This is a letter that I wrote to my local Bayview librarian to promote Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower as a book that our entire city reads together:
Dear Linda Brooks Burton,
I wish to recommend Octavia Butler’s brilliant Parable of the Sower as a selection for San Francisco’s “One City One Book” project. Butler’s prescient fictional tale, set in the urban dystopia of a permanently drought-stricken California in the year 2024, reflects many of the pressing issues that face our city and community. She deftly weaves topics concerning water scarcity, local food production, books, race, religion, politics, poverty and sustainability into her gripping story, and depicts a dysfunctional world not all that different from our own.
I first encountered Ms. Butler’s books on the shelves of the Bayview/Anna E. Waden Branch Library, and have been a huge fan of her writing ever since. The powerful ideas that she raises about working collectively to create positive change really resonated with me in relation to our neighborhood’s planned “redevelopment” and the renovation of our local Bayview library. Perhaps this novel could also be used as a metaphoric tool to help instigate discussion of many of the often divisive issues connected to the changes that are happening in Bayview, and to bridge understanding between disparate local groups?
A citywide book selection written by an African American woman might also help to galvanize interest and support for the planned expansion of our Bayview library; some of the themes in her book seem especially relevant, since the new building design includes rainwater harvesting, recycled materials and a green roof. Also, Butler is such a seminal writer, more people should really know about her work. Please let me know your thoughts about this, and what is the city’s process for recommending a shared book for all of us to read together.
Thank you for all of your hard work-
Rhonda Winter
About Rhonda Winter
The review sounds like I’d agree, a good choice. Wish I had time to read it. I must be IN it !!
this book is pure genius. I think about it every time I drive past the San Luis reservoir on 152. And your post is very timely, as I’m about to post an article about our current water/farming situation.
That is so strange Susanna, every time that I go past that rapidly disappearing reservoir I find myself thinking about the story too. It seems that the fictional dystopia that Butler described in her book is all too quickly become reality. I am looking forward to reading your water/farming article.