Octavia Butler is a big name in science fiction and I am embarrassed to say she wasn’t someone I had read, although it had always been my intention. I picked up Parable of the Sower. It’s a good read but I’m not sure I’m glad I did.
Now is really not the right time for me to be reading a book about a near future dystopia. I had to force myself to keep reading early on, not because I disliked the writing or the characters but because I had a hard time forcing myself through the story. But soon enough her well drawn characters, her world, pulled me in and I was there. It wasn’t a world I wanted to be in, particularly not now with so many of the parallels to what is happening in the real world but once I was there I wanted to know how things ended.
The writing is brilliant. The characters are interesting. And the world feels all to real. I would read other books by Butler after this one and can heartily say this is a good read even if it’s a tough one in today’s world.