Ship Breaker

Paolo Bacigalupi

“It’s human nature to tear one another apart. Be glad you come from such a successful line of killers.”

I did not like this book. I do not recommend it unless you have an interest in climate change.

What happens?

Nailer is gathers parts from boats for a living. He is part of a crew, his crew is his family bound by blood pacts. His father is an abusive drunk who finds ways to bring money home, but mainly Nailer is the breadwinner.

Nailer lives in a world that has been drastically altered by climate change. Hurricanes are powerful, the ocean has engulfed the coast, and cities have been drowned. Through these disasters humanity has survived and a clear division has been made between the rich and the poor.

After a hurricane Nailer and his friend, Prima find a girl in a damaged boat. They name her Lucky Girl. Nailer decides to risk everything to help Lucky Girl find her way home. Through this, he discovers the true bond of friendship, loyital, and truths about his world.

My thoughts

I think there is a small niche of readers who will greatly enjoy Ship Breaker, but I am not apart of it. I am not going to rip this book apart. In short, my dislike came from not only the characters but the lack of consequence of the situations that unfolded. At times I thought “why didn’t nailer do this?” or why is this happening…etc. Sadly I was just not engaged with the story. I wanted to like Ship breaker, but as a reader you don’t like everything you read.

While I did dislike Ship Breaker, it does makes for a great discussion on the effects of climate change and how humanity might adapt to live in such a world.

Have you read Ship Breaker? Do you like to read about climate change?