Rated the book

America's Empty Wells.

A future that is almost here. You can argue as much as you like whether this future will be exactly the same as it is told in the book. It won’t be exactly like that, but something very similar, almost indistinguishable. Mirror copy. On a larger or smaller scale. With minimal consequences or maximum scope. It just definitely will.
Do you want this present or future? Oh no. Will anyone ask about our desires? The answer will be the same - no. The games of “big” bosses for the slightest influence, money, and even for a good/full/quiet life can deprive (and are already depriving) ordinary “little” people of everything. And water is just one of those games. Convenient, easy to calculate, you can always put it on the meter and set the desired tariff. For complete happiness, all that remains is to start selling air according to the same scheme. We probably won't have to wait long.
A book of warning, a book of prophecy. Read and decide how much you want to live exactly as described. You can bet anything that no one would want to live the way they did in “The Water Knife.” You can argue until your throat is hoarse that Russia (or any other country with a relatively normal water supply) is not in danger - there are many rivers and lakes, and in some places there are very few people. Why not a water paradise on earth? Only with the Colorado River and those 40 million residents who live in the basin of this river, if not today, the predicted thing may happen tomorrow. And this does not mean that the rest (due to their relative well-being) are not in danger. Threatening. It’s just not entirely clear when exactly. And no one can tell what will be the starting point for the development of a similar scenario. It’s just that at one point it will become clear that there is almost nowhere to turn.
What about the book? Good. Helps you look at the world exactly as you should. The author did not try to gloss over the main problem with the help of minor problems of the three heroes. There is an undisguised meaning behind the slightly swashbuckling adventures. A bit of an open ending? This is how it should be. There should be a small reliability that everything can still be solved and started to be corrected. Would you like to live in the world of a book or become one of the main or minor characters? No way in the world! The three main characters (and the mentioned minor ones) are almost ready to go over their heads just to reach their goal. Need to find old water rights? Yes, it’s easy, you can ignore the bloody trail left behind - it seemed to you.

Rated the book

Among modern fiction, Bacigalupi's third novel stands out for exactly the same thing as the previous two - the dynamics of the plot, its downright inhuman focus on moving forward. There are no unnecessary lyrical digressions, nor a crowd of incomprehensible heroes of the second, third or fourth plans, but instead of tedious multi-page excursions into the past - brief flashbacks to brief moments of reflection of the main characters (or their blackouts).
Of course, everything here is a little clichéd - evil corporations, even more evil gangsters (based on the text of the novel - just utter beasts, honestly), corrupt cops and, in general, man is a wolf to man. Although the trio of main characters is quite convincing - well, except that Maria is a little behind Angel and even more so Lucy Monroe, a journalist who will not hesitate to shoot you in the kneecap if necessary for an article (I’m exaggerating, but still).
Here Bacigalupi achieves a very interesting balance - all the signs of a not very smart blockbuster seem to be in place, but the novel never slides into a parody - the text perfectly maintains the degree of interest and clearly does not sags anywhere.
In general, if you are looking for a good, close-range fantasy action movie without any special pretensions to great literature, “Water Knife” will be just right. Also with a small dose of Mexican flavor.

Rated the book

The overall impression of the book is a pleasant surprise.

I thought that this was a passable fantasy action movie, just perfect for relaxing the brain in between more serious literature. Turned out to be wrong.

The setting is the near future without the tired post-apocalyptic. Here comes watery cyberpunk with Gibsonian motifs - people, horses, high technology and incredible poverty are mixed together. The main resource is water, for which state machines and private corporations fight, grinding supporting characters in their gears. And all this in the signature Mexican-Texan flavor with light touches of China.

By the way, about the characters. They were successful. The trio of main characters - Angel, Lucy and Maria - is so well balanced, so consistent with their image, that not once during the entire reading was it possible to triumphantly shout “I don’t believe it!” They contain everything in moderation and as it should - character, past, motives. Nowhere is it over-salted to wring out a tear, nowhere is it over-sweetened so that the reader falls desperately in love with them, nowhere is it over-salted so that their cheekbones ache from the brutality.

Plot. It's simple. But this is its advantage, there is no feeling that the author is trying to force incredible bells and whistles out of himself in order to hold the reader’s attention. There is one common problem that the main characters need to solve in addition to their small ones. And, in fact, this is what they do.

For some reason I was pleased with the ending with its simple, folk “life”. The desert is not for saints and devils, it is for people who want simple things without too high motives.

Water. Coolness. Feelings of security.

For some reason it seems to us that the End of the world must come suddenly. Like a natural disaster, when nothing depends on you personally. A meteorite fell. The sun exploded. The evil guys came from heaven and barbecued us for their roadside picnic. Mother Nature has finally found a way to get rid of the Plague of Humanity by breeding an unkillable virus. Sorry, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happened so, and no one is to blame for anything.

Unfortunately, most likely, everything will be completely different. Aliens will not arrive, a meteorite will not fall. Just one unfortunate day a person will see that the tree in the yard has dried up due to the heat, the lake in which he swam as a child has disappeared, and the river flowing next to the house has been chained with steel pipes by another corporation greedy for money and power.

But then it will be too late to tell ourselves that, yes, we have heard the warnings of scientists that the unwise use of resources leads to disaster. They even read, mostly like scary tales, about melting ice, droughts and dust storms. But it was always somewhere out there, on another planet, and here there were lovely household chores and personal affairs that were incomparably more important than the forests cut down somewhere there.

