Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

22 reviews

paukinra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: Child death, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Gun violence, Ableism, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Racism, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

rlgreen91's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

 Where do I begin? Days after finishing, weeks after the book club discussion - there's just so much in this book to tackle. I mean, I don't really engage in literary criticism, but shouldn't more people be writing essays about this novel? Shouldn't we, as the public, talk about this book more beyond those interested in science fiction or Black literature or both? Why the f*ck is this book not considered a classic in the way that Infinite Jest is? You could argue that well, Parable of the Sower only came out in 1996 but Infinite Jest came out 3 years earlier, so...

Anyways, if I had to pick one topic about the book that is top of mind it would be Lauren's hyperempathy. I have a lot of thoughts of Lauren's disability, as evident by the many notes and marked pages in my copy. I can say that, when I think of the books I've read over my life, this is hands down the best portrayal I have encountered of what it is like to live with a mental illness. Granted, I could certainly read more literature by people with disabilities and mental illnesses, but I would be interested to see how their characters compare to Lauren. There's just so much that Butler hints at or suggests about how disabilities and mental illness affects people throughout the book.

One thing that comes to mind is how Lauren's mental illness wasn't just mental. Yes, her hyperempathy was a delusional disorder, and occurred within her mind, but it had real physical effects on her. She could, at certain times in life, start bleeding if she saw other people bleeding. If she sees someone on the ground due to pain, all of a sudden she's on the ground, unable to move as well. Even though the cause of her pain is entirely mental, she's still physically affected during any episodes. Her mental illness affected her physical health, which is something that I don't know that we've really grasped as a whole yet, or maybe we had and forgot at some point.

 Another thing that comes to mind is how societal norms and expectations of race, gender, age, etc. can affect a person's experiences with disabilities and others' perceptions of people with disabilities. There's a moment in the novel where Lauren realizes that having hyperempathy, and its resulting reaction to pain, is probably a lot more accepted for women than it is for men. It's an aha moment that took her a bit to have, and you can see how it colors her interactions with Mora.

There's just so much in this book, not just about living with disabilities and mental illnesses, but also about community building, understanding when and how to trust and be vulnerable with others, what it means to really be secure in life, climate change, and so so much more. This is definitely a book I plan to reread at some point, fully expecting to come away amazed with a different set of new perspectives. Let's just hope that 2024 in real life isn't as bleak as the one in the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Mental illness, Rape, and Animal death

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Kidnapping, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Death, Murder, Blood, Sexism, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Drug use, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Pedophilia

Minor: Addiction, Gaslighting, Ableism, and Classism

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Much better than anything Heinlein ever wrote. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Incest

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.0

This book feels incredibly and scarily prescient for 1993. It's a perfect and haunting example of how science fiction can hold political criticism and social imagination. Also wildly fascinating futuristic disability representation and religious system. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, and Ableism

Minor: Cannibalism and Slavery

alexture's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Police brutality

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

beliboville's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Slavery, and Torture

amelreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Murder, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

Minor: Transphobia, Medical trauma, Racism, Ableism, and Animal death

empathephant's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

The most important dystopic novel I've ever read. The content is very uncomfortable, but I think everyone who can should read it. Particularly prescient in 2020.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Police brutality, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, Sexism, and Addiction

Minor: Ableism

America is essentially experiencing a complete breakdown.