Novel by Octavia Butler
Reactions: Horrified, Hopeful

This book is a sequel to Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sowers. And let me be very clear, despite the beautifully elegant and simple narrative style, each of these books is emotionally devastating to read.

Butler wrote them in 1993 and 1998 – during the Clinton years. And yet, she somehow eerily predicted so much of our current slide into fascism today. In fact, the two books are set in the years 2025-2032 (with a jump ahead to 2090 at the very end). You may have heard the author’s name mentioned in the last few months because of the fascist president who gets elected at the beginning of the second book and promises to “Make America great again!” How could she have known?!

Set in a landscape of the societal and political collapse of the United States, the story explores themes of survival, community, and faith. In each book, survival starts out as a form of status quo in an otherwise shitty hellscape of California. And then the concept of survival shifts meaning as calamity takes place in the middle of each book. Trigger warning: The depictions of torture and slavery in the second book were so graphic that I had to step away from it for a few hours, take a hot bath, drink some wine, and center myself.

I’m glad I read these books, despite the trauma contained within them, because they opened my eyes to just how bad things could get in the United States today and in the future as our country leans further and further toward fascism and hatred. I mean fuck, if Butler predicted climate collapse, religious domination of politics, and a MAGA president back in 1988, how can any sane reader not prepare for the other horrific elements contained within the narrative?

I haven’t said much about the “religion” that the main character creates and proselytizes and I won’t. It’s a core feature of the storytelling, but as a born and raised atheist, I just didn’t connect with the faith aspect. Quite frankly, I didn’t need to in order to enjoy the books and take away a ton of very important lessons.