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Book Review

Parable of the Sower and Reading Dystopian Books in a Time of Crisis

April 4, 2025 by Julie Leave a Comment

Parable of the Sower and Reading Dystopian Books in a Time of Crisis

I read my first Octavia Butler book, Kindred, a few years ago and loved it. I figured it was time to read Parable of the Sower. Originally written in 1993, this dystopian story is set in California in 2024. Although Octavia Butler passed away in 2006, she seemed to have predicted some of what we are going through currently.

Now, our world isn’t exactly like the world in the Parable of the Sower, but some of it rings true. California is undergoing a crisis, and getting water regularly is a problem. The young protagonist, Lauren, is 15 years old and lives with her family behind a makeshift wall of their neighborhood. If you leave the neighborhood, you are putting yourself at enormous risk. They try not to go out unless necessary. When they do, they take a lot of precautions.

Everyone is trying to survive, and Lauren is trying to figure out what she believes about God and the universe. She can also feel other people’s pain, which can be challenging at times.

The Parable of the Sower was one of those books where you go on a journey with the main character. She experiences a lot of tricky situations you have probably never experienced. It makes you think about what you would do and what decisions you might make.

In addition to this book, I am drawn to different dystopian novels. There is just something about them that pulls me in. I don’t see them as guidebooks for the future, well maybe a little bit sometimes. I do want to see how people handle these environments. I like how they strive for freedom and battle the ones in charge.

What can the “little guy” do when faced with such a change from the norm? What do relationships look like in this environment? How do they grow as a person through what they are going through?

Not everyone likes to read these types of books during our current unprecedented times. However, I find them comforting for some reason. I plan to read or re-read several other books this year. These include The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, The Hunger Games, and The Parable of the Talents. It is the sequel to Parable of the Sower.

What’s on your reading list?

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Parable of the Sower and Reading Dystopian Books in a Time of Crisis

Filed Under: Book Review, Movies, Television, and Media Tagged With: books, Fiction books, Media

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

August 2, 2023 by Julie Leave a Comment

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Last summer I took debut author Carley Fortune’s first book, Every Summer After, on our beach trip. And I fell in love with the story. Every Summer After is the story of two childhood sweethearts, coming together again as adults, on a lake, with cottages and family.

I am such a sucker for any book that takes place at a lake or a beach house, plus, childhood friends or sweethearts coming back together as adults. And Every Summer After, and Meet Me at the Lake had both!

This post does contain affiliate links!

When I heard that Carley Fortune was releasing her 2nd book, Meet Me at the Lake, I was super excited. This book also took place at a lake, at a resort owned by the main character’s family. Fern Brookbanks is the new owner of the resort after the unexpected passing of her mother. She is trying to figure out what is next in her life and what path she should take.

As Fern questions if she should stay at the resort and for how long, a man named Will Baxter checks into the resort. Fern’s past comes right back to her as she realizes this was the Will she met 10 years before, at a coffee shop in Toronto. Back then they ended up spending 24 hours together, with a promise to meet back at her family’s resort one year later. Only, she was the only one that showed.

I think when an author has a very successful book come out, they always have a bit of a challenge with the next one. They need the book to be similar enough to the previous one but not so similar it’s a copy with just different character names. I believe that Carley Fortune nailed it, and wrote another amazing and creative book.

Meet Me at the Lake was a different story from Every Summer After, even though the book also had some of the same elements. They both had some type of event that happened that we don’t get to hear about until later on in the book, and they both went back and forth between now and years before.

Overall I gave Meet Me at the Lake four stars and Every Summer After 5 stars. I loved Carley Fortune’s debut book just a little bit more. But, Meet Me at the Lake was such a fun summer read. I totally recommend this book.

You can purchase the book here. Or check to see if your local library has a copy.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: Book Review, Fiction books

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About Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life

 

Welcome to Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life! I am so glad you are here.

My name is Julie and I first became a military spouse in 2005 when my husband of 3 years re-joined the Army. Then, in 2014, he joined the National Guard. In January of 2024, he retired from the National Guard after 21 years of service.

During our time in the military, we got to spend 4 years in Germany as well as Tennessee where we now call home.

We have three boys and have been through four deployments together.

I hope that you can find support for your own deployments, PCS moves, or anything else military life brings you through my articles and social media posts.

 

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