New York : Warner Books, 2017, [2000]
345 p. ; 21 cm.
I was pretty excited to learn that the creative duo who brought Octavia Butler's Kindred out as a best-selling graphic novel has published another graphic novel adaptation of a work by Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower. But before reading the graphic novel, I wanted to read Butler's original novel.
I'm so pleased that Butler's work is experiencing a renaissance of late. Her work is powerfully imaginative and touches on so many relevant themes: racism, injustice, violence, social upheaval, displacement, and compassion. Additionally, her stories are exciting and her writing engaging. Parable of the Sower is no exception. Set in California in the future (2025) there is a lot that is familiar - technological achievements, drug addiction, police corruption, gated communities, poverty, climate disruption, corporate greed, crime and violence - but the negatives are ramped-up to the extreme. Civic institutions - police, fire, and civic institutions - have become worthless, corrupt, and sometimes dangerous, while violent individuals and bands of criminals wreak havoc on small communities that seek to protect themselves with walls and guns. Out of this maelstrom a small band of refugees looks to create a new society, led by the protagonist of the novel, a young 18 year old woman. She is a mystical figure who wants to start a new religion, Earthseed.
Parable of the Sower reminded me a bit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road which was written long after Butler's novel, but shares some of the same disturbing views of the savagery of human nature.
I'll be interested to see how the the graphic novel version of this is. Our library has it and it has been getting excellent reviews.
If I find a student who is interested in afro-futurism or dystopian fiction, this is a book I'll definitely recommend.
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