And, of course, there will always be someone to blame. Greedy corporations plundering resources in pursuit of wealth. The scientists who warned were not too persistent and very unclear. The authorities, who were more concerned about ratings in the upcoming elections.

But instead of looking for those to blame and lamenting about mistakes, shouldn’t we honestly admit: signs of the coming Apocalypse have long been clearly visible in record-breaking weather reports, dried grass and hot asphalt? And the reason for it is each of the more than 7 billion representatives of the human race.

This is the type of Apocalypse this novel talks about. A terrible drought caused by climate change and unwise use of water resources is leading to a gradual decline in the once prosperous lands of the southwestern United States. There are no more glittering cities and towns, no more complacent farmers with their countless herds and endless fields of corn. There are only unfortunate, despised and embittered fugitives, driven before them by sand tornadoes and the advancing desert. There are brutal gangs - scavengers of the Apocalypse. And there is only one value, and this is not life, but the most ordinary water.

The plot revolves around a bloody, violent, treacherous and deceitful tale of old legal rights to the water of the Colorado River that will allow some to get rich and live while others are doomed to a painful death. And this is not a story for teenagers, but a tough story for adults, which shows without embellishment what circumstances do to ordinary, normal and once kind and law-abiding people.

In this novel there are no superman heroes saving the world from general stupidity and short-sightedness. These are, in general, ordinary people, concerned with personal problems that boil down to survival in a cruel world. If this requires killing, lying, stealing, betraying, then they do it without pangs of conscience or regret. Everything is according to the law of the jungle - every man for himself. In general, these are the very people who caused the Apocalypse.

As always with Bacigalupi: a dynamic plot, a gloomy atmosphere of an imminent catastrophe, the contrast of dusty landscapes and the desolation of dying cities and the life-filled coolness of ecological shelter towers, understandable heroes and the motivations for their actions.

But there is one important note. Ideally, after reading such a novel, which is closely related to our real problems, there should be a certain feeling of anxiety and dissatisfaction, making us think about what is happening. And it’s really good if after this the reader himself, of his own free will and by virtue of his own principles born after reading, goes to clean up the bed of a small river or takes trash with him after a picnic on the shore of the lake. But if you say something hackneyed forty times throughout the novel, like “When the last tree is cut down, when the last river is poisoned, when the last bird is caught, only then will you understand that money cannot be eaten” or “We need to work together to achieve a better life,” then these correct, smart and fair words will ultimately turn into emptiness. And nothing will work out. Again. The clock will continue to tick, counting down the days, weeks, years until the onset of the Apocalypse.

Rating: 8

Money, depression and scarcity of resources, the three key D's, are the cornerstones on which Bacigalupi builds his stories. The search for an invaluable seed bank, slums and the energy crisis in Zavodnoy. The battle of clans for power, the everyday life of scavengers and, again, the resource crisis in “Ship Destroyer.” And “Water Knife” is the future of the southwestern states of the United States, in which water has become the main value. Drying rivers, silted lakes and wells - and a desperate fight for the right to fill pipelines with water from the sacred Colorado River.

While California inexorably spreads its influence upstream, while the watery Queen of Vegas, Catherine Case, eliminates competitors, the city of Phoenix teeters on the brink of collapse. Abandoned houses, insolent gangs, prolonged sandstorms, crowds of refugees from Texas, corpses lying in empty swimming pools or ruins. The hash tags of the notes of Lucy Monroe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, are eloquent: #CollapsePorn, #PhoenixLeaks. When her engineer friend is brutally murdered, she takes it as a personal challenge and a compelling reason to start a war against those who profit from the devastation.

Maria, a refugee from Texas, knows firsthand about poverty, barely surviving among bandits, pimps and beggars. Every day is like running through a minefield or swimming among a school of piranhas. Make the wrong move and you'll end up in a ditch with broken bones or become dinner for hyenas. But Angel, a native of Mexico, a devoted dog Case and a merciless water knife, looks at life with composure and confidence. And without hesitation, he goes to Phoenix to find out why local Agent Case is panicking.

Bacigalupi writes traditionally cynically, does not disdain the black stuff, but does not make a goal out of it. In a world where entire states are dying out, it is difficult to remain silent about lawlessness and torture, prostitution and drugs. But painting the chronicles of the apocalypse, Bacigalupi considers the motivations and strategies of people’s behavior when the one who correctly predicts the future rules of the game wins. The one who rigidly paves the way or flexibly evades enemies. But who will he be - the devil or the saint?

The result: a tough mixture of apocalypse, action and detective.

Rating: 8

For those who have followed Bacigalupi's work with great attention since the publication of The Flute Girl and the stories adjacent to the later novel Clockwork, this new novel may quite rightly disappoint. It's commercial. Even Bacigalupi’s last novel published in Russian, “The Destroyer of Ships,” despite its teenage audience, contained that frantic exoticism and extraordinary aesthetics with which the author instantly won the hearts of readers. It was a step towards the market, since the young-adult category has huge demand. “Water Knife” has already stepped right into the epicenter of the modern science fiction mainstream - “Hollywood” thrillers that play with one fantastic idea and describe the USA of the near future. This literature sells very well, and in the 2010s almost everyone started writing it. From stars like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, to debutants like Matthew Mather and Ramez Naam. Some do better, some do worse. But in general, this tribute to the reader’s appetite makes the new items somewhat monotonous. Americans love to read about the United States broken by China, about shootouts and chases, as well as about heroes who find themselves among hundreds of corpses and incessant violence against their will. And this book has it all.

