Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

110 reviews

mollison's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

takarakeireads's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

phew... this is a rough book to read because Octavia is a genius and she basically predicted the world we live in now 30 years ago

The book starts in 2024... a dystopian society, told from the perspective of a teenage girl's journal, who is trying to create her own new religion. Even though some really horrible things happen in the book, the overall tone is rather matter-of-fact and for that reason the storytelling arc fell a tad flat (it's just very different from typical plot pacing that I've read, so maybe that's why). I have to see how it ends so... yeah I'll read the sequel :')

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Rape, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Grief, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Classism

maryellen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

jad15215's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Classism

vee_eb's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

4.5

Prescient novel. Butler drew from real history and then current events to accurately predict what the 2020s are shaping up to be. And it's dark.

Favourite quote:
"It's better to teach people than to scare them, Lauren. If you scare them and nothing happens, they lose their gear, and you lose some of your authority with them. It's harder to scare them a second time, harder to teach them, harder to win back their trust. Best to begin by teaching."

The only thing I would say is that because I'm not religious in the slightest, some of the belief system doesn't make much of an impression on me as I shy away from religion in all forms. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

yxreads's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I found the novel to be very thought-provoking with regard to religion and what it means to believe in a religion. Perhaps I need more time to think about the novel itself (as I am unsure whether this was intentional due to the main character's main flaw), but I felt somewhat disconnected to whatever was happening in the novel, and it did not bring out as much emotions as I thought it would have based on how horrifying some of the events were. Overall, though, the novel was a very moving expression of community and tenacity, while exposing the darker sides of human nature.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

dontlittledo's review

dark emotional 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

2.75

The actual written language is good, but the storyline is 75% build-up... And the ending is abrupt, incomplete. It almost feels thrown together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

silverhill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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.

the_book_nook's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy