#BannedBookSkyClub discussion of #ParableOfTheSower by Octavia E. Butler. #BookSky How did Butler's writing style support the narrative? Was the prose engaging? Explain. - ThreadSky

retired-librarian.bsky.social • 80 days ago

#BannedBookSkyClub discussion of #ParableOfTheSower by Octavia E. Butler. #BookSky

How did Butler's writing style support the narrative? Was the prose engaging? Explain.

Comments

listenbannedbooks.bsky.social•80 days ago

I found her writing style so engaging that I wanted to quit the book at times because the suffering of the characters hurt me so much. Telling a story is easy enough, but telling it in a way that the reader hurts along with the characters is not; it was almost like Butler made me a sharer too.

mayasc1000.bsky.social•80 days ago

It was the first book I ever read that really made me understand learned helplessness at a gut level

mayasc1000.bsky.social•80 days ago

It has been some years since I read it, but I remember the style being almost contemplative, and so much of the really important things in the book happened inside the main character's head - Lauren's feeling what others feel, her conviction of what needed to happen in the world.

retired-librarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

Her writing engaged me from the start and kept me interested until the end.

mayasc1000.bsky.social•80 days ago

She was a true master of her craft

aliz1.bsky.social•80 days ago

Ditto ! I was anticipating what would happen next
Fully engaged here

aliz1.bsky.social•80 days ago

Oh man ! Homework !?! And you want us to think !?!
😂😂😂
I will. Right now I’m just happy to have read ( listened to ) the book
🤗🤗😉

ashakhaladkar.bsky.social•79 days ago

I found it very vivid and accessible. The diary structure made it easy to picture Lauren writing each time they set up camp. It lent immediacy to the narrative but also allowed analysis of the events in a way that I don’t think the present tense would have.

chicagojcb.bsky.social•69 days ago

I have been meaning for years to get to Butler's writing. (I kind of left fiction for history, anthropology, and other science writing some years ago). Now I am anxious to explore her other work. She is a treasure. I am sorry she was taken from us so young.

jjjessee.bsky.social•78 days ago

It is easily read. I do feel the maturity of the voice is a bit advanced, but you do grow up quickly in an apocalypse.

ugbookshelf.bsky.social•78 days ago

I particularly enjoyed the excerpts of the Earthseed scriptures. It gives more insight and believability into the belief system she builds. It must be convincing if real world people have taken on the belief system!

undauntedjem.bsky.social•80 days ago

I think 🤔, personally her descriptive tone made it super easy to picture everything going on in Lauren’s life. I also feel the “diary entry” type of writing helps with that bc it is in first person so I can envision as it happens

amwesselmann.bsky.social•80 days ago

I found Butler’s writing gave life to Lauren especially, but other characters as well. She has a skill for pointing out what makes decisions hard to make.

hearmeroar11.bsky.social•80 days ago

I found the prose engaging and useful to build the story and I enjoyed the style.

hearmeroar11.bsky.social•80 days ago

I enjoy writing styles that keep the story moving and the journal entries did that for me, looking forward to the next dated entry, what happens next. I read it very quickly. The only thing I may have enjoyed in addition was different perspectives from others in Lauren's life.

retired-librarian.bsky.social•80 days ago

I looked at a synopsis for Talents and it has different perspectives. I thought about how Atwood's Testaments also expanded to multiple perspectives from Handmaid's, which was primarily one.

hearmeroar11.bsky.social•79 days ago

Yes, I just started Talents and noticed the different perspectives. It will be interesting to see how it plays out

amyathene.bsky.social•79 days ago

I personally love the epistolary nature of the prose, by writing it as a diary we get a pretty intimate view of Lauren Olamina.

scooper1958.bsky.social•78 days ago

I think that Butler's choice to do an epistolary novel supports the narrative. The protagonist who writes the journal entries which make up this novel is highly intelligent and perceptive, and thus she provides a detailed description of the world in which she lives, and the people she knows.

kairybee.bsky.social•50 days ago

Both times that I’ve “read” this I opted for the audiobook format so I’m unsure if I was hooked by the prose/writing style itself or just how it was delivered by the phenomenally talented Lynne Thigpen (RIP 😢).

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