However, the book will delight those who love well-written, but simple, action-packed literature. It's surprisingly easy to read - I read it in one day. And there is still something of Bacigalupi in it - his view of the world. For the author, it turned out to be a very good polishing of her skills in a large form, since in the previous ones there was a lack of experience. "Clockwork" was too eclectic, and "Ship Destroyer" was an overgrown story. Here, in this regard, everything is excellent. Regarding the genre, I will say that this is not a post-apocalyptic story or a disaster novel; there is no obvious threat of the death of humanity. This is a novel about the future, which changes the face of the human world. About the time of change, when in the eyes of some people there is still a picture of the world that has died, but they hope for its return, while others already have images of the new and the understanding that nothing can be returned. Bacigalupi shows the ugliness of what is already happening in his country. It just adds a little grotesqueness, projecting trends into the future, and it turns out very realistic. This is a warning novel. But who listens to them?

Rating: 7

Water, also known as hydrogen oxide, is a binary inorganic compound whose molecules consist of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atoms connected by a covalent bond.

The role of water in the emergence and maintenance of life on Earth, in the chemical structure of living organisms, and in the formation of climate and weather is very important. It is an essential substance for all living beings on the planet.

We know this, and by looking at Wikipedia we will get even more information.

It has always been and is around us, it is taken for granted, and its importance and vital necessity are fully realized only by residents of poor and hot countries.

But what will happen if all the inhabitants of the planet realize this?

This is what the novel “Water Knife” is about.

It immediately turns out that what we have before us is, in fact, a continuation of the ideas of “Clockwork,” only a more mundane variation of them, without mass genetic modification and technologies that are contradictory in their real effectiveness.

The story is closer to our time and place of action, less exotic and foreign culture, and more a demonstration of the quintessence of all human vices and qualities that the collapsed United States has absorbed from the entire human species.

There is also the locality of events. This is due not only to the fact that the borders of countries and states are closed, no - people themselves are very busy trying to survive with a total shortage, and therefore we, together with them, will not know what is going on with others. Unless information slips out that things are going well in China, and this is the merit of local residents, who are always ready to help their neighbors. Therefore, he can afford to play the role of almost the only employer company in North America.

And in contrast to this development, the methods that Nevada and California operate have been demonstrated more than once - to capture an important point, destroy the enemy, and this, as expected, leads to new friction and conflicts in already troubled cities. The author again shows us that the East also has positive features, while the West is increasingly plunging into the whirlpool of greed and cruelty.

In addition, the characters also look a bit like the characters from Clockwork.

Some have sold out, some only intend to do so out of desperation, some are trying to get across the border, others are trying to get out of the system they themselves had a hand in creating. Some are looking for the truth, others are driven by the desire to save their hometown. Their whole life is movement, without this they cannot be saved in their world.

And, speaking of the world, it should be noted that the author never mentions oil and other minerals. What is the use of them when there is no water, which is more valuable than everything else put together? However, on the other hand, this makes the book somewhat one-sided. However, the story is primarily about people and their actions in complex, rapidly changing situations, so we still won’t consider this a minus.

Thus, "Water Knife" is very much a retread of the past, raising issues like "man to man (in this case) coyote" and "what lengths one will go to in order to survive." At the same time, the book is faster than “Clockwork”, lean, “fighting”. It's a breeze to read and ends with a memorable ending.

Rating: 9

Few people write as well as Bacigalupi. And the novel is worth reading for that reason alone. His books are full of dark, caustic sensuality, painful and even perverted aesthetics. The author, in the best traditions of science fiction, paints threatening pictures of the future that may come if humanity’s attitude towards the world around it does not change.

What is water? The most important natural resource necessary for any living creature. A person cannot live even a week without water during intense activity or elevated air temperatures. The population is constantly growing and the climate is changing. What will happen if water shortage hits humanity? The author will tell us his version of the development of events.

It was difficult to imagine a future in which water became society's only fundamental resource. It's been raining in my backcountry for the last two summers, so why should I care about Texas' drought problems? However, the characters in the book would not deign to spit such a selfish remark - even urine is recycled here. Have you ever wondered how much a person’s sweat could tell about a person?

- Oh, I know where this is going.

“Then why didn’t you leave?”

“There’s more life here.” (With)

The world is slowly going to hell. People turn into animals - hyenas, scavengers, trying to grab their piece of a comfortable life. The rich party in luxurious, high-rise, secure mansions, but look out the window and you'll see a bunch of ragamuffins urinating in a special bag and then drinking from it. People take off their masks, bare their faces, embark on adventures, feeling the adrenaline rushing through the body in anticipation of impending danger. People rush to opposite extremes, some discover compassion in themselves, others discover a thirst for blood and lust, but both of them live as if it were the last day. Only those strong in spirit, body, and mind are able to survive in such conditions.

These are the main characters of the novel - the young girl Maria, growing up before our eyes and, like a sponge, absorbing the rules of the new nightmare world, the fanatical idealist journalist Lucy and the former prisoner Angel, who replaced the prisoner's uniform with the body armor of a mercenary. Three individuals with an eventful life story, pursuing their own goals. Their motives are clear, you sympathize and empathize with them.

The plot of the novel revolves around a valuable document, an ancient paper containing the rights to own a volumetric share of water, because of which people die in queues. Chases and shootouts with bandits, looters, businessmen, corrupt cops and patriots are moderately entertaining and keep you in suspense. The book speaks to the reader in the language of blood, sex and violence - the language of base images accessible to any primitive creature, but with the bright expression and originality inherent in the author.

