Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

61 reviews

drbex's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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A little too close to home at points. Especially considering it's set in 2024-2027!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

cfos27's review

5.0

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

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

ninahuynh's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Will definitely venture to read the book! Not too much a fan of the art style. I like the usage of lined paper to show her journal entries. It's kinda scary and weird to read a future book set in the dates we're currently living in- and some of this happened, even if not exactly!!! *All the fires in CA*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation

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

what_karla_reads's review

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

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

bookishsleepyhead's review

4.0

dark reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault

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