Book Review: Parable of the Sower

Thirty-two years ago, Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower” provided a harrowing and bleak glimpse into the far-flung future of 2024: At war with itself, the fictional United States was grappling with the devastating effects of climate change, wealth inequality, and corporate apathy to rising rates of homelessness, drug abuse, and violence against the disenfranchised.

Today, it feels uncomfortably close to reality.

Throughout this book, the narrative condemns the oligarchical powers which fuel the division of working communities, but it does not absolve the angry and misguided actions of middle- and lower-class people who follow their example. Their unrest has been weaponized to perpetuate abuse against their peers and further erode civil society. Resources are hoarded, borders between states are strictly guarded, and indentured servitude makes a quiet but unsubtle resurgence. All the while, communities turn a blind eye to the suffering of their neighbors.

Once safely contained within the speculative fiction genre, this post-apocalyptic piece now looms as an ever-nearing threat. But it’s not without glimmers of hope and perseverance, as its main cast attempts to build a fortified community founded on empathy, socialist thought, and ecological harmony.