Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
by Octavia E. Butler
Kind of ate my brain. Couldn't put it down. There's so much interesting stuff going on in this book, so I'm not going to try to cover it all. Just a couple things I was thinking about:
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Obvious comparison between the Paints and present-day anarchists. How much destruction is enough destruction? Why does their 'struggle' always end up hurting the poor and the "middle class" (perceived or real) worse than the rich? While there are still living humans on the earth I'm not sure there's a bottom to hit, and at some point you need to either decide to start building (and it's never going to be a utopia) or perish. Change is God. You know.
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Getting to the stars is a goal to have, but it's not a value-neutral or clearly only good/constructive goal. We'll do the same things to other planets that we've done to the Earth, and we'll do the same things to one another on other planets that we have done to one another on Earth. I guess there are a lot of bits in Earthseed that need further development and this is just one. I know there's at least one other book....
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I didn't realize until I turned the last page that Butler died in 2006. I thought she was still alive. :C