A review by pnwbibliophile
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This novel was replete with pain and yet it made me feel absolutely nothing. From the tone to the characters, everything was monotone and devoid of emotion. Characters see rape, cannibalism, child murder/rape, mutilation, arson, neo-slavery and yet not enough reflection was devoted to give some meaningful purpose to why Octavia Butler put us through all that pain. This made it feel like pain porn being told to us by characters who don’t care. Characters were all stoic types and lacked depth. Worse, the main character has an empathy power which makes her feel others pleasure or pain amplified, yet she is lacking any actual empathy herself. I tried hard not to be offended by that as an empath and failed. If you set out to write a character empaths wouldn’t connect with, it would be Lauren. What killed it for me is all the pain without an iota of hope. You have to give me a glimmer of hope in your writing or you will completely lose me as a reader.  The one merit is that the imagined dystopia was realistic and often eerily paralleled our present despite being written in the 1990s. This reminded me of American War, a novel I also didn’t enjoy.  I liked her other novel, Kindred, but would not recommend this one.