Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

82 reviews

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-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? No

4.75

I wouldn't have picked this up if didn't get the free audiobook credit for it. It was fascinating to see a 90's perspective of 2024, which is the year I read this book, and the author's predictions of what the world would come to in a worst case scenario. Aside from the very extreme dystopian ideas, there are some parallels to today's world. I think we're lucky our government system hasn't failed us (yet) and this book is a stark reminder of what could come should we, as a community and society, fail. Not just each other, but ourselves. In the book, it's mentioned how "backwards we've become" and I know, with recent events, we've definitely heard that a time or two.

It is heavily Christian based, but it also expands from those teachings.

Pretty much if The Purge exists all day every day for years on end, this is what it would be like. I wouldn't be surprised if The Purge was partially inspired by this book.

Oh, and it's most certainly a book about the formation of a cult. Lol. But a good cult? It's yet to be seen.

Side note: because it was recorded in 1999, the end credits are delightfully dated lololol. Saying we could fax them to order a new book and such. I loved it lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Hate crime and Kidnapping

This is a heavily triggered book for nearly every topic.

sawyerscribbles's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Cannibalism

trapdorr's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

Dark but intriguing plot line. Interesting take on the human condition and survival. The premise seems so extreme and dystopian but it’s not that far off of the reality of some “third world” nations. I was worried the novel would come off preachy but it didn’t. I think this is a book I’ll think about for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Police brutality, and Classism

imperatorprincess's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.25

If you don't like this book within the first fifteen pages, I'd advise putting it down.  It's so relentless and extreme in the vibe it sets that those who don't like it at first won't find anything else waiting for them.  I landed somewhere in the middle, just like most of this book.  The characters are decently sympathetic but not fleshed out well (there's just too many for the book's own good).  The worldbuilding is intriguing but so unflinchingly nihilistic that it's hard to feel anything.  After a while I'm no longer horrified, much less compelled, but just numb to all the violence and waiting for something, anything, to provide a spark of hope.  Luaren's Earthseed plan might fit the bill if she made any concrete efforts to progress it or actually used it to better other people's lives, which she doesn't seem to care about all that much.  I wasn't horribly disappointed, and I can see why some folks adore this series.  All I can do is shrug.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

sabiecee's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.25

Jarring, real, and thought-provoking. Having a hard time to coming to terms with it still.
The main character's relationship at the end and the weird age gap is making me really uncomfortable though, and I'm hoping that doesn't last long in the next book 😭

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kaseybereading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

cobraforhire's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

It’s fun speculative world-building, but the actual story is a little ho-hum.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

catz0rz's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

zams's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I really thought a long time about how to review this book and I'm still not sure what to say.
It's scary close to what's already happening in a lot of places, and it fed my brain with tons of material to think about. I don't know if Lauren being a teenager made a lot of sense to me the way her character is behaving, but maybe she's a product of what's happening, and it doesn't seem too unusual, considering how the others around her age are acting. I think all of the characters were very fleshed out, I still don't know why the love interest had to be this old, but maybe one day I will understand.
It didn't seem like a lot was happening for a good chunk of the book, but the writing style made this go by without much fuss as well, which was verey surprising to me. I definitly think I might have to re-read this again in some time, after I've had a bit more time to process my thoughts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

raptorq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality and Cannibalism

Minor: Addiction, Incest, Suicide, Medical content, and Trafficking