In my opinion, The Water Knife is an elegant compromise between purely entertaining reading and intellectual literature. A high-quality modern (not in a good or bad sense, but as a fact) product, sweetened by the author’s signature style. And this is where my main complaint about the novel arises - the lack of depth. The antiheroes in it (not villains, but antiheroes) are ordinary people who turn out to be smarter or stronger than others. The author accuses the vague gray mass of ordinary people of selfishness, cynicism, indifference and indifference, thereby encroaching on human nature itself. The idea is not new and has long been established; it requires fresh ideas and development, but does not receive them.

Why run? If the whole world is on fire, why not face your fate with a beer in your hand - and without fear? (With)

Will it be justified to die for principles, to become another victim of the porn collapse, a new frame in an endless series of pictures of many bloody newspapers? Or should I run and hope that there is a more favorable place in the world to live in? The sketchiness of the problems outlined and the options for their solution is a little discouraging. The author, like a harbinger of doom and a herald of the apocalypse, speaks a terrible truth, which, alas, is a hundred years old, and almost turns into that journalist of a bloody newspaper who rummages through corpses and savors loud tragedies, a vulture looking for fresh carrion.

In other cases, the storyteller is saved by the style of presentation, the original presentation of the material, or another accentuated component of the work. But here the descriptions lack that sophisticated shocking exoticism and emotional tension that were in “The Flute Girl”, the plot - the development of the main theme, summing up and clearly identifying the problem. The author himself spoiled the reader with his previous works, teaching him to expect something completely extraordinary, but here a more even, moderate style is observed.

Perhaps best of all, Paolo Bacigalupi succeeds in artistic images, like an impressionist, he draws impressive pictures and scenes that turn on, excite or disgust, or even all of this at the same time. Perhaps the imagination feeds the many travels that befall the writer. The surroundings, dark and dense, are described with eerie realism. The world created in the novel, draining itself, is terrible and believable, a world in which a portion of water can cost a human life...

For all its strengths, The Water Knife is simply a good novel in all respects, dynamic, smart, stylish, and stands out from the crowd. However, too smooth, moderate.

Well, so, a glass or a shot glass?

Every drop is money. (With)

Rating: 8

[i]Until I myself understand what happened,

[i] I can’t explain it to you either.

[i] Some thing rolled under the closet,

[i]Some thread broke.

A future that is almost here. You can argue as much as you like whether this future will be exactly the same as it is told in the book. It won’t be exactly like that, but something very similar, almost indistinguishable. Mirror copy. On a larger or smaller scale. With minimal consequences or maximum scope. It just definitely will.

Do you want this present or future? Oh no. Will anyone ask about our desires? The answer will be the same - no. The games of “big” bosses for the slightest influence, money, and even for a good/full/quiet life can deprive (and are already depriving) ordinary “little” people of everything. And water is just one of those games. Convenient, easy to calculate, you can always put it on the meter and set the desired tariff. For complete happiness, all that remains is to start selling air according to the same scheme. We probably won't have to wait long.

A book of warning, a book of prophecy. Read and decide how much you want to live exactly as described. You can bet anything that no one would want to live the way they did in “The Water Knife.” You can argue until your throat is hoarse that Russia (or any other country with a relatively normal water supply) is not in danger - there are many rivers and lakes, and in some places there are very few people. Why not a water paradise on earth? Only with the Colorado River and those 40 million residents who live in the basin of this river, if not today, the predicted thing may happen tomorrow. And this does not mean that the rest (due to their relative well-being) are not in danger. Threatening. It’s just not entirely clear when exactly. And no one can tell what will be the starting point for the development of a similar scenario. It’s just that at one point it will become clear that there is almost nowhere to turn.

What about the book? Good. Helps you look at the world exactly as you should. The author did not try to gloss over the main problem with the help of minor problems of the three heroes. There is an undisguised meaning behind the slightly swashbuckling adventures. A bit of an open ending? This is how it should be. There should be a small reliability that everything can still be solved and started to be corrected. Would you like to live in the world of a book or become one of the main or minor characters? No way in the world! The three main characters (and the mentioned minor ones) are almost ready to go over their heads just to reach their goal. Need to find old water rights? Yes, it’s easy, you can ignore the bloody trail left behind - it seemed to you.

Rating: 7

Gentlemen and a few ladies, who came here for the post-apocalypse? Come on in, don't linger. Come on, come on, I tell you. He's not here. Only the surroundings left from it had almost no effect on anything.

With the same success, the action could, say, take place during Prohibition, and water could be replaced by alcohol. Nothing would change. All the main characters seem to have come straight from the pages of pulp fiction: a tough mercenary, a truth-telling journalist and a girl who is always in trouble. Ostentatious cruelty and a couple of explicit scenes that supposedly make such reading “adult” available. Another work in the spirit of some Chase, only in a different setting. And it is precisely because of them, the scenery, that the main plot becomes many times dumber even than in similar works. The author has a completely childishly naive idea of ​​the power of jurisprudence at a time when the country is falling apart. He lives in a well-fed and rich country, but he has only seen all the horrors that he describes in pictures, and has no idea what they can lead to. Just imagine, if the actions of this tabloid reading took place in our country, say, in the dashing 90s,

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

and the bandits would have fought for property documents signed under Khrushchev. Which in objective reality, of course, would no longer mean anything.

Do you feel the full degree of absurdity? Do you feel the author’s “competence”?

