I will admit, I was intimidated and worried about reading any novel by Octavia Butler, but I wanted to give it a go because I love dystopian fiction, fantasy and novels that critique society and this novel hit all the spots. Besides, Ms. Butler is the WOMAN. I am so glad I read this novel.
This is the first book in the Earthseed duology series, which many have hailed as classic sci-fi. The story begins in the year 2024 (this novel was published in 1993 FYI) and revolves around the life and family of teenager Lauren Olamina and her family. They live in a gated community in the suburbs of what remains of Los Angeles and it is widely considered to be one of the safe areas of the city. The community is trying to salvage their society but it has been ravaged by drugs, homeless, violence, crime, theft, war, disease and water shortage (sound familiar?). Survival seems to get harder each day. Lauren has a condition called hyperempathy, which makes her really sensitive to the pain of others, often experiencing it as they experience it. It is told in the form of Lauren's diary entries, which I found to be really effective in conveying the story.
I really enjoyed the novel's themes of family, faith, hope, community but also human's capacity to inflict violence upon each other. Butler's prose is engaging and vivid, although the novel itself is hard to read, in the sense that what she writes about can be hard to digest. I loved meeting her characters and watching them develop throughout the novel. I definitely would recommend this novel and I hope to read Parable of the Talent at some point.
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