Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

82 reviews

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

Without a doubt one of the most chilling and true-to-life dystopias I've ever encountered. Octavia E. Butler understood American culture in ways that very few writers have I think, and so many of her predictions of the future still feel scarily possible. 

However, I think that reading this book only one year out from when the beginning of it is set means that I also saw all of the ways in which this is NOT entirely the current trajectory of this country, or at least not one we're going to reach as quickly as Butler thought (thank goodness for small mercies or something I suppose?). 

I love the journal entry format. I loved Lauren as a narrator. She's so intelligent and observant and sensitive and yet still so young, and that combination of factors means that she is very frank about the state of the world in a way that does a great service to us as readers.

This book broke my heart and made me angry. It made me get attached to characters without even realizing it and then ripped them away from me--and what a familiar feeling that is.

The cast does get quite bloated toward the end, and I almost feel like the book might have benefitted from a couple more chapters.

I think this is the first dystopian book I've read that mentioned tampons. And the gun presence was oh so very American.

The way this book handles race and gender is so sensitive and so REAL. God Octavia E. Butler was amazing.

I will definitely be reading the sequel soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Classism

Additional warning for a relationship with a really big age gap (older adult and eighteen-year-old), plus I'm sure I'm missing other potentially triggering content. Basically, read this book with care. It is VERY heavy.

alex123's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, and Classism

keato's review

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This book is so unlike other books I’ve read. It started off pretty slow and I didn’t really get into it until like 1/3 of the way through, but wow it’s so thought provoking and beautiful and I ended up loving it. It’s wild to make the general mood of such a violent and terrifying book reflective. And it’s wild to have such a reflective book without focusing much on emotions. Like,

Lauren does not process her grief about literally everyone she knows dying. And it doesn’t seem to change the way she acts. She doesn’t get irrational or angry or anything, she just focuses on what she needs to do and adopts strays along the journey

. Ugh I’m so excited to talk about this book at book club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

vrkinase0411's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

I can now see why people find this work to be prophetic. When we stand still long enough to look around us we can absolutely see what our hypo-empathetic and lack of history will turn us into.

I can't say I'm not offended, however, in Butler's portrayal of poor and homeless people along with conflating middle class "privileges" as something inherently communal.  While, she does draw attention to the widening rich-poor gap, the ACTUAL poor seem to figuratively discarded for a sympathetic view of middle class destruction. Not sure that was her intention, but the demonizing of addicts and actual poor people while engendering sympathy for the loss of the middle class feels on brand for neoliberalism.

Aside from that, it was pointedly written to examine our current conditions and really look at where we are headed.

Olamina makes stark obersevations and creates a coping mechanism that drives her to action while allowing herself to submit to change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Incest and Cannibalism

dean_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

evjohn13's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

franklola's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

nevenolson's review

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is amazing. I don't know if I would have read it, if someone told me what it was about. It is sad. There is a ton of death and human suffering in this. I would recommend this book to anyone. It has themes that seem all to relevant. It is the idea of what could very easily happen to the United States, if capitalist greed continues to be more important than human life. Read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail