Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler

"In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one
woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighbourhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind."

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it's a good dystopian novel. It speaks to the reality of religion as a socially unifying force, as a tool to necessitate movement and cohesion. It has a interesting group of characters and a plot that is interesting and moves at a good pace. It has the usual brutality of dystopian, rape, killing and arson being present on almost every page, but that is par for the course in the genre. I enjoyed my experience reading it. 

But unfortunately Butler's insights into religions aren't revolutionary. The rag tag group of survivors that meet on the road to form a found family it tried, tested and a little tired. The effects of the hyper empathy on Lauren are disappointingly little. Lauren, the narrator of the story, is painfully unemotional both in her actions and her narration style. I think this was possibly to show how quickly we become desensitised to violence in a survival situation. But that doesn't explain why Lauren was so unemotional in the beginning, surrounded by a community and loving family. I also didn't understand her attraction to the older man. I mean he was like 50 and she was a teenager. That just felt creepy and gross, sorry. 

I am confused about the choice of cover design. This cover doesn't make it obvious it is a dystopian set in the future. It also really over plays the race aspect which isn't a huge themes of the book, except some offhand mentions. 

Overall it was a good dystopian, but it didn't stand out to me. I obviously cant speak to it's impact or originality during its first publishing. However, now, it didn't have much new to offer me. 

Age Rating 18+. Brutal. Rape, arson, murder, drugs, cannibalism.