Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

20 reviews

shontellereads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

My first Octavia E. Butler! This was a slow start but did pick up around halfway through. What i liked: the bleak setting and the character work. What I didn't like: the religious element (just not really my cuppa tea), the sharing, and causuality around domestic violence (although this is hard to say if the book has a casual attitude about it or the MC does, either way imo a father who beats his kids is a shite man).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child abuse, Slavery, Rape, Chronic illness, and Child death

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

The very beginning of the book is very preachy, well a lot of this book is preachy because it's literally the story of a young woman creating her own religion. I'd say the story was overall enjoyable despite the preachiness of it all. I really enjoyed the way this was written and how, it started out hopeless, like a lot of Butler's works. Then, there's a little light at the end of the tunnel and the story suddenly becomes hopeful.

This is my second time reading Parable of the Sower and I finally understand that it's about community and keeping one another safe. Protecting one another in crisis. That is the answer to the question, "what do we do when disaster strikes?"

I also love the diversity in this book. The characters were very diverse like all other Butler books.

The beginning of the book was a bit slow even though the book was interesting overall. Therefore, I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Incest, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Murder, Cursing, Slavery, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Body horror, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse

plainpaige's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A stunning work, gripping, remarkably prescient for its time. Butler may have had the timeline off by a few years, and been too optimistic about the pace of climate change, but she clearly saw the coming downturn of society that we're living through. We would all do well to read this enthralling book and follow its characters' example of preparing for, finding, building, and protecting community when societal safeguards fail. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Addiction, Child death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Kidnapping, Racism, Incest, Infidelity, Death of parent, Excrement, Police brutality, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Sexism

jaymem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Child death, Violence, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Trafficking, Slavery, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Grief, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Cannibalism, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, and Police brutality

jlaz_13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Vomit, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide, and Kidnapping

drinaiscold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Child death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Blood, Sexual assault, Murder, Animal death, Violence, Racism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Racism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Trafficking, and Suicidal thoughts

schmidtly's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Chronic illness

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

egmamaril's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Drug use, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Rape

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence