Dept. of Speculation

I sped through Jenny Offill's slender Dept. of Speculation quickly - I wish it had lasted longer, but it's 177 pages felt like a little treasure - one I'll surely return to many times.

The book felt utterly fresh and new, despite the timelessness of the story, the trajectory of youth, dating, marriage, children, near-divorce, etc.  Offill is very funny ("I found a book called Thriving Not Surviving in a box on the street. I stood there, flipping through it, unwilling to commit.") and insightful ("The undergrads get the suicide jokes, but the ones about divorce go right over their heads."). She does some really interesting things with POV - the book moves from first person to first person plural, then to third and then back to first person plural again (I think there might be a bit of second in there too).  Somehow she makes all these transitions very smooth - you might not even notice if you're not a POV Geek like I am.

Although Offill works through a number of interesting themes, one of the big ones that stuck out for me was the simple fact that maturity leads to greater understanding - sometimes it's devastating and sometimes it gives you the strength to make it through heartache.

I highly recommend this terrific little book - it was a real joy to read.

Parable of the Sower

I've been wanting to read more Octavia Butler ever since I picked up Fledgling in Seattle a few years ago.  For book club I recommended Parable of the Sower and everyone really loved it.  I didn't know much about it, except that it's apocalyptic and Butler is awesome so I didn't really care.  It was written in 1993 but takes place in 2024 after a series of disasters both environmental and medical.  The United States still exists, but there are very few working public services and basic necessities are very expensive.  Lauren, 18, lives on a compound with her family and some other families outside LA, but they are constantly under attack from people outside the walls.

Lauren's dad is a preacher, but she's been formulating her own religion and writing down how her belief system works.  She calls it Earthseed.  Apparently Butler meant to write a number of Earthseed books but died after the second one.  (Here's an interview with Butler on the subject.)  To tell the truth, the bits re: the religion were a bit much for my tastes.  Every chapter started with a poem or something from the book of Earthseed or whatever and halfway through I quit reading them.  They were so... earnest.

Eventually Lauren's compound is attacked and almost everyone is killed, so Lauren starts walking north (up the 101!) where things are rumored to be better.  Along the way she meets people and invited them to join her if they wish and tells them about her made-up religion and doesn't allow anyone to make fun of it.  Because it's reasonable and Lauren really has her shit together, many people are willing to join her.

Despite being so young, Lauren studied survivalism and is very savvy about negotiating the road and the journey.  You see her building a new community as she walks up the freeway - it's multicultural, diverse, spiritual and strong.

Oh yeah, Lauren is a "sharer", which means she can feel other people's emotions and pain.  This is largely a disadvantage in the dystopian future because if someone gets knocked in the head and she sees it, she feels like she's been clubbed in the head too.  It also makes her really enjoy sex because she feels her own pleasure and the pleasure of her partner.  Empowering sex was a big theme in Fledgling too.  Butler really had her finger on the pulse of popular fiction but brings such an intellectual spin to the stories.

If you have a Butler book to recommend, please let me know!