Parable of the Sower

In hopes of engaging in some literature, I went to my library not too long ago and actually only got one fiction book: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler.  Butler has a reputation for writing really thoughtful science fiction, but I hadn't read anything of hers.  Some of her books are even in part of my mother's huge sci-fi collection and I just never had a chance to touch any of it.  But I read the summary on the jacket cover in the library, and decided that this would be a good start for her work.

It's a great piece of first person.  The main character, Lauren Olamina, is writing in a journal, which is what the reader is experiencing.  The gaps in time actually work in the narrative's favor.  The style is not trying to hard to be a journal, which in some way I appreciate more.  Having a main character that is a good writer is actually a better idea than some other sophomoric attempts I have seen before (including my own in the past).

The general story is about how Lauren is growing up in an hostile United States that becomes more and more fractured over time.  Drugs and crime are rampant, and the only defense people have against violent drug abusers is to hide within communities.  Early on Lauren realizes her community is going to fall apart, she doesn't know when but she does decide to plan.  The first half of the book you're waiting for everything to fall apart merely because Lauren is convinced it will.  As things get worse and worse you keep on thinking it will be on the next page, and when it finally does happen you still kicked in the face with it, it still feels sudden.  Lauren's journey, and her ways to cope with a violent world along the old highways of the west coast, becomes even more enthralling, and the end is bittersweet and befitting for the dystopia Lauren has lived in.

I don't want to call this a review merely because I know I enjoyed a book when I actually finish it.  I'm really good at starting a book and never feeling compelled to pick it up again.  That was not a problem with Parable of the Sower.  I had to stop myself from reading it so that I could sleep.  What that really means is the pacing is excellent.  Pacing is key for my enjoyment of a story, and if it's not at the right equilibrium you've lost me.  Not so with this story.

I appreciate how thoughtful Butler is with characters, and her honest with how cruel humanity could be. Everyone wants a future like Star Trek, but to be honest it takes a long time and a lot of work and luck to get there.  As much as I hope Butler's world in this book is not the future, I appreciated how realistic government reactions and individual responses were.  Butler know people.

There is a sequel, Parable of the Talents, that I'm not as tempted to read.  The ending to Sower was so good and perfect in my head that I kind of don't want to touch it.  Maybe in the future I can be convinced of otherwise.

I love my library!

I finally got to my local library, and oh man isn't it a fantastic library.  The thing that has me most excited is the fact that it has a HUGE nonfiction section.  I couldn't stop grinning as the woman who gave me my card explained to me what I can check out and what was where in the library.

Audiovisual area is pretty big, and the fiction area had me accidentally meander into the Scifi area.  Deliciousness.  But the Nonfiction... yeah I think in 2 minutes I grabbed 2 books and then decided I couldn't continue at that rate and checked them out.

In hopes actually reading these books, I'm going to mention them here and you, my dear readers, should bug me to update you on what I thought.  Or not.  I can't really give you homework, but forcing me to read more books would be great!

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
One of those authors I'm told time and time again that I should read.  Considering the main character has a problem I think I could relate to, I'm interested to see what Butler does with hyperempathy as a built in character flaw.

The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition... Socialism by John Nichols
As a liberal and an economics major (a pairing that rarely goes hand in hand) I'm really interested to see a historical take on socialism in America.  More for the economics, though, because I want to see if there's any focus on unsuccessful ventures as well.

Beyond Boundaries by Miguel Nicolelis
I got it for the subtitle.  "The new neuroscience of connecting brains with machines--and how it will change our lives."  Basically the infant stages of a cyborg race.  Why not read about it before we become the borg?

Wish me luck reading!  I'm hoping I can finish these by the time the books are due.

Lathe of Heaven by Ursla K. LeGuin

My mother, from when she was a homemaker, has a huge collection of sci-fi books she read while raising me and my brother.  I've been meaning to dig into them more, and other than a couple Asmiov stories didn't read a lot of them.  Due to me being on the train a lot, I decided to pick up one on a whim, so I chose Lathe of Heaven.

First of all, I had yet to read a female sci-fi author, and it was really refreshing.  A lot of the old sci-fi is masculine in their story-telling devices and you can tell.  That doesn't mean that male writers are better or worse than female writers, there's just a notable difference.  To be honest, when I write fiction it's a bit more masculine because I've been inspired by a lot of male writers (Tennesse Williams is my favorite playwright, I consider Oscar Wilde a god amongst men) and I'm sure it shows.  But LeGuin is feminine in the way that show shows the characters to the reader.  She's not just fantastic at showing their emotional state in a way that doesn't get repetitive, but showing who they are by how they show themselves to the world, it's beautiful.  Her metaphors and adjectives are in a really good balance, something you don't really appreciate without looking back at it.  Also, trying to be an effective writer make you really appreciate the talent involved in maintaining that balance.

