Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

55 reviews

laurenlimabean's review

dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

4.75

I think others can agree that this book is 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

sbcrra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

totesyotes's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

An absolute masterpiece. You will double take at Butler's prescience and prophetic portrayal of a 2024 united states gone wrong, written in 1993. You will double take. You will say "wtf" out loud. Your friends will ask how your book is going, and you will respond "Terrible." with a smile. Readers be warned of a very, very long list of trigger warnings. Take care of yourself and be gentle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Gigantic content warning. Incredible book.

cierramorg's review

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.5

Begging you not to read this if you’re mentally unstable or in general trying to have a good day. 

My major qualms (it feels illegal to critique Octavia Butler) include the main character and her Earthseed religion. Nothing Lauren does is consistent and she reads more as a robot than a human being who is supposedly hyper-empathetic. And tbh the Earthseed plot came across really culty and angsty, which I guess makes sense since she’s a teenager. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

courtneyreyem's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

mollyrook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

3.5

This one was a hard one for me to review, because in lots of respects it is an incredible book and a brilliant look at what a dissolving US could look like. But I didn't actually love it. I found the Earthseed religion part of it distinctly uncompelling—why does this 18-year-old think she has stumbled on the truth of the universe and is going to gather a whole religion of followers? It doesn't ring true for me. I would have preferred it if her following grew just because she was a good person, and her philosophy developed along the way.

Also, even if she had to grow up far too soon, Lauren didn't feel like a teenager at any point to me. She was too eloquent, too reasonable, too consistently level-headed. Her language also felt too old—no teenager says that someone "soiled themself." I think she would have been more compelling as a young adult because she wouldn't have felt as anachronistic to me.

So, I didn't love it, which is disappointing because I expected to. Still very glad I read it, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

emerentina's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

jenna0818's review

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but I found it very dull and matter of fact, with less reflections and commentary than I had hoped. It was just reporting one terrible event after another, an apocalypse world unraveling while the protagonist barely emotes and starts a new faith that doesn’t quite make sense.  This book was likely prescient in 1993, it was certainly shocking to start reading about the 2024 election when I started the novel blindly at that exact day, but in 2024 it feels lacking in its inner world building and character development that would make the chaos of the events feel more meaningful, real, and scary. It feels like a chore to think of reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

novel_nymph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic