Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

167 reviews

anahisa's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My first Octavia Butler 🫶🏽 What a strong start, what a treat, what a voice!!! Butler is an author whose work I want to explore this year, and this book did not disappoint 🙂‍↔️

For being known as such a titan in sci-fi, I was surprised by how grounded this story is. It’s incredibly immersive, and eerily relevant to today’s current events! She clocked the decay of American society to the letter, I fear. 

The future Butler describes in this novel is very plausible. I enjoyed that we’re discovering it  from a young girls perspective. And what are the youth of 2025 doing??? Developing new religions and communities based on mutual aid 🙂‍↕️

Earthseed is forever 🙏🏽 I find myself drawn to its core principle - god is change. Strip the almighty of its personhood, and the divine becomes something malleable. It impacts us as much as we can shape it in return. That in itself is a deeply comforting thought. 

The only reason this isn’t 5 starts is because the necessary travel aspects got stale after a while. It’s a solid ending though, and I can’t wait to dive into the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dontlittledo's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The actual written language is good, but the storyline is 75% build-up... And the ending is abrupt, incomplete. It almost feels thrown together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

loko2493's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Now that it's 2025, maybe get some context before reading...the book is terrifyingly accurate to the struggles we are currently facing in the US. I started it without really knowing what it was about and right as the wildfires in LA began ramping up. Makes a tough read even tougher, but wow I simply couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

silverhill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lady_crashdown's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A young girl who sees the writing on the wall and prepares for the collapse of her home in a dystopian world. She survives her home and family being destroyed and goes north to hope for a paying job. On the way her kindness and understanding of God bring like minded people to her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Highly recommend. It’s brilliant.

whatevertheysay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Rape, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Trafficking

bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Sometimes I think about how my country (the U.S) might fall and this isn’t far off from that. After all, Butler’s predictions in this book were inspired by the patterns of our country’s priorities and behaviors for a few hundred years. 
This is a very thoughtful and insightful book that I recommend to everyone. It takes a bit to pick up in the beginning but once it does, I think you’ll understand why it’s so impactful. 
My only qualm is that I wish the lead wasn’t a teen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

stephaniealysse's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Animal death and Police brutality

jenneh_jenkins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

luciferlibrarian_93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Reading this as my first book of 2025 was a choice, but it was such a great read. Terrifying. But great. At times the scenarios and thoughts of the characters struck very similar to today’s world (the book is literally set from 2024-2027ish).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content