Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler, Damian Duffy

32 reviews

izzitoso11's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape, Violence

larbster90's review

5.0

challenging dark sad 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

neleusb's review against another edition

3.0

dark 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: Yes

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loved the novel version and im not sure that this holds up. the art style is SO compelling (if not a little inconsistent with size and perspective) but i couldnt get past the vast majority of the text being pasted journal entries. it worked in the novel but bored me in the graphic novel version- i loved the moments that didnt rely on the journals and had dialogue or visuals to tell the story. overall a good refresh before i read the novel’s sequel but i dont know that ill come back to this version. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Slavery

Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail

ida_reads_77's review

5.0

dark emotional 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Trafficking

Minor: Suicide, Cannibalism

ramblingbookworm's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury

whatthemel1's review

4.0

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“I think necessity drew me to the series” - John Jennings (265). Great adaptation of a brilliant author’s work. It has been interesting to reflect on graphic novels and the “narrative power of comics” (267) — the genre’s conventions that Duffy and Jennings used to bring Butler’s story to life in a new way. I do feel the graphic novel was not able to fully capture elements of Butler’s original work, but that would have been an impossibility. As an educator using this graphic novel in an undergraduate seminar, I am especially appreciative of the wonderful teaching resources at the conclusion of the book. I eagerly await reading the authors’ Parable of the Talents adaptation, to be released in April 2025.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Classism

Minor: Vomit

mslauraeb's review against another edition

3.75

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Cannibalism

eugenegm's review

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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 The Parable of the sower has become even more prophetic as time has moved on. Our world is more like Butler's world than ever before, and if we don't act now to make the changes we need to, we can all look forward to a world that is nothing but rape, torture, and endless enslavement to the rich. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Xenophobia

koreanlinda's review

4.0

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This is my second time reading this book, and I felt only more disturbed by it than the first time around because now it is 2025. The world in Lauren's life seems more dystopian than the US at the moment, but not much different. The dystopian world, imagined and written in 1993, has now become a reality. The corporate greed and violence, climate disasters (massive fire in California), human trafficking, and refugees moving north especially felt very real, too real. 

If you read this book in the '90s, it would have served as a good warning for how things can go wrong in the future. But what can you do if you are living it now? (The story is set in 2024-2027.) Well, it could get worse. It is easy for us to deny that possibility because we don't want it to get worse, but that does not stop it from happening. Would you build a community like Lauren or just sit and watch? 

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in February 2025
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence

zantoryu's review

4.75

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, War, Classism