- This title is one of the awards for best novel in the 2010 Andre Norton Awards
Summary from GoodReads:
Set initially in a future shanty town in America’s Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being dissembled for parts by a rag tag group of workers, we meet Nailer, a teenage boy working the light crew, searching for copper wiring to make quota and live another day. The harsh realities of this life, from his abusive father, to his hand to mouth existence, echo the worst poverty in the present day third world. When an accident leads Nailer to discover an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, and the lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl, Nailer finds himself at a crossroads. Should he strip the ship and live a life of relative wealth, or rescue the girl, Nita, at great risk to himself and hope she’ll lead him to a better life. This is a novel that illuminates a world where oil has been replaced by necessity, and where the gap between the haves and have-nots is now an abyss. Yet amidst the shadows of degradation, hope lies ahead.
My Review:
This is the kind of young adult book that I can fall in love with. Just a touch of romance, high seas adventures, action, hard decisions to be made, a fascinating world and a main character filled with flaws and strengths.
Last year I attempted to read another book by Bacigalupi and was unable to get past the first 50 pages so I admit to having some worry when it came to Ship Breaker. However, that gorgeous cover and the summary kept calling to me and when I saw it was up for The Andre Norton award that sealed the deal.
Ship Breaker is set in a sort of futuristic Gulf Coast. New Orleans has been wiped out more than one time and Nailer, the main focus, is a boy on a crew in charge of scavenging items like copper wire from ship wrecks that show up on the coast. It’s a hard life and one that is about to change the day a “swank” washes up in her ship-wrecked clipper.
Like most fantasy or sci-fi books it took a few pages for me to get used to the lingo and the setting, but once I did I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down. Hours later I finished it and breathed a sigh of happiness – because this was the kind of ending I could get behind and my imagination went crazy with the possibilities.
This is a very good choice for the award and now I can’t wait to read the other selections!
Check out these review(s):
I agree that the cover is gorgeous and I'm trying to get back into the YA game, after reading a bunch of them I didn't like. I'm getting ready to start on Rotters and if that goes well I may have to get this one as well.
Ship Breaker is pretty awesome. It's one of those books I haven't stopped thinking about even though it's been several months since I've read it.
I'm glad to see you'll be covering the Nebulas! Shipbreaker is one that most appealed to me from the list of finalists, and it sounds so intriguing!