Plus the plot here is absolutely predictable if you have already read such things. Did the hero find a solution to some problem? Is it still far to the end? He will screw up, because the author still needs to drag his feet, and is too lazy to invent new difficulties.

As a result, we have an absolutely passable detective story with a slight touch of fantasy. Come on in, I tell you. Normal post-apocalypse in another place. Obviously not here.

Rating: 5

Near future. Water becomes the main value. Whoever owns water has unlimited power. Firms and corporations that promise to extract life-giving moisture from the bowels of the earth are flourishing. The courts are overwhelmed with cases regarding rights to use the remaining water resources. For additional water they are ready to kill, torture, destroy cities, and ruin destinies. The action of the novel develops on the territory of the United States, which are essentially territories almost completely independent from each other, united by corporate (and other) wars for water. The southern states are turning into a desert where desperate people are trying to survive. Some are trying to immigrate as far north as Canada, where there is still plenty of water.

There are several main characters. A visiting journalist living in a dying city in Texas, a young girl, practically a native resident of the same city, a seasoned “decider” who oversees the water interests of one of the big bosses.

The background is the city of Phoenix, trying to keep from final degradation, drying out and death. A city where you can make a small fortune based on the price of water. A city where this fortune will be taken from you by a local bandit who keeps the entire area in fear. A city where clear skies are not visible due to constant dust storms. A city where everything is bought and sold. A city where, against the backdrop of dust and ruin, rises a modern oasis - an “arcology” - full of water, life and fresh air, a place for the opportunity to live in which most are willing to sell their own and others’ souls and lives. A city where there is a place not only for fear and betrayal, but also for loyalty, self-sacrifice, friendship and love.

The main characters have to constantly make decisions related to survival. Everyone has their own views on life, their own watersheds in the means to achieve goals. And what’s interesting is that despite the rather disgusting decisions they have to make, none of the main characters evoke negative emotions. The author manages to reveal the motivation of actions in such a way that no matter what they do, it does not cause strong antipathy. Another big plus is the scenery, that same city.

Among the small disadvantages are the “survivability” of the characters, the sharp acceleration of events towards the end of the book. And, in my opinion, not enough attention has been paid to the rest of the world. At least in touches, it would be interesting to know what is happening in the rest of the world.

The result: a cool, tough, psychological novel, with elements of dystopia, detective and thriller.

Rating: 8

Paolo Bacigalupi is a recognized master of post-apocalyptic art. In his books, which have won numerous Hugo and Nebula awards, he explores the dire future of humanity, either surviving without oil and electricity through genetic modification (Clockwork) or recycling metals in cities flooded by global warming. (“Ship Destroyer”), or turned into technobionts after the disappearance of all flora and fauna (“People of Sand and Slag”). In his novel The Water Knife, Bacigalupi addressed the theme of a near future suffering from a lack of water. In this world, America is falling apart, people are fleeing from the waterless southern states to the northern ones, to the sources of the rivers. The Independence and Sovereignty Act was designed to stop the flow of refugees, and now Texans are being hanged at New Mexico border barriers to intimidate them. Refugees who managed to escape from Texas live in tent camps next to Red Cross pumps. All other residents of the states are called zoners because they cannot leave their region, although many dream of getting to Nevada, where, according to rumors, you can get water from a fountain right on the street. In Arizona, water must be purchased from vending machines at the pumps; houses are hot and stuffy, and it is impossible to go outside without glasses and a respirator due to dust storms. Only rich “nickels” with a five-digit number, who live on the upper floors of arcologies, live well. These oasis complexes with autonomous power supply, with tropical greenery and ponds with carps inside, as well as the China-Friendship pumps, are being built by the Chinese. China turned out to be more adapted to this new world than the United States, where the struggle for water and life acquired the most brutal methods. Overall, “The Water Knife” is a short-range fantasy, a dynamic novel about the lives of people in difficult conditions and their ability to remain human.

Rating: 8

To begin with, a strange translation. On the cover - “water knife”, in the text - “water knife”, and in meaning - “water cutter”. This is not a device, not a mechanism or a tool, it is a person.

In fact, it was extremely painful to wade through the beginning and middle. Longing, mortal boredom and hopeless despondency. The detective, in addition, is also in the surroundings of the southern states of the United States suffering from water shortages. Less interesting, perhaps, is the migration map of Central Asian ground squirrels. Suddenly, closer to the middle, the book sharply gains momentum, turning from “a production novel from the provincial outback in the best traditions of caprealism” into a story about people. Quite an interesting story.

If we separate the idea of ​​the book and its plot, then the idea of ​​this particular one is probably that each of us has a set of multi-colored glasses through which we observe the world. But some people never learn anything.

In general, the impressions are mixed. If you get through the first half, it's a very worthy book.

Rating: 7

Another option for the approaching end of the world. Of course, not for everyone, but for very many, those whose water was taken away. The location is several states in the USA. It is impossible to determine the exact time, unless you take as a reference the toothless grandmother of Britney Spears (the author clearly loves her very much or appreciates her work), which the heroes of the novel will meet on one of the posters.

In principle, it turned out to be a pretty good action movie, with a lot of shootouts, chases, and murders. There are sexual scenes, torture and harsh interrogations, mockery of a person. The behavior of the acting characters looks quite reliable, at least I didn’t see any special nonsense.

