Rob
Intense and brutal and hits way too close to home for comfort, which is, in part, the point. The near-future dystopia feels VERY near these days, and while technically this is speculative fiction, it's barely speculative and barely fiction. There's a little something extra to it beginning in 2024, the current year, but it was written in 1993 and obviously RL 2024 isn't where book 2024 is. But fast-forward 20 or 30 years, and maybe?
This is a tough read, and I don't know if I can say I "enjoyed" it, but it's certainly well-executed, believable, and upsetting. I've read a bunch of reviews trying to see not only what others thought but also whether I had missed key takeaways -- I don't think I did -- and I am struck by the things a lot of the negative reviews are complaining about. Some of then don't like "Earthseed," which is protagonist Lauren's invented religion based around change. I saw one person complaining that it was unbelievable because the police -- and the book starts in LA, so it would be the LAPD! -- are depicted as unhelpful and corrupt. A couple people didn't like the prose; people are entitled to their opinions, but I thought it was perfectly fine.
An early takeaway for me was preparing for impending disaster instead of pretending it won't happen, but Butler wrote this to envision the near-future based on the continuation of contemporary trends. So I think a better takeaway more accurate to her perspective is to effect change now to avoid this bleak future. I wish I were more optimistic about that.
Intense and brutal and hits way too close to home for comfort, which is, in part, the point. The near-future dystopia feels VERY near these days, and while technically this is speculative fiction, it's barely speculative and barely fiction. There's a little something extra to it beginning in 2024, the current year, but it was written in 1993 and obviously RL 2024 isn't where book 2024 is. But fast-forward 20 or 30 years, and maybe?
This is a tough read, and I don't know if I can say I "enjoyed" it, but it's certainly well-executed, believable, and upsetting. I've read a bunch of reviews trying to see not only what others thought but also whether I had missed key takeaways -- I don't think I did -- and I am struck by the things a lot of the negative reviews are complaining about. Some of then don't like "Earthseed," which is protagonist Lauren's invented religion based around change. I saw one person complaining that it was unbelievable because the police -- and the book starts in LA, so it would be the LAPD! -- are depicted as unhelpful and corrupt. A couple people didn't like the prose; people are entitled to their opinions, but I thought it was perfectly fine.
An early takeaway for me was preparing for impending disaster instead of pretending it won't happen, but Butler wrote this to envision the near-future based on the continuation of contemporary trends. So I think a better takeaway more accurate to her perspective is to effect change now to avoid this bleak future. I wish I were more optimistic about that.
Intense and brutal and hits way too close to home for comfort, which is, in part, the point. The near-future dystopia feels VERY near these days, and while technically this is speculative fiction, it's barely speculative and barely fiction. There's a little something extra to it beginning in 2024, the current year, but it was written in 1993 and obviously RL 2024 isn't where book 2024 is. But fast-forward 20 or 30 years, and maybe?
This is a tough read, and I don't know if I can say I "enjoyed" it, but it's certainly well-executed, believable, and upsetting. I've read a bunch of reviews trying to see not only what others thought but also whether I had missed key takeaways -- I don't think I did -- and I am struck by the things a lot of the negative reviews are complaining about. Some of then don't like "Earthseed," which is protagonist Lauren's invented religion based around change. I saw one person complaining that it was unbelievable because the police -- and the book starts in LA, so it would be the LAPD! -- are depicted as unhelpful and corrupt. A couple people didn't like the prose; people are entitled to their opinions, but I thought it was perfectly fine.
An early takeaway for me was preparing for impending disaster instead of pretending it won't happen, but Butler wrote this to envision the near-future based on the continuation of contemporary trends. So I think a better takeaway more accurate to her perspective is to effect change now to avoid this bleak future. I wish I were more optimistic about that.
Intense and brutal and hits way too close to home for comfort, which is, in part, the point. The near-future dystopia feels VERY near these days, and while technically this is speculative fiction, it's barely speculative and barely fiction. There's a little something extra to it beginning in 2024, the current year, but it was written in 1993 and obviously RL 2024 isn't where book 2024 is. But fast-forward 20 or 30 years, and maybe?
This is a tough read, and I don't know if I can say I "enjoyed" it, but it's certainly well-executed, believable, and upsetting. I've read a bunch of reviews trying to see not only what others thought but also whether I had missed key takeaways -- I don't think I did -- and I am struck by the things a lot of the negative reviews are complaining about. Some of then don't like "Earthseed," which is protagonist Lauren's invented religion based around change. I saw one person complaining that it was unbelievable because the police -- and the book starts in LA, so it would be the LAPD! -- are depicted as unhelpful and corrupt. A couple people didn't like the prose; people are entitled to their opinions, but I thought it was perfectly fine.
An early takeaway for me was preparing for impending disaster instead of pretending it won't happen, but Butler wrote this to envision the near-future based on the continuation of contemporary trends. So I think a better takeaway more accurate to her perspective is to effect change now to avoid this bleak future. I wish I were more optimistic about that.
I liked the broad outlines of this one, but I have a number of gripes. Most immediately, it's overwritten, in that "trying too hard" way some authors have of trying to be too clever in their prose. It takes me out of the story, but either it got better as it went on, or I stopped caring as much about it. Probably more importantly, it was too predictable by half, and I anticipated basically every major story beat.
I think the book is at its best in its first act or two, when everything is pleasantly unsettling and before more details are revealed. Although I could still predict where we were going, the horror — like all horror — is much more effective when exactly what's happening isn't spelled out for you.
I liked the broad outlines of this one, but I have a number of gripes. Most immediately, it's overwritten, in that "trying too hard" way some authors have of trying to be too clever in their prose. It takes me out of the story, but either it got better as it went on, or I stopped caring as much about it. Probably more importantly, it was too predictable by half, and I anticipated basically every major story beat.
I think the book is at its best in its first act or two, when everything is pleasantly unsettling and before more details are revealed. Although I could still predict where we were going, the horror — like all horror — is much more effective when exactly what's happening isn't spelled out for you.
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