Parable of the Sower (Parable, 1)

Butler masterfully lays out a realistic portrait of an America racked by climate change and austerity. The collapse of government infrastructure, privatization of utilities, and the loss of monopoly of force brings about a status of deurbanization. Cities collapse and fortified communities form. From there larger entities and conglomerates become the primary unit, much like the rise of the vassals in the medieval period. Company towns rise as the dominant economic entity. This is the world our narrator finds herself in as she deals with loss and adversity. Only by observing what she sees as universal truths and forming her own religion does she survive.

The book is in a society that has everything going wrong with it including drugs, rape, slavery to enviormental tradgies. it really makes you think about religion and community.

A very heavy read. Octavia Butler launches the reader into the America of the future. The story is set in southern California during the years 2024 through 2027 where, through the journal entries of Lauren Olimina, we learn of the savage and degenerative state of the nation. A nation where the ability to feel the pain of others is a disease that could lead to death; where communities and neighborhoods are walled off for protection from the less fortunate. Violence is rampant. Citizens are armed to capacity. Fear permeates your every thought and action. "Parable of the Sower" is an engaging read on so many levels. The narrative is highly symbolic and open. The story is framed in the biblical tradition yet it calls to question our notions of God and religion as they relate to the survival of the individual spirit and community. Although futuristic in setting, the story renders an immediacy that was at times uncomfortable for me to fully digest. In the year of 2003, 2025 doesn't seem that far off. Although I found the prose clear and concise, I wasn't able to devour the book with the eager anticipation that I would typically apply to a novel as well developed as this one. I didn't understand this self-imposed resistance to surrendering myself completely to the story. It became clear to me midway through the text that - unlike most really great novels that I've read - with "Parable of the Sower", I didn't necessarily want to know what would happen next. The unfolding of the story generated more angst in me than curiosity. On a subconscious level, had I slipped into a comfortable denial of what could occur to a people who have been failed by their religion, their governments, family, neighbors, and friends. As America stands at the ready for war with Iraq, had the future of the nation as imagined by Butler become too close to reality? Any novel that causes this type of internal reflection deserves wide spread readership. Published originally in 1993, "Parable of the Sower" spans the past, present and future as it depicts a nation that has lost its connection to everything. This is my first read by this award-winning author. I have a lot of catching up to do. Highly Recommended!