It’s hard for me to understand the intricacies of the construction of canals, dams, artificial lakes, and how it works in reality. According to the author, if there is a desire and opportunity, then large cities can be left without water supply, which will die out and turn into ghosts. Details accompanying all this: street crime, the emergence of large and well-equipped groups that will control the remaining water and distribute it, thousands of dead and those who lost their homes. Endemic poverty, lack of work other than prostitution and drug trafficking, brutal murders for a variety of reasons, and more often just because.

Definitely, the author managed to show all the dirt and sewage of the city. In this novel you will find scum of all stripes and shades who have lost the remnants of humanity. Of course, this work is quite cruel, since in reality it would probably be even worse.

In principle, this story is completely finished and a continuation is not necessary at all. By the way, the ending will turn out to be extremely successful, at least few people will be able to calculate it.

Can this work be considered as a warning? Necessarily. Everyone should have a good habit of conserving water on the subconscious and at the level of reflexes. Don’t think that there is a lot of water around; one day everything will run out, including water. Let's think about those who will live after us and also want to swim in a clean lake or river.

Rating: 8

I couldn't pass up this novel. If not as a fan of the author (yes, I confess this is the first time I’ve read his work. I didn’t know him before), then as an employee of an organization that supplies water to the population. The first thing that caught my attention, of course, was the abstract. Despite the fact that this problem seems fantastic (as in, there may be a water shortage in a city or country), in fact it is no longer such a distant reality. Which, if not us, then our children will have to face. There is no doubt that the problem is real. Suffice it to recall the events in the city of Vladivostok. Which, in principle, existed not so long ago. This is the way to talk about realism.

Otherwise, I’m glad that once again I was not mistaken with the author. I liked his presentation style. I was especially pleased with the unusual nature of the speculations on the water. That was great. Although the author does not look like a grandmaster, he does not eat his bread in vain. I liked it

Nevada is at war with Arizona and California over water that will freely rain on Maine - a locus that is more important than availability on the global market. Knowledge is power, but the fruits of progress have an added value - in the arcologies of Las Vegas and Phoenix, fountains gush, but for those who have few yuan, science will only give filtered urine a la astronaut.

The author is also strict with the American tradition. You can advance through sales, defend your farm with weapons in your hands, get an education, swear allegiance to the flag, and if necessary, move... you can, as long as there is a freebie. Whether they are pumping freebies out of the ground (to which they “have rights”) or whether it is demand for granite countertops, open borders, etc., it doesn’t matter. There is - and if only you have the intelligence to direct the flow into your pocket. No - time for camel troops.

Rating: no

It is a little surprising that Bacigalupi, after the frankly teenage “Ship Destroyer,” wrote a novel in which violence flows like a river, as if on a dare, winning a radically older audience. The irony is that, aside from the violence and frantic pace, nothing else moves so fast in the world of Water Knife. Water is worth its weight in pre-crisis oil, and the ideological component is more like boring dystopian collapses than a normal post-apocalyptic survivalist story. But the dynamics of the novel are very good, the coolness of the brew is sometimes prohibitive, it’s easy to read and, in principle, after reading, even despite the viscous aftertaste of abomination, more enthusiastic impressions remain. But, let’s say, I would be careful not to recommend the book to anyone else, despite the excellent style and speed of events - one must take into account tastes and a possible dislike of violence.

After all, in terms of content, “The Water Knife” is a completely dark action-thriller, a typically male version of reading material (for women, perhaps, the fate of Mary can become a reason to read, but I don’t think that the hardships of an unfortunate woman will outweigh everything else). Here there is violence, and torture, and deliciously described sex, and shooting, and chases, and mountains of corpses, and tension is created and twisted into a tight knot of interest, but at the end of the book you suspect that the author has simply gone too far with the black stuff. It would seem that, having in your hands and in your mind such an interesting idea as a total water shortage, as well as experience in building a post-apocalyptic society, write good science fiction with an emphasis on scientific calculations (something like Iganov’s “Despair”). But no, Paolo chose to write a novel about crime, criminality, and fill it with vile characters who have their own despair, but the reasons for their actions, like the actions themselves, sometimes cause shock.

What a mess! Everything is secondary! The main characters are not completely flat, but it’s hard to believe in a difficult and fatal fate. The world itself is described in detail and there remains a great flight of imagination, but for some reason I don’t want to fantasize. Somewhere it rains and everything is fine, but somewhere the desert is coming? Yes, it's possible. But this is not the end of the world as such. Cities under domes? Again, it’s possible, but what material base lies behind all these buildings? Yes, yes, everything is easy to explain by the Chinese and their powerful economy after, say, 50 years, but it is not a fact that humanity will have this time. Small-town end of the world in the USA!? Yes, great, but not convincing. Good drama and nothing more. There is enough dirt and cruelty in the modern world and there is no need to look far into the future for new variations.

Water knife Paolo Bacigalupi

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Name: Water Knife
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Year: 2016
Genre: Foreign fiction, Foreign detectives, Hard-boiled detective, Science fiction

About the book “Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi is a fairly well-known contemporary American writer working in the genre of science fiction. His debut novel, Clockwork, received acclaim from both critics and readers and won several prestigious awards.

His novel “The Water Knife” is worth reading for all those who are interested in new unusual works in long-familiar literary genres. In this work, the well-known saying that you can’t apply water with a sieve takes on a completely new threatening sound.

Paolo Bacigalupi dedicates his novel to the theme of a global drought that may hit planet Earth in the near future. The author warns all humanity about the dangers associated with the ineffective use of natural resources. But even this important theme serves only as a backdrop for him to tell a heartbreaking story of human achievement and loss.

