chris xu

reading parable of the sower in real time

Because I'm a bruise-poker, I recently decided to reread Octavia Butler's eerily prophetic afrofuturist classic, Parable of the Sower. I had first read the book back in 2017 and found it full of compelling ideas but also too emotionally devastating to get through in one fell swoop—I normally inhale fiction, but this is one I put down and picked back up many times over months. This time around my attention span is a tattered trash bag full of styrofoam peanuts, so the reread has been similarly start-and-stop before I've even gotten to the hard parts.

Parable, which was written back in 1993, is written as a series of journal entries from the book's protagonist spanning from July 20, 2024 to October 10, 2027. Twice now, I just happened to pick up the book on the same date of one of the journal entries the book and felt myself shaken by the serendipitous resonance of, for example, the characters in the book freaking out about a measles outbreak while, well, you know.

So, because I'm a bruise-poker who is newly bad at reading and also loves a bit, I've decided that I'm rereading the rest of the book at the exact pace the events unfold. Logistically, this means I've put reminders in my calendar for the next few journal entries (March 29th, April 26th, June 16th). Is this a good idea? Will I remember anything in between reading sessions? There's only one opportunity for us to find out. If you're masochistic enough to join me, I'd welcome the company! We're about 1/5 of the way through the book already, but there's plenty of time to catch up before the next two entries unfold.