Positive Obsession brings forward several facts about Octavia Butler and her life, but what sets it apart is the why in which it situates Butler within her context. Morris spends time discussing the specific events that were going on when Butler was growing up and writing. For readers of Butler’s work this context helps in understanding why and how she wrote what she wrote. I particularly liked how the author situated Butler’s work on Fledging into what was going on the wider world of fiction. Morris also spends time focusing on the impact Butler has had on the author herself and the wider world. One of the most impactful parts of this for me was the ways in which Morris situates Butler within the work of other Black women who were writing at the same time. While Butler was one of the few, if not the only, prominent Black woman science fiction writers for a large part of her career. I appreciated that she considers Butler in relationship with authors such as Butler. She also considers the ways in which Butler influenced those who came after her such as N.K. Jemisin and other Black women writing in the science fiction and fantasy space. Morris begins the book by discussing the difficulties with portraying an accurate portrait of a person in biography and thus not only focusing on the facts of Butler’s life, but also her specific understanding of Butler and how she impacts the world. Overall, this was a delightful biography that I would recommend for any fan of Butler and her work. Thank you Netgalley and Amistad for a digital review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

To review this book is to review Octavia herself, and it is not sufficient, but it must be done.
This book is to Black feminism what Beverly Guy-Sheftall presented with Words of Fire. It is biblical, biographical, and beautiful. It is raw, real, and revolutionary. I thought I was already a fan of Octavia, but I became a fan of Susana M. Morris with this work even more. I came to know of her work through The Crunk Feminist Collective, and I felt seen, heard, and understood as a budding Black feminist at the time. At this stage of my life...Susana has seen me again through Octavia's life as a breather of Black Queer feminism.

This work weaves its way through not only Octavia's book but also her world. That is the beautiful thing. Her books, while fictitious and building other worlds, are setting the stage and backdrop for what was happening in the real world and everyday reality that Octavia was seeing and experiencing in her quotidian experience. Her everyday lived reality was not what I expected. It was pretty lonely, hard, poor, and antiBlack. Yet she "kept on keeping on" despite. I keep calling her Octavia because I see her as my mentor, friend, and comrade in the struggle to create other worlds, in this fight for visibility, recognition, and fair compensation. Although my experience is somewhat different...I see myself in her, and if she were here, I would think she would see bits of herself in me as well. That's what Susana has done with this book. She has made me...a Black nonbinary Black woman realize that Octavia Butler is multi-dimensional, imperfectly perfect, and worthy of still being uplifted and upheld, as we all are!

I savored each word and cover as long as I could, until the very last day before I had to give this review! That is how much each word meant to me. Susana...thank you for this work. If Octavia were here, she would be proud of the way in which you painted her. I would be proud of you for painting me in this way. Although I consider myself an Octavia stan...I am ready to dive back into each book and re-read it, digesting it from a different viewpoint. What does it mean to write for love and survival? This is what I continued asking myself as I read this work.
Additionally, "When will we as Black femme/women writers ever be paid fairly for our work? Will be continue worrying about taking care of our basic necessities while the world praises us for our words and worlds we build?" This is what I'll leave with....

Thank you for giving us pieces of her journals — the intimacy, the vulnerability, and the wisdom. I will forever cherish this work. And Susana, I will forever cherish you! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I encourage everyone to read this work to understand Octavia's world, both her external and inner worlds, and to gain a deeper understanding of her written world. To all Black feminists...This is a must-read and a must-buy when it hits shelves! Thank you for allowing me to read this before it is published! I will forever be grateful as a Black feminist! <3

Positive Obsession is not only a biography of Octavia Butler but a loving tribute to a woman that we still don’t know that much about even though we have her books and all her papers. She is still a glorious enigma. The author, Susana M. Morris, explores Butler’s connections to history, politics, racism, the environment, and how Butler influenced and continues to influence her own life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for this DRC.
#PositiveObsession #NetGalley

Informative, reflective, compassionate, and well-researched. Positive Obsession is must read. As a timely foray into the life of one of the greatest writers of our time, Positive Obsession is the book everyone will be talking about.

Hey, hey, my favorites 😁💚. #annieethebookiee is back with another book review.

📚 Book: Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
🖋️ Author: Susana M. Morris
📅 Publication Date: August 19, 2025
⭐ Rating: ★★★★☆

Thank you, NetGalley, for the early access in exchange for my honest review 👏

Positive Obsession is a captivating cultural biography that traces Octavia Butler’s life alongside seismic social and political shifts—from civil rights and Black Power to women’s liberation and climate anxiety. Morris shows how Butler’s speculative worlds reflect America’s rise and critique its injustices.

The title phrase “Positive obsession is about not being able to stop…” resonates deeply—capturing Butler’s relentless drive to write despite doubt and fear. Butler’s characters—and Butler herself—are fierce, flawed, visionary.

If you love thoughtful literary biographies that illuminate history and imagination, this one’s for you. A richly resonant four stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Ms. Morris does a fine job of connecting the personal and political musings of Ms. Butler, especially as it relates to Lauren Olamina’s journey in Parable of the Sower.

I also appreciated the deeper story of Ms. Butler’s efforts to imagine a different world, not only in her stories, but also in her journey as a science fiction writer and a Black woman.

This is a solid bio of a writer who only now is getting her due. There’s nothing remarkable here, but it does what it sets out to do: teach the reader a lot about Butler and inspire them to pick up one of her books with a fresh lens.

It is a biography and a tribute to the late Octavia. It touched on her life, neurodivergence & how her work is truly a legacy. Not only to a recommend it to fans of Octavia's works but to those that are thinking of pursuing becoming a writer.

It talks in depth of most of the published works of Octavia and in honesty of the lens of the world in which she became the influential writer that she was.

The cultural & societal changes to the legacy beyond.

In Positive Obsession, Susana M. Morris offers a powerful and richly contextualized portrait of Octavia Butler, illuminating the life and legacy of one of science fiction’s most groundbreaking writers. With the skill of both a biographer and a devoted scholar, Morris brings us into the sociopolitical world that shaped Butler’s vision during postwar America, the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and the quiet resistance embodied by her mother, a domestic worker who endured daily racism.

Morris doesn’t just trace Butler’s timeline for readers, she connects the dots, weaving Butler’s personal history with the intellectual and political forces that fueled her prophetic imagination. I love the ways this book illuminates Butler's vulnerability, persistence, and what she herself called a “positive obsession”—the compulsion to write despite fear, doubt, and marginalization.

This book is both tribute and testimony, written by someone who has clearly lived with Butler’s work in the classroom and on the page. It reminds us why Butler’s stories still matter: because they center the very people history tries to erase and ask us to imagine something more just, more human, and more possible.