The book "The Water Knife" is about an America on the verge of disaster. Hundreds of thousands of disoriented refugees are trying to leave the country. They do not regret remaining in deserted cities and destroyed villages. There is only one obstacle on their way - self-defense units who are trying to protect their land and the remains of food.

The country in which the novel takes place has turned into a territory fenced with barbed wire. In big cities there is a real war for ownership of water resources. In such a world, it is the “water knife” that becomes the symbolic embodiment of the impending apocalypse, which at any moment can interrupt human life.

Paolo Bacigalupi in his novel “The Water Knife” very successfully uses elements of several genres at once. This is what gives his work additional intrigue.

At the center of the story is the story of three completely different characters who are in Phoenix. One of them is a professional killer who has lost contact with the command. Another heroine of the novel is the journalist Lisa, and the third is a young refugee who is simply trying to survive in the current circumstances.

The author very convincingly conveys the evolution of the complex characters of the main characters of his book. He describes in detail the subtle psychological changes in their perception of reality. The writer quite successfully uses a number of metaphors that convey the events taking place in the lives of the characters.

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Page 1 of 88

© Paolo Bacigalupi, 2014

© V. Bakanov School of Translation, 2014

© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2015

Chapter 1

There are whole stories associated with sweat.

The sweat of a woman who works for fourteen hours straight under the scorching sun in an onion field is different from the sweat of a man who prays to Santa Muerte so that federales at the checkpoint were not bribed by his enemies. The sweat of a ten-year-old boy staring down the barrel of a gun is different from the sweat of a woman hobbling through the desert and praying to the Holy Virgin to place a cache of water exactly where indicated on the map.

Sweat is a compressed history of the body. Sweat beads on your forehead and leaves salty stains on your shirt. Sweat will tell you all about how a person ended up in the right place at the wrong time, and whether he will live another day.

To Angel Velasquez, who sat high above the central well of Cypress 1 and watched Charles Braxton stomp along the Cascades Trail, the sweat on the lawyer's brow told him that some people imagine too much of themselves.

Braxton could pace around the office and yell at the secretaries as much as he wanted, he could sneak around the courtroom as much as he wanted, like an ax-wielding maniac waiting for a new victim - but by and large he was under the thumb of Catherine Case. And if Katherine Case orders something to be done quickly, then you, pendejo, you don’t just run, you run until your heart stops.

Braxton stooped under the ferns, hobbled past creeping banyan stems along the sloping path that wound around the well. He squeezed through groups of tourists taking pictures against the backdrop of waterfalls and hanging gardens. He was flushed, but still stubbornly walked forward. Runners in short shorts and T-shirts passed him; music and the beating of healthy hearts sounded in their ears.

Sweat can tell you a lot about a person.

Braxton's sweat meant the lawyer was still capable of feeling fear. And for Angel, this meant that Braxton could still be trusted.

Braxton noticed that Angel was sitting on a bridge that arched over a wide wellbore. He waved tiredly at Angel, motioning for him to come down. Smiling, Angel waved back, pretending not to understand.

- Come down! Braxton shouted.

Angel smiled again and waved.

The lawyer slouched doomedly and went to storm the last climb.

Angel leaned on the railing, enjoying the views. The sun's rays fell on the bamboo and leaves of the rain forest, illuminated tropical birds and sent bunnies across the waves of koi ponds.

The people far below seemed smaller than ants. These were not even people at all, but likenesses of tourists, local residents, casino workers - just like on the model of Cypress-1: scale models of people drinking scale models of lattes on the terraces of scale models of cafes. Scale models of children chased butterflies on hiking trails, and scale models of adults played blackjack at scale models of tables in the deep caverns of casinos.

Braxton came up panting.

- Why didn’t you come down? I asked.

He dropped his suitcase onto the floorboards and leaned against the railing.

- What did you bring? – asked Angel.

“Papers,” Braxton wheezed and waved wearily towards the suitcase. - Carver City. We just received a court decision. We tore them up.

Braxton tried to say something else, but couldn't. His face was swollen and red. Angel wondered if he would feel sorry for the lawyer if he had a heart attack.

Angel and Braxton first met in a lawyer's office, which was located at the headquarters of the Southern Nevada Water Resources Authority. His office had floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Carson Creek, where he fished on a fly. The waters of the river cascaded down the levels of the arcology to where they were pumped back up through a new purification system. A large, expensive view of rainbow trout and aquatic infrastructure is a good reminder of why Braxton is defending the interests of UVRUN in court.

In the office, Braxton bossed around three assistants - all of them, by coincidence, were slender girls, recent law school graduates. The firm lured them with promises of permanent housing in Cypress. He spoke condescendingly to Angel, as if he were just another Katherine Case pit bull who had to be tolerated as long as he killed other, larger dogs.

Angel, for his part, during the meeting tried to understand how a man like Braxton could grow to such a size. People outside of Cypress didn't get as fat as he did. In his entire life, Angel had never seen a creature like Braxton, and he admired the fleshy shell of a man who felt completely safe.

When their meeting ended, Angel decided that if Katherine Case was right about the end of the world, then Braxton would make a good meal. The latter consideration, in turn, helped him not to kill this pendejo from the Ivy League because he wrinkled his nose at the sight of gang tattoos and a stabbing scar running down Angel's face and neck.

Times really are changing, Angel thought as he watched the sweat dripping from Braxton's nose.

