Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Parable of the Sower

This will be my 3rd Octavia Butler novel. I was really looking forward to this one, and it felt spooky reading this in 2024 when that is the year this 1993 novel takes place (at least to start.)

I saw a lot of people had problems with the format of the dates, and the skipping days and sometimes weeks. This didn’t really affect my reading experience. I actually somewhat liked it, there’s a lot of periods throughout the book where they’re just traveling for days with nothing that significant occurring, so it makes sense.

Overall, I thought it was a smart concept. The events that take place that lead us to where the novel starts, this post-apocalyptic but still capitalist society seems very realistic, something that could very well happen in our lifetime. Until you start asking too many questions. Like how are property taxes a thing but people are setting fires everywhere and squatting wherever they can find?

For a while, I thought this book felt very juvenile. In a YA type way - and I couldn’t figure out if I just thought that because our MC is 15 at the start. I think the problem is just what N.K. Jemison speaks of in her forward, Lauren feels too much like what a middle aged woman THINKS a 15 year old is like. I get that she’s very mature for her age, but it felt a little trite during some parts. Specifically Earthseed which I felt lacked depth -- a lot of it was just too surface level for me to consider it believable for these fully grown adults to be following her blindly into the seed.

And then we can’t forget the elephant in the room.

The age gap relationship. What is going awnnn. Why is this the second wide age-gap present in one of her books that makes me feel icky? Lauren is repeatedly comparing him to her father, understandably so, the man is the same age her father was when he disappeared. Is Butler trying to tell us Lauren is looking for her father in other men? Or is this a genuine connection? I’m unsure. All I know is I’m 2 books into the year and this is the second book I’ve read that has a icky relationship with someone old enough to be their father. Again - what is going on.

Regardless, the relationship with Lauren and her father touched me, and was one of my favorite things about this book, reminiscent of my own relationship with my father.

I wish we learned more about Lauren’s abilities and the drug her mom took that left her with these abilities. Hopefully that’s expanded in the sequel?

Speaking of the sequel - I feel like the ending to this book does feel like it’s missing a chapter. I have a feeling this is another case of the author sacrificing the ending for sake of blending the story into the sequel.

You might finish reading this and think I hated this book. My opinion is far from that. I really enjoyed this book as I do with most of Butler’s books. Despite the icky age gap relationship.

Content Warnings

maxicosi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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ashleybakerwrites's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is everything The Road by Cormac McCarthy wished it could have been. I'd say this is going to go down as one of those books that never really stops being talked about. It's my first Octavia Butler, but I immediately can tell why people are drawn to her writing style at the least. Loved the big concepts for a young girl- and although she was mature for her age- there were always things that kept it believable. It's definitely not a light read- read the TWs, nothing really happens "on-screen" it's talked about from a journaled perspective of what is going on. While the stuff about Earthseed may grate against some people's sensibilities, if you read this understanding it's not supposed to convert you to anything, you'll get around it. My favorite scenes were those that actually happened on the road. The village bits are so necessary for context, and Octavia really gets you into 'normal' before you are forced from safety. I loved almost everything about this book. I'd recommend the audio book- but I think you might experience this a bit more intensely by reading it more slowly. There is a way older, barely legal romance that develops at the end of the book- but in the time period/frame of reference it's respectful. Maybe could have done without that, but I think Octavia was trying to FOIL and be realistic with that one. So I wouldn't avoid the book because of that.

Content Warnings

apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I am a buffoon for waiting this long to read any of Ms. Butler's works. I finished this in February and immediately wanted to select it as my top read of 2024. Although this was written in 1993 taking place in 2024, it felt like Butler could have written this today based on current events.

This is a deeply unsettling and uncomfortable novel to read, but I still enjoyed it. It took me a few weeks to read on audio because I took breaks due to heavy content, but this is a novel I can see myself re-reading every few years or so. There's a graphic novel version I'm interested in reading for comparison as well.

The main character, Lauren, was on unlikeable, but in a relatable sort of way that made sense given her circumstances. She was making uncomfortable decisions that no one else in her community was willing to make, although she should never have been in such a position. Lauren, her family, her community, and frankly the world, are living in an extreme climate crisis where water is treated as a luxury commodity instead of a life giving necessity, and the police and emergency services are (expensive) for hire workers instead of working in the best interest of a community. (wow, this isn't familiar at all /s) These are just some of the extreme measures being taken against the regular people in this universe. Because of the extreme state of the world, there are "company towns" being constructed eerily similar to the mining towns of 1800s Appalachia or even slavery within the United States empire. Money is rarely given for payment, prices are intentionally inflated requiring workers to go into debt, therefore ensuring the workers are unable to leave because they owe the company labor (even though they were unfairly compensated and grossly overcharged for goods and services).

It was so frustrating to me that the adults in Lauren's life refused to acknowledge the truth surrounding them. Her father was the only one to admit that things were "bad", but no one else was willing to accept they lived in a dying town in danger of being

brutally attacked and killed.

Yes, Lauren was technically a teenager who shouldn't of had to worry about

climate crisis and murder and death

and a dozen other things, but she was at least willing to accept her reality and make efforts to improve her circumstances, which should have been her parents' responsibilities.

Lauren's relationship with Bankole was essentially my big issue with this novel. I'm not a fan of any age gap relationship, but especially not one where the older partner

could be the younger partner's grandparent

. It gives me the ick, but I was warned in advance by @katsmedialibrary that Butler's novels do tend to feature relationships of this nature.

Overall, this was an amazing work of literature. I know understand why Octavia E. Butler is such a well respected author and so many people say her work was so influential to modern science fiction writing today.

Content Warnings

cafejessnyc's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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annakagrace's review against another edition

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Too heavy for me right now, but I do want to revisit it.

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seph268's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative 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

Octavia Butler wrote a manual for survival our unprecedented times and we’ve all been overlooking it. Would absolutely recommend, cannot wait to reread.

Content Warnings

erikwmj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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