The near future world of the Windup Girl is an unpleasant place. Granted this makes for an interesting setting, and the author manages that very well. Throughout the book I wanted to learn more and more about the world. We’re exposed only to Thailand, and only one city and its local area. Everything else is only hinted at or described mostly indirectly. I can't say how far into the near future it is. It could be along the lines of 50 years in the future, or maybe as many as 150, but I think that's pushing it.

The characters… were all very human. Eexcept for the title character, being a genetically modified “New Person”. Unfortunately the characters being so human in such an awful world made them rather unlikeable and untrustworthy. As a reader I want to have someone I can root for and no one in The Windup Girl made me want to root for them, not even the windup girl herself.

The story is very busy, and it takes a long while to really bring all the threads together. In fact it seemed for quite a long time that there were actually multiple stories that didn't tie together being told all at once. Eventually they all do come together, but it takes a bloody revolution and the destruction of the city to do it, not to mention killing off most every named character in the book!

On the other hand, since I like the author personally, and thought his world building was intriguing, I’m curious enough that I’m going to try reading his book of short stories (Pump Six and Other Stories).

**Edited 2/7/14

I've decided to bump this up to 3 stars. Given the number of times I've referenced it, thought about it, and tied it into other things, I have to say that it was better than my initial 2 star impression.