Day 488, Quasi-Quarantine: "Parable Of The Sower" Documents A Dystopian Near-Present

"I mean, I love it. It's home. These are my people. But I hate it. It's like an island surrounded by sharks -- except that sharks don't bother you unless you go in the water. But our land sharks are on their way in. It's just a matter of how long it takes for them to get hungry enough."

A quick but difficult read, "Parable of the Sower" offers Octavia E. Butler's searing social commentary wrapped inside a hard shell of socioeconomic devastation and environmental degradation.

Eerily prescient in some respects, the novel depicts a near-apocalyptic society that hangs somewhere between mildly ordered and fully chaotic. Written in 1993, the book takes place in 2024, following the travails of Lauren, a hyperempathic "sharer" driven to create her own quasi-religion to fill the gaps of humanity.

"The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren't any other kind and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful that glint of water was through the trees." 

Butler's plain, utilitarian prose features abrupt directness that adds to horrifying and gut-wrenching descriptions. While the "Earthseed" conversations tend toward the preachy, the author strikes to find a balance between this religious structure and the world surrounding it.

Perhaps the book was always meant as a prequel, but the lack of a satisfying ending can be somewhat frustrating. However, "Parable of the Sower" is a worthy look at how society's many ills may eventually catch up to it.

"God is Power--

Infinite,

Irresistible,

Inexorable,

Indifferent,

And yet, God is Pliable--

Trickster,

Teacher,

Chaos,

Clay.

God exists to be shaped.

God is Change.

This is the literal truth."