Grand Central Publishing Parable of the Sower

Very U.S.A. The book is based on the premise that the world as we know it will inevitably end soon, and so we should all prepare, which means get lots of guns and ammo. If you're into that sort of thing then it's a jolly good romp. If you're not then it's really boring.

If you have a pageant for optimism, this is not the book for you. What Octavia E. Butler does achieve is a rich roster of well fleshed out characters in harrowing circumstances and stories that address issues of race, religion and sexuality, embedded within what essentially a 'survivalist' story with guns.

so far so good!

One of the best post-apocalyptic books ever written. My copy is falling apart - this one was a gift for a friend.

Post-apocalyptic literary scenarios have been a dime a dozen since well before  Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , and these days it takes something quite remarkable - like Cormack McCarthy's sublime  The Road  - to raise even a flicker of interest in this genre from all but the dullest sci-fi fanboy. Octavia Butler's essay on the same theme is now getting on for 20 years old, and stands up well - indeed, it so closely anticipates McCarthy's novel that you have to wonder whether he was aware of it. That is not to suggest plagiarism, however, for the similarities are general indeed: an un-described catastrophe has caused the total breakdown of society and forced a family unit on the road, where they fend for themselves against allcomers in vain hope of a promised land.While Butler employs a couple of nice devices - the  P.K.Dick -eque hyperempathy condition is a neat literary device - much better in fact than the hokey "Earthseed" concept which gets unwarranted prominence in the story - but Butler doesn't do nearly enough with it to make it worthwhile. In other aspects, the novel is a little flat. There's not a much in the way of a plot arc - it's more linear: things sort of episodically muddle along to a fairly uninvolving conclusion - and nor do the characters get well fleshed out or developed. Like her protagonist Lauren, Butler throws quite a lot of "seed" about which then appears to fall on stony ground: Lauren's father disappears, presumed dead but unresolved - to no effect. Likewise, Lauren's original sweetheart is introduced, developed, and disposed with for no discernible plot-functional reason.My hunch is that Butler was more interested in developing a quasi-religion than writing a science fiction novel, yet 20 years later, the post-apocalyptic road story is the only part that really holds up. But, all the same, it pales in comparison with Cormack McCarthy's bleaker, more eloquent visualisation, and ultimately I couldn't recommend this novel over, or even really as a complement to, The Road.Olly Buxton Mad Max Beyond ThunderdomeThe RoadP.K.Dick