Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

La Parabole du semeur by Octavia E. Butler

559 reviews

falseprophet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

lauren and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year

my second butler read. the relationships in this book are... suspect but.... anyway.. read in about 4 hrs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Incest and Vomit

luis_vieira's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Racism, Torture, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Classism

readingorknittingatalltimes's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Felt like an abrupt ending and also seems like all she wanted to do was

build a religious cult

which I guess makes sense considering her background. Bleak book, definitely feels like a possible reality which is very unfortunate. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sleepy_b's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

rhymeswithcarmen's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

Absolutely devastating. I don't think there was ever a time when this was an easy read, but right now in 2024 it's maybe as difficult as it has ever been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

aktivmuede's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

ravenrobbins's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring sad tense medium-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? No

4.25

Intense. Very good and very nerve wracking in the same breath.

I think I need to read something bubbly next…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sammymilfort's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, and Kidnapping

annatollia's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death

nonamenogender's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

I loved many aspects of this book. I think the slow descent into chaos is more realistic and frightening than a nuclear apocalypse. I think Lauren is an interesting and compelling protoganist. I love how we are experiencing this story through her journal entries, and Lauren's account is not 100% reliable. My biggest criticism of this book is how it portrays and discusses substance use. 

The crazies/paints/junkies in the book are all murderous psychopaths who take pleasure in burning things and people. They are portrayed as less than human, monsters. And their behavior IS monstrous, but we get no explanation for this other than the drug makes watching fire better than sex. None of the primary characters, other than Keith, who is also a monster, use drugs.

The moment I kept waiting for that never came was either for Lauren to meet a drug user who doesn't fulfill the mold established earlier, or for the crazies to be more than just junkies, and some kind of violent political group or criminal enterprise. But no, their violence is always senseless and brutal.

This wouldn't bother me so much if the drug "pyro" wasn't such a major part of the storytelling. It plays on the racist fears around the crack epidemic, but not in any way that challenges them. The only hint that how Lauren describes drug users is not accurate to the world she lives in, is that her perspective is often naive, and sometimes narrow minded. Butler says the parable books are what she imagined could happen if the worst of societies problems were allowed to continue unchecked. in that context, "pyro" is the least realistic aspect of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic