My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Once again, I find myself being drawn to bleak speculative fiction and books don't get much bleaker than this. I've heard it compared to George Orwell's 1984 and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and truly this is one of the great modern classics of dystopian fiction that feels a little too prophetic for comfort.
Set in 2024 Southern California, America is right on the edge of societal collapse. Rule of law is virtually non-existent, politicians promise to restore the country's greatness, but everyone is let to fend for themselves. Living in the middle of this is Lauren Olamina, a teenage girl born with hyperempathy, the ability to feel another person's pain. As the world and her walled-off community continue to crumble, Lauren rejects the religion her father and begins to develop one of her own based on the central idea that God is change. When her walls are breached, Lauren and her followers must trek across the broken landscape of California to find a new home.
This is an incredibly bleak novel. Nothing and no one ever stay safe for long and people are hurt or killed in horrible ways. The fact that our main character can feel that pain makes it worse. But what is so striking about this book is how it eerily parallels the future. The politician promising to restore America's greatness sounds an awful lot like Pres. Trump on the stump. And the main cause of societal breakdown, climate change, is unfolding itself before our eyes in many places around the world. And the fact that Ms. Butler wrote this book back in 1993 is all the more striking.
Though this book could be read swiftly, you really should take your time. Ms. Butler writes very compellingly anther descriptions of how to navigate a post-apocalyptic landscape are incredible.
This is truly a gripping read and one that fans of post apocalyptic novels like Cormac McCarthy's The Road should not miss.
No comments:
Post a Comment