By now you all should know that I am a huge character motivation person, and the focus of three characters had a great flow, and each chapter had a great focus on them.  George was perceived by everyone, including himself, as a simple dumb man.  If you read the book, you realize he's ridiculously wise beyond his years, even beyond being human in some respects.  When he tries to get help with his condition--dreaming things into reality with horrific consequences--his doctor Haber uses the opportunity to change the world for "the better".  George hires lawyer Heather to help and the both stay ridiculously connected to each other, and as Heather sees how George changes the world she becomes invested in helping him for his sake.  The changing of perspective between the characters shows their evolution through the book in a compelling way.  Seeing who stays the same throughout the universe that is constantly changing in history, and who changes, is extremely important to understand the moral problem of playing God.

LeGuin in many ways was ahead of her time.  In 1971 she wrote about interracial relationships with honesty, she wrote about peoples emotions in a way that many wanna-be authors wish to imitate today, and her take on George's unintended "solutions" were honest about humanity's flaws.  Sure she wasn't changing the literary world, but she was helping it progress.  I wish I could see the world through her eyes, because it must be truly inspiring.

The world she builds shows how sci-fi can be like a fantasy world without going all "elf-dwarf-orc" on you.  George's changes bring about some extremely bizarre things, that are fantastic to visualize in your head.  It was one of those books I did want to see a movie version, but I'm scared that the producers would not get the point of half of the decisions LeGuin made and why they are important.  Well, apparently two movies already exist, but I think I'm going to avoid them.  I'm always afraid of how directors and producers manipulate the text.

If you like sci-fi books with heavy questions and fantastic situations, I suggest picking up Lathe of Heaven.  And I will have to pick up another LeGuin book off my mother's bookshelf.

World War Z: Need to Read Nerd Book.

World War Z by Max Brooks is the scariest book I have ever read.  It's not because of zombies being scary in general, it not because of violence, and it's not because it brings something new and exciting to an old monster.  It's because it's a scarily accurate prediction of what were to happen if the zombie apocalypse were to happen.

Brooks essentially takes the world the way it is now and figures out what would happen culturally, politically, psychologically and even geographically with a zombie attack.  The infection starts in China, and over time spread across the entire globe.  There's no explanation as to why the infection starts, nor why it works the way it does.  But it is devastating, partly due to people acting the way people do.

I have to applaud the future world that Brooks creates, and the knowledge of the rest of the world necessary to paint such a perfect picture.

It is structured as interviews taken after the declared success of World War Z.  Each person interview talks about a piece of the experience from different parts of the world.  It's perfect for a zombie apocalypse book since it's the entire world that's affected.  You hear about regular family experiences, military forces, people in special positions.

It is gruesomely true to humanity--all of its strengths and flaws.  The strengths help us actually see the ending of the book, but the flaws help show how gruesome and scarily truthful civilization falls due to the situation.    And that is why this book is scary.  It's extremely truthful.  As a reader, you can see where Brooks gets it right.  It makes you hope that zombies don't happen, because it'll bring out the worst of people, a side you don't want to see.

The political predictions are accurate as well, and makes you see the current world differently.  The split in China, the newly formed Holy Russian Empire,  USA pushing the war effort, and the eeriest thing is what happens to North Korea... but I don't want to spoil it.

If you want a sneak peak of the book, listen to this reading of a chapter by Mark Hamill, about the Battle of Yonkers.  I suggest people read it.  It is enjoyable, and it's the kind of scary where you can still sleep at night (even if you think zombies do exist).  I think it'll be a nerd read necessity soon, added to every geek library.

An Injustice to great literature

There are so many things I have listed in my head to talk about, but I was so outraged by this discovery that I had to share it with you guys.

The cover for Dante's Inferno the novel come later this month:

Just look at that monstrosity!  The video game is nothing like the book, has nothing to do with the plot of the book, and still we're going to do this?  REALLY?

This EA/Randomhouse deal will include game art in a 16 page insert and an intro from the executive producer of the game.

How unnecessary can something be?  Apparently not much more than this.

I don't necessarily have a problem with EA making the game in the first place.  The mythos created by Dante's Inferno has been affecting the Christian world for a long time, and still captivating us.  But putting the main character of the game on the cover of the epic poem that deals with no pwnage?  It's horrible false advertising that probably won't work anyway.

As much as they say don't judge a book by its cover, it's inevitably something that an avid reader will do.  And judging this cover, I am NOT reading this.  Too bad I would be missing out on some fantastic literature otherwise.

Wait, they're making what a movie?

They're going to make Neuromancer into a movie?  And I didn't know?!?!?!

I LOVE that book and I didn't even finish it.  High school homework and activities got in the way of leisurely reading.  But the Gibson is a fantastic writer and I think everyone should read something of his, especially considering he is the father of the cyber punk genre.  That's right, without Gibson, there would be no Tron!  Or anything close to the awesome hacker stories... that don't happen enough.

The movie doesn't come out until 2011, and for once I will go out of my way to read the book to see if the movie is a good translation.  I just love Neuromancer that much.

Also, clicking that link shows off some great artwork for the movies.