Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

8 reviews

antijeffbozo_love2read's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

viatryx's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, and Pregnancy

lemonsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

"A sower went out to sow their seed; and as they sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell upon the thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold. " - The Bible, Authorized King James Version, St. Luke 8 5-8

This is a classic for a reason, and should be required reading, frankly. The present Butler describes is only scifi in that it was speculative in the time she wrote it. While things are not this bad in the US yet, I still qualify that with the word 'yet', and the many parallels to our current situation are a constant reminder that we may not be walking in the general direction of North through the rotting corpse of our country, but we are within a stones throw of it. Lakes dried down to fractions of their former size is actively occuring, drinking water is scarce and only getting scarcer. We have a president named a version of Don, elected in 2024, on the platform of "Make American Great Again", in some cases gladly offering up our own rights in the name of a promise so esoteric and decoupled from our actual current situation it almost feels like we place votes on what best fantasy novel we want to believe is true the most. 

"I wish you could have known this country when it was still salvageable"

The question begs, if the country ultimately ended up in the situation it was in, was it ever really salvageable? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

lindseygcarden's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

keyradiator's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

This book is really a marvel. Octavia Butler's writing is accessible, evocative, crisp, and visceral; reading her and Ursula K. Le Guin made me realize I took entirely too long reading several mediocre science fiction books from more mainstream authors.

There is a thing or two in this book that are structurally suboptimal, but overall, the pacing is biting and cohesive, the characters have deeeeep stories and flaws, and the world building is some of the best I've ever read.

This book is dark. You can't quite prepare yourself for just how dark it gets, yet, somehow Butler manages to make a beam of hope cut through all of the noise that carries you through. Please read this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Vomit, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and War

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

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

punkhunk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Octavia Butler managed to reel me in immediately. i was so captivated by this book i struggled to put it down. highly recommend this, all of the themes are relevant to now, especially important now. 

this book may end up influencing my own religious beliefs, and it's a work of fiction. the belief is real, despite the book taking place in an alternate future of our world. 

i do see where Butler is coming from with her depiction of what she was observing 30 years ago. we may still even get to the point of ecological and societal collapse she describes here, if we don't snap out of our war ridden ways. 

amazing book. please read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Excrement, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Murder

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy