Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

90 reviews

twu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

elaichipod's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

I ended up enjoying this book more than I expected. The entire story felt like a journey because of the diary format, and it makes me wonder how the next book will carry on. The plot was not explicit at first, but I still liked the flow and sequence of events. Coincidentally, I was driving right by the San Luis Reservoir around the time the group passed through it, and that made me excited to get through the book. I’m still curious about what exactly happened to Lauren’s dad, but I think his disappearance was necessary for Lauren to grow. However, her whole Earthseed thing is not something I’m completely on board with. I can understand that in desperate times, the idea of some direction and togetherness helped keep Lauren’s group together but Earthseed itself still is a distant idea. I did love watching her little group grow in numbers and in trust.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Cannibalism

imogenclendinning's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

decie's review against another edition

5.0

I'm usually not a fan of dystopian books, but this one is stunning. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Incest

pumpkinbisque's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

super heartbreaking but also supremely hopeful dystopian fiction. gritty, graphic, and gory, but never felt gratuitous. the world lauren and the various people she cares about inhabit is dark and every man for himself, but i loved how lauren did not let this harden her heart. butler did such a good job of balancing between blind optimism and complete lack of empathy. her characters constantly discussed the morality of living in a world where if you don't strike, the other person will, and how morality is relative. this book felt like an answer to doomer mentality in our day and age. sure, we could all eat each other and never care for anyone, butler says, but wouldn't you rather hold on to your humanity through empathy and loyalty? there was also commentary on race and racism which i found really fascinating, and how racism can weaken an already weak society. i appreciated the frank manner in which lauren looked at race and how she used power and privilege afforded some groups to protect the larger group.

when the earthseed group began forming, they protected each other through various stereotypes and assumptions (harry being white affording protection to nonwhite people, lauren posing as a man to protect herself and zahra, the whole group convening around the children) and i found that super interesting and effective. the religion aspect was fascinating, too, and i appreciated how earthseed was based on discourse and discussion by the people that adhere to it. nice change of pace from modern evangelical christianity.

i took off .25 because sometimes there was repetition of words or phrases/words or phrases felt juvenile which could have been tweaked a tiny bit. emphasis on sometimes, though, cuz butler is a master of prose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Abandonment

madelinekramer2021's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

itsnai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elisamurillo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

morphashark's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Really interesting kind of post apocalypse story, emphasising the importance of community and constructing communities, and how mythmaking binds people together. It's a "kind of post apocalypse" as it has all the hallmarks of a post apocalypse setting, but unusually it is noticeably mid-apocalypse. The USA still exists in some form and it's clear that things are still mid collapse, and that semblance of remaining "civilisation" and the hope of a return to the past is what makes the setting interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

Some of the things I've tagged here like sexual assault are not extremely detailed fortunately but more than just mentioned in passing. Even when the description itself is not explicit the impact of these things on the group is more detailed.

rachel_reads_it_all's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

T.S. Eliot wrote “This is the Way the World Ends: Not with a Bang but a Whimper” and in reading Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower this statement has never been clearer. Butler published this story in 1993, setting it more than 20 years in the future at a time where humanity has been impacted globally, but the focus is on the destabilization of the United States. 

Unlike many other dystopian novels, there was not one catastrophic disaster that hit, rather, it was a disturbingly realistic breakdown of society through economic impacts like massive inflation and unsustainable socioeconomic gaps in income; significant shifts the seasons due climate impact; and a massive repeal of constitutional laws stripping the humanity out society.

The story revolves around the character of Lauren Olamina and her struggles to not just survive, but to understand her role in the future and of her very existence. She creates her own vision and philosophy for the future that is part Biblical, doomsayer, and cultish in turn. Armed with her philosophy, go bag, and other survivors, she heads out north for safety from the anarchy of society and a chance to make her vision a reality. 

It took me 6 days to read this book, when it should have taken me one, maybe two nights at the most. I consistently found myself stopping to mark a quote or a statement that made me reflect, do some research and think critically about what I was reading.  It is one of the things that I appreciate and don’t conversely at the same time; because while brilliantly written, Butler’s work always digs into my psyche and lives there long after the story itself has ended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ( five stars).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism