Wow. I started this for our online book club but didn't finish in time to discuss (thanks, work). I really need to stop reading dystopian fiction during US election months. I read "The Handmaid's Tale" for the first time in October-November 2016 as 45 was voted in. And now I read "The Parable of the Sower", which takes place in the far-distant years of 2025-27 in a United States that is breaking down and what we consider basic utilities and services are luxuries that only the very rich can afford, and company towns are enjoying a renaissance as they can gain indentured slaves for cheap, as there is no other work available. I found the glimpses of a very possible future chilling. Octavia Butler not only did her research and crafted a believable future world, she populated it with believable, if fairly thin, characters. We don't get to know many outside of our protagonist in any great depth - all observations and motivations are filtered through our protagonist's eyes.

We follow her as she sees the harsh realities of her world at the tender age of 16, loses one of her brothers, and ultimately loses her home and family and sets out on the highway north to find a place to preach her own newfound gospel, "Earthseed", and people who she can trust to work with her rather than just rob her blind and leave her in a ditch. We see glimpses of the best of humanity, but mostly its worst excesses of drugs, sex, and violence. It is a difficult book but well worth the read. "God is change", and there is definitely some truth to that from a certain point of view. I will be reading the second book in the duology because I want to read more of Ms. Butler's work. Highly recommended.