HAF Book Club: April poll and discussion

[Sandra Craft]

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler
As environmental and economic crisis lead to social chaos, a recently orphaned teenager begins a fight for survival that will lead to a new religion and vision for humanity.  [Published in 1993, I'm proposing this one for its -- and it's sequel, Parable of the Talents -- startling foretelling of the rise of the Tea Party, the alt-Right and even the Trump Presidency]

The Tortilla Curtain, by T. C. Boyle
A novel about middle-class values, illegal immigration, xenophobia, poverty, and environmental destruction. It was awarded the French Prix Médicis Étranger prize for best foreign novel in 1997. 

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon
For sixty years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.

[Icarus]

The Tortilla Curtain sounds like a timely subject for post read discussion.

[Davin]

I bought the book, I will be starting it on the 1st.

[Magdalena]

Davin came back, didn't he?



Good to see you again.

[Davin]

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

It's also good to see you again!

I've been sticking to just the book posts for a while.

[Magdalena]

I've been sticking to just the book posts for a while.

It's time to go somewhere else....

[Davin]

Maybe I will...

[Magdalena]

...



Maybe I will...

I'm so happy. 

[Davin]

I finished the book yesterday, a little later than planned.

First, I'll just say that I thought it was a really good book and I got the second one.

It was refreshing to read a book like this even though it was very dark and depressing. The main character was smart but did not know everything. Made mistakes but they were reasonable mistakes a person in that situation might make.

One thing in particular I thought was great, was that the main character and the group would let people into their group but didn't trust them with their lives immediately. Too many times, in almost every post apocalyptic book/movie/game, the people get trusted immediately or after the first test and then they get screwed over. And more to the point, is that one can care about helping others, while still being careful. And it doesn't ruin the story or prevent drama.

The writing style was good as well. It was a very sad story that did not have a happy ending.

That's I've got really unless anyone wants to talk about anything specific.

[Sandra Craft]

You'll like Parable of the Talents, it feels even more like a prediction of things to come than Sower does.  It's sad that Butler never got to write the third book she had planned, tentatively called The Parable of the Trickster, but she was interrupted first by writer's block and then by death.

I've read this book twice before, but with all that's been going on thought it was worth another read and would be good book club material. 

Yes, it is dark and depressing in its realistic depiction of the breakdown of society and law, and how easily it can happen despite all the tut-tutting about how "that can't happen here".  Just watch it happen. 

But I was heartened by how Butler did not rule out the stubbornness of what is good in human nature -- how at least some of us will still make connections of trust and help, how sympathy and sentiment still have their part in the balance.

One thing I have noticed in any book I read repeatedly over the years is how much I notice with each reading that went over my head before.  This time it was Butler's thing for pairing up young women with much older men.  There was only one example in this book, but it turns up in every book she wrote and usually involves the alpha female character and I have begun to wonder what on earth that was about.

[Davin]

Yes, it is dark and depressing in its realistic depiction of the breakdown of society and law, and how easily it can happen despite all the tut-tutting about how "that can't happen here".  Just watch it happen.

Yeah, it can happen here, especially if people keep thinking that it can't.

But I was heartened by how Butler did not rule out the stubbornness of what is good in human nature -- how at least some of us will still make connections of trust and help, how sympathy and sentiment still have their part in the balance.

And also how sympathy and compassion doesn't have to mean being weak or letting people take advantage. That's the thing that irritates me the most about almost all other apocalypse stories, the trope that showing kindness results in people dying. There are safe ways to show compassion and to help people. Which is why I really liked this one.

One thing I have noticed in any book I read repeatedly over the years is how much I notice with each reading that went over my head before.  This time it was Butler's thing for pairing up young women with much older men.  There was only one example in this book, but it turns up in every book she wrote and usually involves the alpha female character and I have begun to wonder what on earth that was about.

Huh, one example didn't raise any alarms for me, it happens sometimes. But seeing it happen a lot more times in other stories would have rang some bells.