I am going on a run outside because it would be a crime not to, and I'll swing by the grocery store all sweaty and gross. And then, Dave and I will play catch in the park because that is something you have to do on the first day of spring.
And then I will do the dishes, clean out my wreck of a messenger bag, do some work for school, and pull myself together in general. Or maybe I'll just do one of those things, and that'll be okay, too.
And finally, I will finish this book because I have about 50 pages to go.
Ship Breaker is set in a post-climate change world on the Gulf coast where oil is scarce. Teenager Nailer is a member of light crew who strips washed up oil tankers of copper wire. The work is dangerous, and despite the ritual of swearing blood oaths to his crew, those working alongside Nailer can't be trusted with his scrap wire let alone his life. In this unforgiving world, Nailer only trusts his friend Pima and her mother who've become his family replacing his dead mother and his addict father. When a hurricane hits the beach these scavengers live on, Pima and Nailer discover a clipper ship in the wreckage. Having never seen one of these air powered, beautiful vessels in anything but pictures, the two friends think they've hit scavenge gold. The ship is full of material to sell, and Nailer is convinced he's found his ticket out of the hell he lives in. But the clipper holds something else too. A 'swag' girl who comes from another world of money and power has survived the wreck and needs Nailer to find her way back to her people. Will Nailer cash in on this prize or risk everything to deliver this girl to her home?
If you liked the Hunger Games, you'll enjoy Ship Breaker. Bacigalupi has a similar dark tone to that of Suzanne Collins, and both books are dystopic, futuristic tales that pit the haves against the have-nots. Additionally, the setting and feeling of chaos as a result of mankind's inability to acknowledge climate change make you wonder where humans will stand in generations to come. Nailer is a glimmer of hope in a cutthroat world and gives the reader faith that people will choose to do the right thing and protect one another despite severe personal risk. Finally, that Road Warrior feel of grit, scars, and tattoos identifying one's place in the world always gives these reads an exciting edge.
Ship Breaker won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature in 2011 (and, in my humble opinion, is a better read than this year's winner chronicled in the last post) and was a National Book Award finalist. My brother gave me another book by Bacigalupi for Christmas. It is called the Windup Girl. I look forward to reading it.
Happy spring and happy reading!
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