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viporras's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
raptorq's review against another edition
- 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
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
mymyfrog's review
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War
reading_bunny's review against another edition
- 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
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Review:
I only read this book because it was assigned reading for a university class but I really enjoyed it!
The themes and topics were really heavy but the way that Lauren talked about them makes it both more palatable and devastating.
The whole climate apocalypse theme is always fun to read, especially when it's written in the past, so debit seems to be more if a reality as the years go by.
The whole book has the theme of perspective with how Lauren sees the world and her opinions, and how others see the world and their opinions, it's a huge point if conflict in the book and makes Lauren add to and change Earthseed
I have MAJOR beef with that guy though! I don't even wanna wrote his name because he is the same age as my FATHER and that is gross!!!! Plus the way he sees Earthseed and Laurens want to spread the word and start a community pisses me off.
ANYWAYS
would I recommend this book to others? No, not unless I knew they would be able to handle the extensive triggers and themes of the book.
Would I personally read this again? Absolutely not, but I did really enjoy the read though
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Classism
shansometimes's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
If you find climate change or apocalypse scenarios scary or even interesting, you'll be into this. There's also a strong female lead character, Lauren, who is 15 years old when the story starts. She, her family, and her tight-knit group of neighbors live in an isolated (semi-protected from danger by a wall) neighborhood. They're trying to survive in a world that is being wrecked by climate catastrophe, crony capitalism, and violence driven by desperation, drug abuse, and extreme need.
This is my second book by Octavia E. Butler, and while I enjoyed Kindred, what she accomplished (and predicted) with Parable of the Sower blew me away even more. I was intrigued all the way through, in distress half the time, and impressed by most of it.
It read a bit like a YA novel, which I guess makes sense given the lead character's age. A big age gap relationship was introduced, which felt weird and unnecessary. I would've liked more context about what led up to Lauren's world becoming what it did. There are a lot of elements that mostly work well together, including Lauren's hyper-empathy disorder and the new religion she's trying to form, Earthseed. I found the amount of religion stuff tiring at times. I also didn't love the book's ending, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the story continues in the sequel, Parable of the Talents.
To sum it up, Parable of the Sower is a powerful and prophetic book that creates an unnervingly accurate picture of what happens when environmental and economic issues go unchecked. I expected to love this and I did—it was just a much more brutal and bleak read than I expected.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug abuse
sammymilfort's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, and Kidnapping
emergencily's review
4.25
The teenaged protagonist, Lauren, lives in a small, majority Black gated community just outside LA, led by her pastor father. As the world deteriorates around them, Lauren loses faith in the Christian teachings her father preaches, and begins to secretly develop her own religious system that she calls "Earthseed" -- the belief that change is the only constant and akin to God, and that humanity is destined to leave the doomed earth and live in the stars. Her community is poor, but relative to the desperate poverty outside their guarded walls, downright privileged. They manage to eke out a living through mutual aid and redistribution of their scant resources and running armed watches. This tenuous peace is shattered when invaders knock down the walls to pillage the community. With few survivors left, Lauren decides to travel north to try to seek refuge across the border in Canada. Along the way, she picks up other survivors and spreads belief in Earthseed among their small group.
I thought the world that Butler built was fascinating and eerie, like a funhouse mirror reflection of our current world. She captured all the same sociopolitical and environmental problems we have and dialed them to a hypothetical max, envisioning the apocalypse not as a singular event, but as a slow, downward spiral wrought by environmental devastation and selfishly destructive human responses to such. The world as we know it ends with a long, drawn out whimpering death knell, not a bang. I can imagine how fresh this book's take on a post-apocalyptic world was when it was published in the 90s, with its deliberate focus on a Black woman's experiences, on imagining the shape of race and gender relations in a crumbling empire, and its parallels of slavery imagined in a future fascist state. It was horrifying, scary and a crazy page-turner that I stayed up to finish in one night.
But I felt like the climax of the book (the destruction of the community) came a little early. The second half of the book sort of fizzles out and drags on repetitively as she wanders down the highway picking up stray survivors. Like a monster-of-the-week format show, every chapter she finds a scrappy and vulnerable survivor, earns their begrudging trust, and inducts them into Earthseed - wash and repeat like 10 times in a row.
I also felt like it was hard to understand Lauren's Earthseed religion and her emotional stakes in it, although a lot of her core beliefs were super fascinating -- the idea of God as a Trickster, as an intangible and ever-changing concept. But at times, I felt that Earthseed existed less as a religion with actual impact on the world and characters, than as sprinkled blocks of exposition in the book. Maybe it was my own problem connecting to it as a generally not very spiritual person myself? But I also know she planned this series as a trilogy (sadly passing before she could complete the third book) so it's possible she handles the Earthseed plotline and religious themes more in depth in later books.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
dragongirl271's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Cannibalism
aniloracccc's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Cannibalism
oddpilot97's review against another edition
It’s too dark for me right now. 😬 There were mentions of rape in the first 10 minutes and more soon after. Plus a completed suicide. Really bleak.
Another reviewer said they felt it was less dystopian or post-apocalyptic and more apocalyptic. I didn’t get far in but that reflects my feelings.
I have no doubt this is an important work, but I need to protect my brain space by setting this down.
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Violence, and Blood