Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

131 reviews

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Gaslighting, and Classism

anntharai's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

I can’t believe it took me this long to read a book by Butler. 

The writing is engaging, the story devastating, and the whole concept deeply thought provoking. 

So much of this story is terrifying and stomach churning and yet …. 

Depressingly unsurprising.

 Maybe that’s cynical but, or maybe it’s just a shame. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

izchandler's review

adventurous dark reflective 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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cfell's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

rattification's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

katiebartmess's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

This book did what it was supposed to do: which was be deeply unsettling. First half of the book was a little hard to push through because it was pretty slow. Definitely picked up half way through but in a very dark nature. The writing was pretty incredible, the story just lacked a little bit in my opinion. Important to remember that this was written thirty years ago, it easily felt like it was written within the last five years just because of how spot on some of these predictions were. One of my biggest hesitations about this book is Lauren’s relationship with her father

and how strongly she reveres him as a good man. He is deeply flawed and even abusive. Admittedly as a victim of that it would make sense for Lauren not to see his faults. However the reader gets a high level understanding from their own observations and from character’s perspective about both obvious and nuanced problems in this dystopian world. Commentary is made on religious abuse of power, murder, racism, sexism, rape, greed etc through the entire book, practically on every page. But Lauren (who I believe we are supposed to think of as extremely mature for her age (also debatable)) never once confronts her father’s participation in the continuation of the world and culture that she so strongly resents.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

ellenwilberg's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

shadereads's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide, Torture, and Cannibalism

aseel_reads's review

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? It's complicated

3.5

not really sure how i feel about this one. i thought it was an interesting premise, though the blurb is pretty wrong at times... the writing was easy to read (i think that is butler thing though). it touched on some pretty hard topics but it wasn't overly descriptive, so i didn't mind it. the pacing was quite off/slow, and i didn't really care for the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

toastranger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? No

4.0

Oof. This book was compelling and horrifying. It hit waaayyyy too close on several topics, and has inspired a few new nightmares for me. I enjoyed it immensely, but could have done without the constant addition of new characters in the second half. They felt more like padding/added plot than necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail