Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris

Octavia E. Butler is my favorite author! I read my first novel from her somewhere between 2018-2019 after having her books on my tbr for years. I started with ‘Dawn’ and couldn’t believe I hadn’t read her books sooner. After reading the Xenogenesis Trilogy (aka Lilith’s Brood) I couldn’t wait to dive into more of her worlds. Booktuber Njeri @OnyxPages started a readathon called the Octavia E. Butler Slow Read. With this readathon we would be reading all of her books in publication order. This was perfect timing and I had an incredible time reading and discussing these books with everyone.

In a similar manner, when Positive Obsession came out I knew I had to get a copy! And luckily for me it was on the list of books we’d be reading for the book club I attend, perfect timing yet again.

Positive Obsession told the story of Octavia’s live starting from her childhood through adulthood and her untimely death. Susana M. Morris did such a wonderful job cataloging her life. I’m always a little leery when it comes to autobiographies due to reading some that were mostly the author taking the time to talk about themselves and not who the autobiography is supposed to be about. Morris expertly outline Butler’s life and her accomplishments while peppering in aspects of her own life in ways that related to Butler’s. It was very well balanced.

Octavia E. Bulter was a tall Black woman with a lot of ambition and drive to write sci-fi/fantasy stories that featured Black women. Black women who were often times felt modeled after herself or others she knew. She found her fascination with sci-fi and fantasy at an early age but noticed what a lot of Black people noticed…there wasn’t any stories featuring Black people in the future. WEIRD! She began writing at an early age, her aunt at one point even told her she shouldn’t continue writing because ‘nergro’s can’t be authors‘.

Having read all of Octavia’s books I knew a bit about her life, but I learned so much about her from ‘Positive Obsession’. First off, Octavia E. Butler was a fellow weird Black girlie! During one examination of her childhood and her beginnings of writing, Octavia had written in her journal about being on the playground and all the kids were talking about what superpowers they’d like to have. She said she’d like to breed people. GIRL lol. This, however, did became a common theme within her series.

Butler lived in poverty for years, barely making anything from her writing. But due to her positive obsession she continued writing daily, like falling asleep at her typewriter daily. This was also heartbreaking to read. There were passages shared from her journal where she was talking about how mediocre white male writers were earning so much money and how she felt she was writing stories with way more depth, which she was! She worked so hard and wrote such incredible stories and was not rewarded for that for most of her life. Her journals detailed constantly worried about money, her health, supporting her family, and her loneliness. All very real and relatable feelings.

She also faced misgendering and people assuming her sexual orientation. When reading these moments I couldn’t help but wonder if she was still here what conversations she would be able to have and write about when it comes to gender and sexuality. These discussions already appear in her books a bit…but given the way we speak about them now I can’t help but feel curious.

I also loved learning about how Butler traveled for research purposes for her books. This was so cool to read about! There was a journal entry about her saying she didn’t bring a camera, her writing was what she relied on to remember things she was seeing (Specifically reflecting on her trip to Peru which she used for Xenogenesis Trilogy). She also was a frequent library-goer! Using age old research skills to comb through various books to research topics for her novels.

I had a great time discussing this book during the book club meeting. It was great to be in a space of all Black people talking about how much her writing means to each of us, how she inspires us, motivates us, and makes us feel creative. Butler had said once that she would never have children so the Black children of America would be her kids, she would do what she could to give representation and make them feel like they could accomplish even the wildest of goals. I believe she accomplished this.

This all has made me want to reread her stories. I’m a bit older now and I had annotated every book I read from her. I’m curious what my thoughts are now that I’m older and have experienced more life.

Whether you have read all her books, or just one, or none, this autobiography is a fantastic read! There are some minor spoilers but I think this is great to read at any point.