La parábola del sembrador

El libro me ha enganchado, está muy bien escrito y plantea un futuro distópico interesante, producido por el cambio climático. Es sorprendente que se publicase a principios de los 90, porque es muy clarividente. Mi pero es porque la autora quiere que comulguemos con la parte espiritual, con la religion new age que plantea en el libro. He de reconocer que eso me ha sacado bastante de la lectura. Lo que sí que tengo claro es que leeré el siguiente y que seguro que lamento que la autora no pudiese escribir el final de la trilogía.

It's certainly not a fun book, but it's extremely engaging, despite the bleakness of the slow-apocalypse setting and story.

What makes this apocalypse so horrifying, and the story so engaging, is how matter-of-fact Lauren is in describing everything in her diary. It's the world she grew up in, so it's normal to her, though she can see clearly even at 14 that it's unsustainable. There's a sharp generational divide between those who remember what things were like before, but all that is just history to her.

Lauren's present is hopeless and brutal, but her diary doesn't linger on the ever-present brutality like a horror novel would. She acknowledges it, of course, but she's focused on how to survive it so she can build something better.

The setting resonates so well today in part because the societal fears of the 1980s that Butler was extrapolating from are the same fears that have been re-stoked to create our modern political moment, and the problems she focused on remain unsolved. (I go into a bit more literary analysis on my website if you're interested in that sort of thing.)

This is such a strong story and great storytelling. I frequently found myself inspired by it to reflect on how we as individuals and communities may cope with our world. Can wholeheartedly recommend! #FediBooks #Solarpunk

On a second read, I feel a lot differently than I did the first time around. I can't separate uncomfortable feelings of reading about a teenager basically starting a cult and attracting people who are at their absolute most vulnerable to join. It doesn't sit well with me to read about Lauren's glee to "raise babies in Earthseed." And the intense, intense, dehumanization and otherizing of people using drugs, making them into physically unrecognizable monsters, is something I can't get past. If Lauren has hyper-empathy, and is more sensitive to people in need of help, then why does the buck stop with people using drugs?