A review by seeceeread
A Handful of Earth, a Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler by Lynell George

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

💭 "What if the world was turned to a different slant, what if she had more power, what if? What if what if? [...] She had gravitated toward science fiction as a genre because it lifted the ceiling and dissolved the walls; it presented the sort of freedom and brazenness she needed for creating new possibilities."

Alice Walker's essay, 𝗜𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘀 (also the name of a collection) speculates on how ancestral women translated genius into functional treasures such as quilts and flower displays — or perhaps didn't find expression, forced as they were to "make biscuits for some backwater tramp." Walker demands attention to the ways Black women's artistry has been thwarted. 

George picks up the mantle, offering a blueprint for becoming a writer, an artist, a MacArthur "genius," a first, based on Octavia Estelle Butler's archived ephemera. George also shows the loneliness, doubt and agita of a woman haunted by ambitions that even her closest family largely thought nonsensical, unattainable. Butler was formidable for her capacity to plough through obstacles; she was determined to realize her dreams, her 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. At times, she planned to pawn essentials, like her typewriter, to make rent. Waiting on publisher's checks, she bemused, "𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯?????" Her coping strategies were wholly unique: she curated "Octavia" as a public persona, a sort of alter ego whose badassery would protect the softer, inner Estelle.

This book reminds me of how much goes into the making of any book, how class is often reflected in the final product, how much gentler I could be with works I don't enjoy ... because the process is often admirable, even if I don't feel the same way about the final product.