Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

56 reviews

runatal99's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Classism, Hate crime, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Misogyny

aleksanski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction and Adult/minor relationship

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, Child death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcoholism

raelinrou's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, War, Pregnancy, Racism, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, and Violence

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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

4.5

Without a doubt one of the most chilling and true-to-life dystopias I've ever encountered. Octavia E. Butler understood American culture in ways that very few writers have I think, and so many of her predictions of the future still feel scarily possible. 

However, I think that reading this book only one year out from when the beginning of it is set means that I also saw all of the ways in which this is NOT entirely the current trajectory of this country, or at least not one we're going to reach as quickly as Butler thought (thank goodness for small mercies or something I suppose?). 

I love the journal entry format. I loved Lauren as a narrator. She's so intelligent and observant and sensitive and yet still so young, and that combination of factors means that she is very frank about the state of the world in a way that does a great service to us as readers.

This book broke my heart and made me angry. It made me get attached to characters without even realizing it and then ripped them away from me--and what a familiar feeling that is.

The cast does get quite bloated toward the end, and I almost feel like the book might have benefitted from a couple more chapters.

I think this is the first dystopian book I've read that mentioned tampons. And the gun presence was oh so very American.

The way this book handles race and gender is so sensitive and so REAL. God Octavia E. Butler was amazing.

I will definitely be reading the sequel soon.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Slavery, Trafficking, Classism, Homophobia, Racism, and Rape

Additional warning for a relationship with a really big age gap (older adult and eighteen-year-old), plus I'm sure I'm missing other potentially triggering content. Basically, read this book with care. It is VERY heavy.

alex123's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Slavery, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Drug use

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Violence, Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Police brutality, Racism, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Sexual assault

keato's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This book is so unlike other books I’ve read. It started off pretty slow and I didn’t really get into it until like 1/3 of the way through, but wow it’s so thought provoking and beautiful and I ended up loving it. It’s wild to make the general mood of such a violent and terrifying book reflective. And it’s wild to have such a reflective book without focusing much on emotions. Like,

Lauren does not process her grief about literally everyone she knows dying. And it doesn’t seem to change the way she acts. She doesn’t get irrational or angry or anything, she just focuses on what she needs to do and adopts strays along the journey

. Ugh I’m so excited to talk about this book at book club.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Incest, Torture, Trafficking, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia, Slavery, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Drug abuse

vrkinase0411's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I can now see why people find this work to be prophetic. When we stand still long enough to look around us we can absolutely see what our hypo-empathetic and lack of history will turn us into.

I can't say I'm not offended, however, in Butler's portrayal of poor and homeless people along with conflating middle class "privileges" as something inherently communal.  While, she does draw attention to the widening rich-poor gap, the ACTUAL poor seem to figuratively discarded for a sympathetic view of middle class destruction. Not sure that was her intention, but the demonizing of addicts and actual poor people while engendering sympathy for the loss of the middle class feels on brand for neoliberalism.

Aside from that, it was pointedly written to examine our current conditions and really look at where we are headed.

Olamina makes stark obersevations and creates a coping mechanism that drives her to action while allowing herself to submit to change.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Classism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Police brutality, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Incest and Cannibalism

dean_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, War, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Excrement, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Bullying, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Drug use, Genocide, Pregnancy, Addiction, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Car accident, Murder, and Stalking