the copper wires. They all live in hovels on the beach in a community that reminds me of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro or the shantytowns of Johannesburg. There’s a clear distinction between the haves and the have-nots. This becomes one of the themes of the novel as these poor kids come into contact with wealthier individuals.
There’s also a theme of “family”. As in, those who are biologically related to you don’t necessarily make them a family member. The protagonist, Nailer, has a father who is an alcoholic, drug user, and physically abusive. Due to this, Nailer spends most nights with his best friend and her mother. When push comes to shove, pun intended, Nailer abandons his father with only a little guilt because he knows that if he had stayed he would’ve been killed.
Besides the setting, the other I had with this novel was the way it ended. It literally just stops in the middle of the teenagers walking towards the ocean. There’s no resolution to the action that happened earlier. I’m pretty sure it’s because Bacigalupi had already planned to write the sequel and I’m sure if I read the sequel I would find that it begins exactly where this one left off. The crazy thing is that even with these to significant issues, I was absorbed by the story. Much to my chagrin. So, in essence, I would say the writing is mediocre, but the story itself is engrossing. This one was a B- in my book.