“Carver City lost its appeal,” Braxton finally breathed. “The judges were going to make a decision in the morning, but due to an error in the schedule, the same room was allocated for two trials at once. The decision was postponed until the end of the working day. The people of Carver City are running around like crazy, preparing a new appeal. – He picked up and opened the suitcase. “But they won’t make it in time.”

The lawyer handed Angel a stack of papers with laser holograms.

- Here are the court orders. You have until tomorrow morning when the courts open. Once Carver City files an appeal, it will be a different story. Then you will face at least civil liability. But until tomorrow morning, you are simply defending the right of the citizens of the great state of Nevada to private property.

Angel began to look through the documents.

“All you need is if you settle the deal today.” If you wait until tomorrow, adjournments, legal disputes, and so on will begin again.

- And then it turns out that you were sweating in vain.

Braxton pointed a thick finger at Angel.

- Look at me.

Angel laughed at this veiled threat.

- I already received the registration, cabron. Go scare your secretaries.

“Even though you’re Case’s favorite, I can still ruin your life.”

Angel didn’t even look up from his papers.

“Even though you’re Case the dog, I can still throw you off this bridge.”

Judging by the stamps and seals, the papers were in order.

– What incriminating evidence do you have on Case that makes you so invulnerable?

“Cutting water with a knife” means doing an obviously meaningless task: the same as carrying water with a sieve. In other words, monkey work. In the novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, this metaphor takes on a different, menacing sound. The author writes about a global drought caused by the thoughtless use of water resources - and this is just the scenery against the backdrop of which an endless series of human tragedies unfolds.

Paolo Bacigalupi
The Water Knife
Novel
Genre: post-apocalyptic, spy novel
Year of publication in original language: 2015
Translator: M. Golovkin
Publishing house: AST, 2016
448 pp., 4000 copies.
Similar to:
John Wyndham "Day of the Triffids"
Robert Ludlum "The Bourne Identity"

America is on the verge of destruction. Millions of refugees are trying to escape from dying cities and towns: hipsters and workers, prosperous representatives of the middle class and crime bosses, bankrupt farmers and yesterday's schoolchildren - they all mixed into a motley crowd, gripped by panic. Self-defense units stand in the way of the refugees - the same frightened people, ready to die and kill for their land and water. The central government has become a fiction, state borders bristle with barbed wire and gleam with the lenses of optical sights, vultures peck at the dehydrated bodies of hanged men. Large cities - Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles - do not disdain any means in the fight for water: raider takeovers, blackmail, bribery of officials, murder, torture. Huge amounts of money are made in this semi-criminal sphere; financial empires are built on the water trade. In this world, a water knife is a harbinger of death, a horseman of the apocalypse, the one who comes at the head of a team of thugs to block a water well, blow up a pumping station, take away the last hope...

In the first half of the 1990s, domestic turbo-realist writers, Andrei Lazarchuk, Andrei Stolyarov and Vladimir Pokrovsky, coined the term “epicatastrophism”: according to this concept, humanity lives against the backdrop of a permanent multi-level catastrophe, not interrupted for a second. Paolo Bacigalupi's novel fits completely within this framework. The genre of “Water Knife” is something between a detective story and a spy thriller in the spirit of Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum. Three very different, but equally bright characters are drawn into the intrigue (twisted, naturally, around water rights). A Nevada "water knife", a professional spy and assassin, infiltrated Phoenix and came under "friendly fire", losing contact with the Center and access to resources. Journalist Lizzie came to this city many years ago to make a career, but found that her heart was attached to the dying metropolis, losing the ability to impartially observe its agony. And finally, a young refugee from Texas, a sort of modern-day Scarlett O'Hara, does not set long-term goals for herself, but only dreams of a guaranteed daily sip of water. Bacigalupi convincingly describes the evolution of complex, contradictory characters, deciphers psychological motives, reveals secrets that the heroes themselves are not aware of. Each of his characters, including minor and episodic ones, has their own memorable face. The author actively works with metaphors (fire and water, symbolic and literal loss of virginity, fiery rebirth) - trying, however, not to express the conclusions in plain text.

The firestorm turned people into animals. And Lucy herself barely escaped this fate. But now it seemed to her that she understood everything. A whirlpool of fear can turn you into a villain, make you tear your neighbors to pieces, hang them from fences. However, she finally understood those few who decided to fight bandits and drug dealers, the rich, water knives and militias, those people who chose not the easy, but the right path.

“The Water Knife” may not be very original, but it is a quite sensible thriller, not without philosophical overtones and ontological questions. And all the heroes of the book, already difficult, live, love, suffer, betray and sacrifice themselves against the backdrop of a sluggish apocalypse, which gives the story additional drama and significantly deepens the conflict. If this is not turborealism, then at least prose with its clearly expressed elements.

Bottom line: Despite its external attributes, “The Water Knife” does not quite fit into the canon of “novels about the end of the world.” The catastrophe here does not come to the fore, but remains in the background, the characters are too complex, the intrigue is too confusing, the second and third plans are written too carefully. Paolo Bacigalupi violates the main principle of commercial fiction: “Keep it simple, and people will be drawn to you.” And thank God: there is never enough cold, clean, sweet water for everyone.

Groovy

Paolo Bacigalupi's main book is still his first novel, The Windup Girl. This 2009 work brought the author the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, John Campbell Memorial Award, Compton Crook Memorial Award, Japan's Seiun Award - and the World of Fantasy magazine award in the international category Science Fiction of the Year. An impressive set of awards - let's see if Water Knife repeats this success.