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A review by oleksandr
A Handful of Earth, a Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler by Lynell George
3.0
This is a short biography of a prominent African-American SF woman writer [a:Octavia E. Butler|29535|Octavia E. Butler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242244143p2/29535.jpg], whose main works include [b:Kindred|60931|Kindred|Octavia E. Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339423248l/60931._SY75_.jpg|1049657] and [b:Parable of the Sower|52397|Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)|Octavia E. Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442169447l/52397._SY75_.jpg|59258]. I read it as a Buddy Read for August 2021 at Non Fiction Book Club group.
This book is not what I expected. I’ve previously read several biographies of SF writers, including [b:The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|42632383|The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|Farah Mendlesohn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541399334l/42632383._SY75_.jpg|66365024] and [b:Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction|35958896|Astounding John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction|Alec Nevala-Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529430368l/35958896._SY75_.jpg|57516282], both of which as well as this book, were nominated in different years for Hugo Award for Best Related Work. I expected that like abovementioned works it will be a story of what a person wrote, why, what external pressures or opportunities affected the works, etc. However, this book spends little time on such matters. Instead, based on diaries and extensive material that remained it shows her life and her struggle to become a writer, at a time, when nearly all professional SF writers were white men. She felt the need to write from an early age, her mother, despite running short on money, presents her daughter with the gift of a secondhand typewriter on the occasion of her tenth birthday. Despite condescending attitude of people around her, she writes and writes, getting refusals and facing financial ruin, she doesn’t go for a steady job, but continues to try. At the end she “wins”, her work is recognized and acclaimed, she is called an oracle and a prophet. She is not clairvoyant. She just examines humanity squarely and then hypothesizes. She is a novelist, a fabulist. Her stories, which bend categories, are not meant as prophecy. Not at all. They are tantalizing explorations.
When I was in my teens and full of things that could not be said to relatives and acquaintances. I recall being much alone then and lonely and full of questions, doubts, fears. . . . I could not have looked ahead to see myself now.
I have to admit, I like Butlers’ works, they are definitely written by a talented person and I wanted to know more about her books, how she grew as an author, what themes were close to her, why her prose is much more emotional than most SF works. It is a pity that her status as a Black and a woman severely limited her opportunities. However, reading about writers I don’t need to know that they lacked money to visit a dentist, unless it is linked to their prose. This book doesn’t supply what I wished for, but it can be a great encouragement to others out there, who are not yet have their talent recognized.
This book is not what I expected. I’ve previously read several biographies of SF writers, including [b:The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|42632383|The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|Farah Mendlesohn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541399334l/42632383._SY75_.jpg|66365024] and [b:Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction|35958896|Astounding John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction|Alec Nevala-Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529430368l/35958896._SY75_.jpg|57516282], both of which as well as this book, were nominated in different years for Hugo Award for Best Related Work. I expected that like abovementioned works it will be a story of what a person wrote, why, what external pressures or opportunities affected the works, etc. However, this book spends little time on such matters. Instead, based on diaries and extensive material that remained it shows her life and her struggle to become a writer, at a time, when nearly all professional SF writers were white men. She felt the need to write from an early age, her mother, despite running short on money, presents her daughter with the gift of a secondhand typewriter on the occasion of her tenth birthday. Despite condescending attitude of people around her, she writes and writes, getting refusals and facing financial ruin, she doesn’t go for a steady job, but continues to try. At the end she “wins”, her work is recognized and acclaimed, she is called an oracle and a prophet. She is not clairvoyant. She just examines humanity squarely and then hypothesizes. She is a novelist, a fabulist. Her stories, which bend categories, are not meant as prophecy. Not at all. They are tantalizing explorations.
When I was in my teens and full of things that could not be said to relatives and acquaintances. I recall being much alone then and lonely and full of questions, doubts, fears. . . . I could not have looked ahead to see myself now.
I have to admit, I like Butlers’ works, they are definitely written by a talented person and I wanted to know more about her books, how she grew as an author, what themes were close to her, why her prose is much more emotional than most SF works. It is a pity that her status as a Black and a woman severely limited her opportunities. However, reading about writers I don’t need to know that they lacked money to visit a dentist, unless it is linked to their prose. This book doesn’t supply what I wished for, but it can be a great encouragement to others out there, who are not yet have their talent recognized.