Ship Breaker Hits Lucky Strike

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010
326 p. ; 22 cm.

Like Going Bovine, this book won the Printz Award. Unlike Going Bovine, which I just didn't care for, I think this book is more likely to circulate among teen readers. My friend and I were discussing this book, and she was less positive about it than I was. We both thought that Bacigalupi was masterful at setting and atmosphere, but she felt the plot was a stretch - even for the willing suspension of disbelief required of dystopian sci-fi.

Like her, I question whether this is the best book of the year for young adults [my vote would have gone to The Curse of the Wendigo], but I thought the plotting was tight, suspenseful and would engage many readers.

Both of us agreed that the adolescent main character,Nailer, and his original crew were both interesting and strong - and that the opening scenes of the novel are really compelling. I think both of us found that the relationship between Nailer and the rich swank - Lucky Girl - he saves to be too cliche. We both thought that his moral code of crew loyalty would not have made such a quick acceptance of this girl.

I thought his father's power and evil to be overdone, and think that a more powerful ending would have had Nailer ultimately betrayed by Lucky Girl - or at least betrayed by the swanks who take her back in....alas, that might have made the novel too depressing...