Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

99 reviews

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. 

---

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

bookmaddie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

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

heidipolkissa82's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

neonfuzz's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment

chloebethx_'s review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gemmascott's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.25

Published in the early 90s, The Parable of the Sower is set in the 2020s, in a California where climate change has led to the collapse of society, more or less. Wealth inequality is massive, with the rich living in gated communities and the poor living on the streets or a form of indentured servitude managed be private corporations. Lauren, the main character, belongs to a small middle class - a precarious existence within a comparatively insecure gated community, limited education and an ever-present threat of scarcity or even collapse. 

While clearly a work of fiction, the author offers a remarkably prescient view of life in the real 2020s - working from home and a fear of outside are now common to all of us, while wildfires and water shortages are becoming part of our new reality. The slave-owning corporations with monopolies across multiple industries have practices which echo those of companies like Amazon, as well as America’s south during the 19th century, it seems uncomfortably easy to imagine them moving further down this path in the aftermath of the Trump era. 

What the book does surprisingly well is that it captures the experiences of a generation for whom progress has not happened, whose parents were able to access a better quality of life than their own. As a millennial born just a few years before the book’s release, I felt the sting of this keenly. 

The religious aspects of the book felt a little forced at times, and I’m not sure how I feel about them, although the basic philosophy is sound. Some of the events in the book also felt a little far-fetched, in terms of the outcomes for its characters. The character also feels as though she has been written to be older than her age, by at least a few years. 

I really enjoyed this book though and look forward to reading the sequel! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

I read Dawn by Octavia Butler during my freshman year in college and swore to myself I would read more of her work but I never got around to it until now. For that, I’m kicking myself. This book was hard to get through because the allegory of what could happen in the future is a much closer reality than I had hoped. This story is a warning, a premonition, a glimpse into a very scary future. Exploring themes of government corruption, climate change, extreme poverty, inability to live without creature comforts, drug abuse, and violence Butler tells a story that in many ways doesn’t seem that far off from being a reality. The characters are well-developed and easy to love and the story is terrible yet truthful. I can’t wait to read more of this series and more of Butler’s work. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

margardenlady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring tense slow-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

Dystopian and set in a time (2024-28) just a little too close to today for my comfort. This story of a young woman coming of age and simultaneously leading a rag tag group of others north to something better than LA can offer is at once horrifying and hopeful. Lauren is an inspiration in her preparation for disaster and her wisdom in dealing with human reality, cultivating loyalty and self sufficiency and fighting greed and abuse. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, and Abandonment