Paperback, 414 pages
German language
Published Aug. 8, 1999 by Heyne.
Kalifornien im Jahre 2025. Durch Psychodrogen aufgeputschte, marodierende Banden terrorisieren das Land: die meisten Menschen haben sich längst in kleine, nach außen abgeschottete Gemeinschaften zurückgezogen. Lauren Olamina, eine junge schwarze Frau, macht sich auf die gefährliche Reise nach Norden entlang der Küste. Durch eine Erbkrankheit verfügt sie über die Gabe der Empathie: sie kann den Schmerz anderer Menschen spüren - und sie ermöglicht es ihr, jene unscheinbaren Veränderungen in der Gesellschaft zu erkennen, die vielleicht zu einer neuen Form menschlicher Zivilisation führen werden. (Klappentext)
Parable of the Sower was published in 1993, and takes place in 2024. The dystopian world Butler paints in this book is so close to our current reality it’s eerie .
I read this in April and have been thinking about it often since then. It helped me predict the outcome of the US elections and understand a lot of what goes on politically around the world.
The novel has its flaws but it does two things really well: show how people tend to react in the face of fundamental change such as climate change (mostly by denial and hoping for a return of the good old times) and drive home the point that there is no neutral ground in a burning world. I also found the reflections about change very compelling and think that if people followed them, i.e. accepted and shaped change, we would probably all be better off. The two main flaws of the book for me were the relentless grimness which I couldn't take quite seriously all the time - less would have been more in this …
I read this in April and have been thinking about it often since then. It helped me predict the outcome of the US elections and understand a lot of what goes on politically around the world.
The novel has its flaws but it does two things really well: show how people tend to react in the face of fundamental change such as climate change (mostly by denial and hoping for a return of the good old times) and drive home the point that there is no neutral ground in a burning world. I also found the reflections about change very compelling and think that if people followed them, i.e. accepted and shaped change, we would probably all be better off. The two main flaws of the book for me were the relentless grimness which I couldn't take quite seriously all the time - less would have been more in this case - and the depiction of drug users and the consequences of drug use. Those reminded me of those over the top "say no to drugs" cartoons of my childhood. Fitting because the book was written roughly at the same time. I'm wary of recommending this book because it's so grim and comes with all the content warnings but you should probably read it.
Hace tiempo que leí Xenogénesis, pero de lo poco que recordaba de ella era cómo la autora nos conducía, de la mano de un punto de vista, a la comprensión de fenómenos totalmente ajenos.
Aquí no es precisamente la ajenidad lo que nos atañe, sino un posible futuro nada impensable. Pero nuevamente, el punto de vista de la protagonista nos lleva de la mano y nos explica un futuro casi apocalíptico, con desgracias y miseria constantes, pero siempre, siempre, con esperanza.
Me deja un poco frío la idea de religión como sustituto del resto de las instituciones sociales en un tiempo apocalíptico, y no acabo de ver qué papel juega la hiperempatía en todo esto, si es mero atrezzo o un elemento verdaderamene importante. Lo veremos en el volumen dos.
Desde luego es un terreno de juego completamente diferente del de Xenogénesis.
