Mike, I'm intrigued by your interesting side point. I've read PARABLE OF THE
SOWER three times now (trying to figure out what other readers have liked
about the novel--but that's another story). In the text there is nothing, as
far as I can see, to indicate Lauren is anything but a reliable narrator: she
says she has hyperempathy; she *has* hyperempathy (the ability to feel
others' physical sensations--not just pain). At what point do we disbelieve
what is written and believe instead the author? At what point and to what
extent should the text stand on its own?
I don't know if Butler does or does not want us to see Earthseed as "right."
Lauren's religion is one of my (many) problems with the book: we see,
beautifully articulated, the beginnings of Lauren's philosophy (and I think
it is a philosophy to begin with, rather than religion); we understand how
she gets from A to B, and then, phhtt, she's suddenly thinks humankind's
future is among the stars. She makes a leap of faith that I can't follow--a
leap of faith that's not prefigured or explained or believable. At least I
didn't find it so.
Perhaps I'm simply misreading the text. If anyone has any pointers I'd be
happy to hear them. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested I can post or email a
review I wrote for the _New York Review of SF_ when the novel first came out.
And Mike: I read RANDOM ACTS OF SENSELESS VIOLENCE and thought it was a
terrific novel. Heartbreaking.
Nicola
Nicola Griffith
http://www.america.net/~daves/ng/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:05:58 PDT