Economic Crisis. Climate Change. Survival.
There is so much that goes into this book that aspects of it are just astonishing. From being immediately hooked to realizing (thanks to class discussions) how the unfortunate events taking place in this story, could be so true. Octavia Butler earned this bestseller. The creation of what she calls 'Earthseed' and the main tenants of this religion as well as how the main character basically come up with it and how it correlated - There's so much.
Background from the Story
I enjoyed how quickly I got some background information. The story is written in first person, so the young narrator was able to tell us what was going on and a little about her and her bloodline.
First, the world in 2024 is a mess. The economic, rapid decline that small communities consisting of a few houses have to build walls around their homes to feel safe. The walls were built to keep the extremely poor, addicts, and simply bad people out. There is a new drug introduced that causes people to go crazy and want to make fires or die in them. This drug learned to be nicknamed Pyro.
Vehicles were almost non-existent unless a big company had them and, even then, they were up-armored.
Public services, such as policemen or firefighters, had to be paid at the point of service, not making them reliable. The police before and throughout the book are not to be trusted, are bullies, and are slow at their jobs. By slow, I mean taking hours or days to respond to a 911 call.
The outside world for individuals on the other side of the walls was full of fear, fire, traveling, thieving, and much worse, unspeakable things. It was unsafe for all groups, regardless of age, gender, and race.
Summary
Now, the overall masterpiece that Butler wrote.
The main character, Lauren Olamina, is fifteen in 2024. Meaning, she was born in '09. Her world is chaotic from the get-go. What has managed to bring the world to walls and chaos is unknown. For her, she's known this type of hell for as long as she could remember.
Also, Lauren tells us about her gift. A beautiful and unfortunate gift. Hyper empathy syndrome is the ability to feel or understand another person's emotions and physical feelings. Lauren's powerful ability also goes into how she copes with it and the world around her.
Between 2024 and 2027, she has grown to realize the world around her is dangerous and the only way to make it through is to survive. Also, she started noticing her truths in the world. She kept a journal, which is one way how she tells us what is going on, as well as writing notes on these truths. She notices that these truths are her god. Change is her god. So, she develops what will later be known as Earthseed.
There are many highs and lows through these years in which she learns how to use a gun, falls in love, and deals with bad people, as well as the loss of her father. She creates a "go-bag" in case of emergencies. She deals with the continuing of classes in the walled community as this was the only way children learned was through literal home-schooling at a neighbor's house. As a scholar myself, this hurt my soul to read. Which is why I think I fell in love with the story.
July 31, 2027, is when hell breaks loose in her world. The addicts on that drug, Pyro, break in by driving a truck through the gate and start fires. The community starts running or defending and the Pyro-manic and friends start killing. Lauren managed to get her to go bag and escape.
In the aftermath the following day, she doesn't find her family and scavenges her own house where she finds other scavengers, squatters, and deceased from the victims of her community and thieves.
Back on streets outside the walls, she grew up, she meets two individuals from her community who managed to make it out, but not without trauma. From there, they decide to travel north together.
Over their travels, the other two are curious about what Lauren writes in her journal every night and she slowly shows them Earthseed verses, as well as telling them about her hyper empathy, what she and her friends call "sharing" eventually.
Through more series of events, the group becomes bigger, Earthseed is planted in a few of these new minds, and a small community of travelers is created. Though, not without more trauma and loss.
Within the small group, new love interests and relationships were established. By the time the group got to the location they decided to settle in, it was the end of September. Two months full of disaster, grief, loss, and survival tactics have brought Lauren to simply create Earthseed to establish the first community that would, hopefully, work towards a better future.
What I Found on Earthseed
It is a real religion. The idea of Earthseed is that god changes. There are three main tenants to this inspiring aspect that include:
God is Change.
Shape God.
The Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.
Through what I understand about the book and Earthseed itself, I believe these correlate with the vision and theology of what Lauren/Butler wanted in life, in general.
I found the idea of Earthseed being a real religion outside the book just exciting and slightly comforting. While I am not trying to convert anyone, I just can't let these ideals go unnoticed.
I think I also found this comforting in the amount of accomplishment and success this book brought both from a reader's and author's perspective. I hope to be as successful as this one day in my own books (among others I enjoy like Warriors by Erin Hunter when I was little or The Hunger Games or Witcher).
Final Thoughts
It's hard to believe that Butler wrote this story in 1993 and set the story starting in 2024. Next year. Exactly one year, six months, and a couple of days. It's freighting to see the difference is what Butler believed would be her future and an idea of something disastrous happening to get to a point in Lauren's story within 30 years of being published. Unfortunately, I see many aspects of Lauren's reality today and the following points all seem possible.
First, the mindset of having a go bag (it's what my family calls one). While our go bags are for less disastrous events, we still have items in our go bag that will help us. I have a form of a go bag in each of my vehicles that I change every season or month. While Lauren had a good idea, it was sad to see that her father didn't take her seriously or even the neighborhood had a rallying point if something happened. I saw the Olivar stronghold being privatized not surprising as I have seen something similar in our country today. As a renter, I've found several houses for rent owned by one company. It's like their own mini-HOA, though run by one company. It's heartbreaking these days but, in the story, it was a way for people to be safe. Finally, I enjoyed the idea of Lauren converting people to Earthseed and her reasons. The more she talked, the more people were willing to listen, and the arguers seemed to convert as well due to the understanding of why she created this god. I enjoyed the fact that she used more emotional appeals to "change is god" and didn't push anyone or shove her religion down people's throats as some see today. It was a nice change of pace in terms of religion. Also, after more research for my blog, I found that there is a religion called Earthseed, inspired by this series (yes, there's a second book, that's the next review). There is so much to say about this book and Lauren's ideas and actions in her life.
For You
My favorite verse throughout Earthseed in the book is from the beginning of chapter 5-
Belief
Initiates and guides action-
Or it does nothing.
I'm curious about other people's thoughts on this, not just from an Earthseed point but life in general. Or, if you are of Earthseed or have read the book, what is your favorite verse?
I cannot wait to read the next one.
Just a reminder, for other book recommendations, please go to "Book Reviews" and leave a comment!
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