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A review by mrfroggy
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
I think this was exactly what i was looking for from speculative "apocalyptic" fiction, from the complex perspectives from those most marginalized, the interactions and relationships developed with traumatized people, to the plausible "transition" of the end times in the everyday. While the worldbuilding itself had a lot of disconnects that made it hard to comprehend, like the maintenance of passenger planes, supply chains to walled neighborhoods, and cash currency combined with constant terrorism and slave factories. There were also other aspects of the novel's politics like "redeeming" the US and the absolutist moral positioning of crime and drug addiction that was more a reflection the author's own views than the characters in the story, I think.
It was really cool seeing how each of the chracters' beliefs developed throughout the story and how their actions were so realistic and believable as relationships deepened and the world around them changed. Though the writing itself is simple and easy to read, the ideas of needing a community (built around empathy and shared beliefs) to survive in a world where the most marginalized rarely survive to middle age are well argued and constructed throughout the plot, without ever making me feel like I was slogging through a political thesis (like with Babel). I was engaged the entire time I was reading, eager to know what would happen next despite (and partly bc of) the horrific brutality the characters experienced.
The religious aspects of the story and the gendered self awareness of our narrator really sets this book apart and pulled at my discomfort as it reminded me of the inevitablity of navigating existing structures of power and understanding at the end of the world. They were handled very well, if in a way I would never agree with.
Ive been looking for community survival centered apocalypse fiction where the adventuring party has children and disabled people at its core, and this is exactly what I needed to find.....
It was really cool seeing how each of the chracters' beliefs developed throughout the story and how their actions were so realistic and believable as relationships deepened and the world around them changed. Though the writing itself is simple and easy to read, the ideas of needing a community (built around empathy and shared beliefs) to survive in a world where the most marginalized rarely survive to middle age are well argued and constructed throughout the plot, without ever making me feel like I was slogging through a political thesis (like with Babel). I was engaged the entire time I was reading, eager to know what would happen next despite (and partly bc of) the horrific brutality the characters experienced.
The religious aspects of the story and the gendered self awareness of our narrator really sets this book apart and pulled at my discomfort as it reminded me of the inevitablity of navigating existing structures of power and understanding at the end of the world. They were handled very well, if in a way I would never agree with.
Ive been looking for community survival centered apocalypse fiction where the adventuring party has children and disabled people at its core, and this is exactly what I needed to find.....