Something similar is the case with Butler, who, writing in the early 1990s, was extrapolating from the Los Angeles she knew. Two years before “Parable of the Sower” came out, the city erupted ...

FILE - Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in the Municipal Court in the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles, during a hearing, Nov. 26, 1990.