The Next Big Thing?
Have you been wondering what to read now that the hype of The Hunger Games is falling? Try this AMAZING novel, PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia E. Butler.
If you’re like me, the wake of the Hunger Games craze has left you feeling a bit… listless. If you loved Hunger Games and want more Dystopia, if you thought that maybe Hunger Games wasn’t deep enough, wasn’t political enough to get your blood working or you simply like to read books about young women who are stronger than Bella stinkin’ Swan, this book is for you!
Parable of the Sower (novel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler wrote one of my favorite novels back in the 90’s. It took place in the 2020s and reflected much of the early 2000s. It is book one in an unfinished triology. Octavia E. Butler died while writing the third book, Parable of the Trickster, but this is book one in a fantastic bi-ology? What do you call a two book series? Anyway, I digress.
The US is BROKE. Global Warming has lead the nation into a future where water is scarce. Chaos has broken out all over the world and somewhere, in a small suburb of LA, a gated community lead by a college professor and baptist minister, is a young girl discovering that she sees the world very differently than those around her. Lauren Olamina is a hyper empath, meaning she can literally feel the pain (and pleasure) of other people and even animals. This is the ultimate weakness in a world where some people, users of a specific drug, are sexually turned on by fire. Arson is the graffiti of the future.
If the Hunger Games was not political enough, if you wondered just how in the hell kids missed the race of Rue and Thresh or if you want to see a strong protagonist, Parable of the Sower is it. If you thought Hunger Games was scary, if you thought kids killing kids in a game of fight to the death was the darkest possible future, you HAVE to read Parable of the Sower. Period.
Lauren discovers that she doesn’t see the world the same way her parents do. She doesn’t believe in their god. She believes that the future of human kind lies in being able to manipulate our own evolution so that we can seek out other planets and populate them. There are some brilliant, inspiring and moving quotes from her belief system. As an atheist, I find her quotes about life and spirituality to be far more moving than the texts of typical religions.
So far, Parable of the Sower will not be made into a movie. Which sucks. It would be an AMAZING movie. Sadly, if anybody does buy the rights to it, Octavia E. Butler will not have the chance to see it. She passed away a few years ago. She passed away around the same time as Kurt Vonnegut and I think I was sadder that week than any other.
“All struggles are essentially power struggles. Who will rule? Who will lead? Who will define, refine, confine, design? Who will dominate? All struggles are essentially power struggles,and most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together.”
-Octavia E. Butler
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Don’t waste your money!
Parable of the Sower, written well before the Hunger Games and far superior (even though I like Hunger Games) will never be made into a movie because Octavia Butler’s (who was African American) main characters are black. And Hollywood is loathed to center SiFi stories around black people. This is a fact. Ask a producer. They’ve incorporated more characters of color in on screen SiFi stories over the past 20 years or so (probably thanks to a Brother from Another Planet) but it’s still a long ways to go before they’ll trust that people (meaning white people) will turn out to see a black protagonist in SiFi – (and they believe black people don’t watch SiFi) again, ask a producer. They will tell you that. And who knows, after the ridiculous racist blow-back from the character of Rue in the Hunger Games being cast with a dark skinned (bi-racial) actress (as described in the book) maybe they are right. Parable is an amazing story though.