Have you ever read a book and the entire time that you were reading the book, you were wondering "what was on the the mind of the author as she/he were writing that book?" Well, I thought about Octavia Butler from the first to last page of this book and after I finished the novel. I really want to get inside of the brilliant mind of Octavia Butler..
Well, it is not even possible to talk to the late, great Octavia Butler, because she died at the tender age of 58 in 2006. But, I would do almost anything to be able to meet and get to know this incredible writer. I want to know how she came up with a story like Wild Seed!
Wild Seed has a female protagonist named Anyanwu who was born in West African, and she has lived for thousands of years. She is not immortal, but she can heal herself; therefore, she is sort of in control of when and if she dies.
The other protagonist in this story is Doro, and Doro is a spirit. The only way that Doro can manifest himself is through the body of someone whom he kills. So, Doro has to kill people in order to live.
Anyanwu is found by Doro, and he convinces her to travel to America with him where he is gathering people who are 'strange like them," and he is breeding them in order to make more people who will live forever. However, this task seems to be impossible.
This story goes from the years 1690 to 1840, and it mimics the life of someone who leaves African for America and shows the difficulties of trying to take on a new culture.
However, there is another story line that is running that has to do with loneliness and love...
Doro and Anyanwu were both lonely; they have watched all of the people that they care about die and this would go on forever for them; humans eventually die. However, Anyanwu did not like many of the ways of Doro, and she began to resent him and knew exactly what to do so that he could not reach her for long periods of time, but he eventually was always able to reach her.
Anyanwu realized that the only to rid herself of Doro and the things about him that she did not like, was to commit suicide, and Anyanwu was willing to do that. She was willing to die for what she believed in. Doro suddenly realized that "Because of her, he was no longer alone. Because of her, life was suddenly better than it had been for him in centuries, in millenia." So, "There had to be changes. Anyanwu could not have all she wanted, and Doro could no longer have all that he considered his by right."
AND, they lived happily ever-after!
Of course this book made me think about slavery, and love, and loneliness, and I came to two conclusion: humans can adapt and get use to just about anything, and sometimes we must be willing to stand firmly on what we believe and we may be surprised to find out that things just may turn out in our favor.
Very Intriguing book that I highly recommend.
Read and Expand....
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| The late, great Octavia Butler... Gone to soon!!! |
My next read is Americanah by one of my favorite writers: Chimamanda Ngozi...Join Me!
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