Book Review: Ship Breaker

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2010. 326 pp)

Born in 1972, Paolo Bacigalupi is a science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and has been nominated for the National Book Award. His most famous work, The Windup Girl was named one of the top ten books of 2009 by Time Magazine.

Dystopia 

Dystopian novels always reveal something about the human condition, and that’s why I tend to gravitate toward them. I read not for a love of seeing what the world would be if it fell into disarray, but to catch slight glimpses of the human condition put against the backdrop of extreme chaos and difficulty. Ship Breaker exposes, amidst a darkened world, one of the finer aspects of the human character—loyalty. But, before I explore the idea of loyalty, I feel like it’s important to first tell of how the world of Ship Breaker occurred.

How the World Collapsed 

In a sentence, climate change has caused the world to fall into ruin.

Describing what happened, Tool, a half dog, half man reminisces with the protagonist of the novel, Nailer, on how this dystopia came about.

“‘No one expected Category Six hurricanes. They didn’t have city killers then. The climate changed. The weather shifted. They did not anticipate well.’ Nailer wondered at that idea. That no one could have understood that they would be the target of monthly hurricanes pinballing up the Mississippi Alley, gunning for anything that didn’t have the sense to batten down, float, or go underground” (204).

Photo by NASA

With decades of climate change, city killers—category six hurricanes—ravage the world. The hurricanes move the coastline inland as much as a mile, and leave derelict ships behind. More important to the plot, these storms also cause severe class splits between the “swanks”, or extremely rich, and those who aren’t. Nailer, living in poverty, benefits from city killers because they wreck ships in the bay. Also a member of “light crew”, or teenage laborers, he breaks down ships for their precious materials such as copper, hoping to bring home enough to make quota, feed himself, and live to see another day.

In a twist of fate, Nailer is forced to pair up with a swank named Nita, whom he finds a difficult person to trust at first, due to her elite status.

Loyalty Can Be Rare 

Nailer found Nita nearly dead aboard a derelict ship, while trying to plunder her exquisitely lavish clipper ship of any valuables. Finding out that she was rich led him to take her for ransom. But, his conscience, evidently rare in this world, led him to return her to her family because it was the right thing to do, not because her wealth could give him a better life. Nailer ends up trusting Nita, even with his life, and he becomes extremely loyal to her.

Remarkably, in this disheveled and hectic world, loyalty is hard to come by. Nailer, sadly enough, cannot even trust his own father.

“Nailer laughed. ‘My dad doesn’t give anyone a chance for second thoughts. He cuts you first. He talks about family sticking together, but what he really means is that I give him money so he can [drink] and make sure he’s okay on his binges, and he hits me when he wants.’ Nailer made a face. ‘[Nita] is more of a family than he is’” (251).

This quote reveals the way Nailer’s world is. He cannot trust his own father; much less those around him that he knows even less. But, Nailer finds, through some trial and error, that character is what speaks to the trustworthiness of a person, not position or relationship.

A Bigger Message and Some Hype 

Ultimately, this book was written for young adults, and as a result it was a quick read; I finished the three hundred pages in a single day. But, it was extremely entertaining. I enjoyed the bigger message of ecological awareness, and especially the theme of loyalty that ran through the entirety of the novel. Thus, I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a fast-paced plot with a dystopian theme.

Because of this book, I’m looking forward to Bacigalupi’s next novel, The Drowned Cities—a companion to Ship Breaker, where Tool (the previously mentioned man-beast) teams up with two natives of the war-torn and flooded world. I think Bacigalupi is an author to watch, as all the awards he has gathered, in my mind, are well earned.

Verdict: 4 out of 5
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Posted by: Andrew Jacobson

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Book Review: Ecological Intelligence

Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything, by Daniel Goleman (New York: Broadway Books, 2009. 288 pp)

As a psychologist, Daniel Goleman writes and lectures to students and working professionals on brain and behavioral sciences. Born in California in 1946, Goleman split his time as an undergraduate between Amherst College and the University of California at Berkeley, receiving a B.A. from Amherst in anthropology. Through a scholarship from the Ford Foundation, Goleman attended the clinical psychology program at Harvard and pursued doctoral research on meditation as an intervention in stress arousal. Goleman’s post-doctoral grant from the Social Science Research Council later became his first book, The Meditative Mind. Taking a job with Psychology Today, Goleman became interested in full-time writing, publishing articles with The New York Times and writing books, including the widely popular Emotional Intelligence. Goleman lives with his wife in Massachusetts.

90%

Money, the most awkward subject in church. Some pastors decide to forgo any mention of it for fear of molding the sermon into a money grab; others discuss money constantly, reminding their parishioners of tithing as a duty to God. In both instances, the debate resides around the tithe, typically understood as a charitable contribution of 10% of all income.

But what about the other 90%?

Setting aside debates about whether a tithe ought to be the standard or a minimum, Christians all too often utilize the remaining funds in the marketplace without much thought about the biological, ecological, and social ramifications of their purchases.

Naturally, many Christian leaders would shy away from exerting control over a congregation’s finances. But I am not proposing that a pastor give his or her flock a list of what to buy. Instead, I believe it is important that Christians be reminded that what they purchase counts. Each item in the shopping cart represents a vote for that product.

Whether or not we want to admit it, Christians buy products from some pretty nasty companies. Luckily, though, many virtuous companies do exist — companies that are selling good products for health, society, and the globe that have been produced in humane ways. If Christians consider purchasing in this manner, it is possible that they can add further change to the world in addition to charitable donations.

Hidden Impacts

With these ideas in mind, Daniel Goleman’s book Ecological Intelligence discusses the importance of knowing the effects concerning the things we buy. If you realized that buying the cheaper pair of shoes not only meant that you continue to promote child slavery but also that you are wearing a product that leaks toxic chemicals into the air, wouldn’t you think twice about purchasing the product?

Of course, Ecological Intelligence focuses primarily on the environmental side effects of the things we buy. Yet Goleman also expands his spotlight to uncover the hidden impacts on health, the environment, and society as a whole.

Radical Transparency

Goleman suggests that consumers demand radical transparency in the market place. As it stands, a disconnect lies between consumer and producer. We don’t know exactly where food, clothing, and toys come from. With subsidies imparted through big-business lobbying, the open market is not actually open. Thus, business finds means by which to hide certain health, environmental, and societal costs.

Source: Roadside Pictures

Radical transparency, on the other hand, suggests that business lifts the veil off its operations and supply chain. Under this scenario, a consumer is capable of rationally deciding the best product, based on open information. Goleman adds,

For companies, radical transparency can create a vibrant new competitive playing ground, one where doing the right thing also means doing better (82).

The current cultural climate around the globe offers a ripe scenario for this sort of transparency. More specifically, social networking allows almost instantaneous communication between extensive populations. If a business ethically falters in this environment, word will spread quickly. Moreover, websites such as www.goodguide.com supply customers with a smart-phone application, providing power in the hands of consumers to obtain a better sense of companies and products.

It seems to me that most Christians would seek to do good in the world when presented an opportunity to do so. Ecological Intelligence offers practical ways in which people can navigate the health, environmental, and societal factors of purchasing products. The Christian Church is a beacon for the poor and disinherited. Many Christians give generously to charity and mission organizations. But we can do so much more! Our groceries, clothing suppliers, and houses give us further opportunities to choose the best products for our own health, the environment, and society.