Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

99 reviews

courtsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elia_elizabeth_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective 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

3.75

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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, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

booksr4nerds's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

helliepad's review

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective fast-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

4.75

I never cared for science fiction or survivalist/dystopian novels but for some reason this book hit the spot. Maybe it's because Octavia E. Butler took great care in emphasizing community action and compassion as a way to save ourselves from our own premeditated hellfires. Maybe it's because the events of this book really do read like my current Twitter feed and newspapers. Maybe it's just really great, well-resewrched and thought out writing. Either way this was great and I highly recommend it but do mind the warnings for the book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Amazing, thought provoking yet simplistic writing. Its a shame how relevant this book still is 30 years later. A truly brilliant work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

laratboulos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

More than 1984, Brave New World, or other sci-fi widely considered prescient for the times we live in, Parable of the Sower is the most scarily accurate depiction of the 2020s I’ve ever read. And it manages to be hopeful and inspiring and visionary despite painting a terrifying picture of a global warming world on fire and how humans respond. A must read for everyone, truly. Octavia is brilliance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

juliahendrickson's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

jlaz_13's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

Much better than anything Heinlein ever wrote. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

This whole book is fantastic and complicated. I read it before the pandemic, then re read. Then I read the graphic novel. It’s set in 2024 and just the reality of how much this dystopia could really be our future is hard to take at times.
The idea that humans could really just go back to barely surviving because we can’t collectively be a community and then realizing we have to again become a community to again rise out of poverty and all these hellscapes…is a lot. Octavia was a genius and this is definitely a brilliant book but just a hard truth to take. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail