From the Bookshelf of SpecFic Buddy Reads…

Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)

Octavia E. Butler

Start date: October 1, 2021

Finish date: October 31, 2021

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Justine

Why we're reading this: Group Read SF - October 2021
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What Members Thought

Oct 07, 2021 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-read

4.5 stars

Completely raw and engrossing picture of life in a near future America that seems all to possible. The nearness to reality is what makes this story of displacement and survival so chilling, yet ultimately hopeful.

Disaster uproots Lauren Olamina from a relatively safe life, that, while mostly free of luxury, provided food, shelter, and a kind of precarious security. She takes to the road, gathering companions along the way, bonding together as they face horror and hardship while seeking ...more

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Mar 13, 2020 Alexis rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-dystopia

I was perfectly comfortable sinking into this book, although at least part of that is because some aspects of the story now regularly appear in dystopian fiction.

Lauren Olamina lives in a society coming apart at the seams. Climate change has devastated the economy of the U.S.; the government is a barely there entity in the face of constant violence, theft and rape; basic social services might not even exist (if a building catches fire, calling the fire department is a serious question, because w I was perfectly comfortable sinking into this book, although at least part of that is because some aspects of the story now regularly appear in dystopian fiction.

Lauren Olamina lives in a society coming apart at the seams. Climate change has devastated the economy of the U.S.; the government is a barely there entity in the face of constant violence, theft and rape; basic social services might not even exist (if a building catches fire, calling the fire department is a serious question, because what if you can’t afford the fee?) or, in the case of the police, are more likely to make things worse.

The only remaining bits of civilization are inside walled off communities (if you’ve read the Terry Brooks Shannara prequels, you kind of get the vibe), where people just scrape enough to live and rarely venture outside, for fear of the pandemic of violence and squalor that exists just outside their walls. Added to that, corporate interests have started to recruit workers for their own walled factory towns, under conditions that will pretty obviously become exploitive, but that desperate and frightened people still grasp for.

The cost of survival is familiar literary territory for Butler, and she leans on it hard here. Unlike Xenogenesis, where those questions are largely psychological as the main character wrestles with dooming her species to a future as hybrids, survival in this case is much more literal.

Lauren is a sharer, and feels every bit of pain she sees others feel, including pain that she causes. This, understandably, makes defending herself a problem. Lauren is forced into positions where she has to hurt or even kill, knowing that it will cause her debilitating pain. Despite that, she doesn’t hesitate.

Like in Dawn, Butler raises the question, how much can we change in order to survive? Butler sets up change as the most fundamental driver of the world, and Lauren’s manifesto revolves around accepting, shaping and generally not fighting the change needed to survive and thrive.

Butler’s social commentary is on point (and a little scary because the remains of our world are all too visible in hers). You see the increasing schism of class divisions and the rise of a sort of neo-feudalism/debt slavery that would just be so much fun to pick apart in a book club. You see race tensions and communities turn inward as “us versus them” becomes the dominant philosophy. You also see Butler examine the role of religion in underpinning society--again, so much to pick apart.

What I didn’t like:
As much as I thought the concept of sharers fit Butler’s message, there were times I just completely forgot about it, and it was a little jarring when it suddenly came back into play.
The back end of the book also erred towards episodic as Lauren picks up a cast of misfits on her travels.
All in all, the book felt like set up for what comes next, so I’m excited to pick up Parable of the Talents. It did not, however, blow me the away like some of Butler’s work. ...more

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