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A review by demo
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
3.0
tw: coerced rape
This book was recommended to me as it ticked a few boxed of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. Sci-fi is not a genre I ordinarily read or enjoy. I find invented alien races and their languages inherently contrived (sorry) which makes it hard for me to finish a novel. I was intrigued, though, by a sci-fi novel written by a woman of colour. I was told Butler's work used alien races to explore issues such as xenophobia, paternalism and colonialism instead of fetishising them or using them as a vehicle to assert human domination. This she does brilliantly, and her work is definitely unlike any other sci-fi work I have consumed through any medium.
Sadly, I found Lilith intolerable. The first half of the book? Awesome! But once she started to Awaken other humans? Hmm. I tried to find sympathy for her (perhaps the ooloi bonds are similar to a trauma bond or Stockholm Syndrome?) but after she was complicit and even took "perverse pleasure" in Joseph's coerced rape by Nikhanj I just couldn't stick by her. To go from "There'll be no rape here" to that? Nope. Sorry. You lost me Lilith. That's fucked. (If you're not sure what I'm taking about, this article breaks it down really well.)
To be fair, I don't think Octavia Butler wanted me to walk away from this book feeling jolly and content. It was meant to be disturbing. Perhaps her intention was to let us feel our convictions, projecting no explicit moral judgement of her own. I just can't help but feel that not clarifying that scene was indeed sexual assault is reckless. Another reviewer here said she thought Butler crossed a line in the last quarter of the book, and I think I agree.
In terms of writing style, the narration was a little repetitive and limited, and the range of human reactions was pretty much isolated to shrugging and jumping. That said, Butler's sensory descriptions of the ship were vivid. The novel was artfully well-paced (something I truly appreciate) and I was compelled to finish it, even though I stopped liking it.
I so wanted to love this book and I think after spending some time thinking about it I may grow to like it. I think I need to untangle my dislike of Lilith from my dislike of the book itself. Undecided as to whether I'll read the next two. I probably will, but not for some time. It's not light reading, that's for sure.
This book was recommended to me as it ticked a few boxed of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. Sci-fi is not a genre I ordinarily read or enjoy. I find invented alien races and their languages inherently contrived (sorry) which makes it hard for me to finish a novel. I was intrigued, though, by a sci-fi novel written by a woman of colour. I was told Butler's work used alien races to explore issues such as xenophobia, paternalism and colonialism instead of fetishising them or using them as a vehicle to assert human domination. This she does brilliantly, and her work is definitely unlike any other sci-fi work I have consumed through any medium.
Sadly, I found Lilith intolerable. The first half of the book? Awesome! But once she started to Awaken other humans? Hmm. I tried to find sympathy for her (perhaps the ooloi bonds are similar to a trauma bond or Stockholm Syndrome?) but after she was complicit and even took "perverse pleasure" in Joseph's coerced rape by Nikhanj I just couldn't stick by her. To go from "There'll be no rape here" to that? Nope. Sorry. You lost me Lilith. That's fucked. (If you're not sure what I'm taking about, this article breaks it down really well.)
To be fair, I don't think Octavia Butler wanted me to walk away from this book feeling jolly and content. It was meant to be disturbing. Perhaps her intention was to let us feel our convictions, projecting no explicit moral judgement of her own. I just can't help but feel that not clarifying that scene was indeed sexual assault is reckless. Another reviewer here said she thought Butler crossed a line in the last quarter of the book, and I think I agree.
In terms of writing style, the narration was a little repetitive and limited, and the range of human reactions was pretty much isolated to shrugging and jumping. That said, Butler's sensory descriptions of the ship were vivid. The novel was artfully well-paced (something I truly appreciate) and I was compelled to finish it, even though I stopped liking it.
I so wanted to love this book and I think after spending some time thinking about it I may grow to like it. I think I need to untangle my dislike of Lilith from my dislike of the book itself. Undecided as to whether I'll read the next two. I probably will, but not for some time. It's not light reading, that's for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Body horror