My senior year of college, I took a seminar that focused on African American women authors. One of the books I was required to read was Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Since then, I’ve recommended it to anyone and everyone, including my husband, who basically doesn’t do fiction at all.
So, what was so great about it?
To start, it’s dystopian, which is always fun, when done the right way. Stemming from that, it’s the most realistic dystopian I’ve ever read. There’s no mind-control, no robots controlling the world, and no social experiments gone awry. Instead, there’s just humanity, shown through the eyes of Lauren Olamina at both its best and worst. I also loved that this book is a snapshot of the 2020s as told from a 1993 perspective.
Lauren is everything you could hope for in a main character. She’s strong, brilliant, caring, resourceful, flawed, and, most importantly, an empath. When tragedy strikes her small, enclosed neighborhood, she is forced to flee her home and take up with a motley bunch of refugees on a trek through crime-ravaged California in search of safety. This book isn’t for the faint of heart, both due to some graphic content and disturbing themes, but if you’re looking for a solid, thought-provoking read, definitely check this one out.
Author of all things fantasy 