October 2023 Book Club: Dawn (Xenogenesis #1) by Octavia E. Butler

  

 My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: See review below

 

Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction. They have kept Lilith and other survivors asleep for centuries, as they learned whatever they could about Earth. Now it is time for Lilith to lead them back to her home world, but life among the Oankali on the newly resettled planet will be nothing like it was before.

The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.

 

Psychological manipulation, coercion, alien rape, forced reproduction, irredeemable humanity, a feeling of hopelessness, mostly flat and uninteresting characters. If these are things you like in a book, then this one might be for you. It was not an enjoyable read for me at all. I like books that make me feel good and this one did the opposite. The whole time I read this I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, which is not an enjoyable feeling. I do think that was probably the whole point and what the author was going for was to make us think about certain things and feel a certain way. In general, I avoid books like this. 

That being said, I have to admit that the first half drew me in and was thought provoking. I really wanted to know what was going on when it began, but once I got to the second part of the book it went downhill fast and focused too much on sex and unlikely human behaviors. I think the main character was really doing the only thing she could do to survive but it wasn't pleasant to read and she was affected by the aliens a lot more than she knew. I couldn't help but view her as someone with Stockholm Syndrome. Needless to say, I don't care to read any more of this author's books.

On a side note about the rapes, I did feel like the author did a good job of showing the affects of rape on men, which is something I haven't come across much in my reading. It was not glossed over or minimalised.

This book being what it is, provoked a lot of discussion at book club and it was nice to see it from other people's perspectives, even if I couldn't agree with some of them.