Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

I love the diary-esque model of this book. Like World War Z's "mockumentary"-style text works to make the story more realistic, Butler's Parable of the Sower's diary model makes this feel realistic by bringing the readers in very close to the main character. The main threats in this story (environmental destruction, violence, and drug abuse) bring to light many of the hugely popular issues in the early 1990s when this was written; however, it's interesting that this was written in 1993, because at the time global warming did not yet have the buzzing around it that it had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The plot detail of people needing to pay police to investigate crimes brings a whole different level of fear for the main characters, causing them to be in charge of their own protection, which leads to a certain desensitizing. The idea of desensitizing is an interesting one, displayed in World War Z and also Night. Lauren's "affliction" of empathy is the biggest (though perhaps more subtle than a three-year-old being murdered when playing outside) indicator of what has changed in American society. Americans have a tendency to diagnose, treat, and medicate all kinds of disorders and afflictions that other cultures might look at as simple character traits; while I am not stating that this is wrong, it is fascinating that a once-honorable and celebrated trait has now become a diagnosis, as empathy is no longer convenient in Lauren's world.