Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by cacophonyofpages
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
My first read of 2025 and it was so so disappointing. I honestly don't understand the acclaim that this book has.
I’d say the writing itself isn’t atrocious, and that’s about the only good thing I can say for Parable of the Sower.
The main character, Lauren, is absurd. She’s supposed to be hyper-sensitive and hyper-empathetic, yet she comes across as emotionless and detached. It doesn’t add up. Her diary entries are so flat and toneless, they feel like they were written by someone stripped of emotion rather than someone supposedly overwhelmed by feelings and sensations. The book keeps telling us she’s this deeply emotional, intuitive person, but it never shows us. The disconnect is baffling.
And then there’s her made-up religion, Earthseed. It’s pretentious beyond belief. Somehow, people across a broken and chaotic country decide to follow this 18-year-old’s vague, fortune-cookie wisdom like it’s gospel. Really? In a world falling apart, these people have nothing better to do than listen to her preach? It’s laughable. The entire premise feels ridiculous, as if the author wants us to take this delusional teenager seriously as a self appointed prophet. I couldn’t. I found myself laughing at times at her contrived 'wisdom'.
I gave up about 220 pages in , at a point when I felt that if I were to roll my eyes anymore they'd roll right off my head, I ended up just skimming the last 100 or so pages. I couldn’t handle another page of Lauren’s sanctimonious ramblings. If I’d known this book was essentially about a self-important kid founding a cult based on the most incoherent, half-baked philosophy ever, I wouldn’t have picked it up. Going into it blind was a mistake.
It’s frustrating because the book could have been so much better. There are big, important topics here—racism, sexism, class issues, climate change—but they’re either underdeveloped or drowned out by Lauren’s endless drivel about Earthseed. The beginning showed some promise. There were glimpses of a compelling dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, but most of the interesting plot threads went absolutely nowhere. Instead of exploring this society and its collapse, we got bogged down in Lauren’s preachy cult gatherings.
I wanted so much more from this book. I wanted a rich, thought-provoking exploration of a broken world and the people trying to survive in it. What I got was a tedious, overwrought narrative about a teenager who thinks she’s the second coming. It was a disappointment, through and through.
I’d say the writing itself isn’t atrocious, and that’s about the only good thing I can say for Parable of the Sower.
The main character, Lauren, is absurd. She’s supposed to be hyper-sensitive and hyper-empathetic, yet she comes across as emotionless and detached. It doesn’t add up. Her diary entries are so flat and toneless, they feel like they were written by someone stripped of emotion rather than someone supposedly overwhelmed by feelings and sensations. The book keeps telling us she’s this deeply emotional, intuitive person, but it never shows us. The disconnect is baffling.
And then there’s her made-up religion, Earthseed. It’s pretentious beyond belief. Somehow, people across a broken and chaotic country decide to follow this 18-year-old’s vague, fortune-cookie wisdom like it’s gospel. Really? In a world falling apart, these people have nothing better to do than listen to her preach? It’s laughable. The entire premise feels ridiculous, as if the author wants us to take this delusional teenager seriously as a self appointed prophet. I couldn’t. I found myself laughing at times at her contrived 'wisdom'.
I gave up about 220 pages in , at a point when I felt that if I were to roll my eyes anymore they'd roll right off my head, I ended up just skimming the last 100 or so pages. I couldn’t handle another page of Lauren’s sanctimonious ramblings. If I’d known this book was essentially about a self-important kid founding a cult based on the most incoherent, half-baked philosophy ever, I wouldn’t have picked it up. Going into it blind was a mistake.
It’s frustrating because the book could have been so much better. There are big, important topics here—racism, sexism, class issues, climate change—but they’re either underdeveloped or drowned out by Lauren’s endless drivel about Earthseed. The beginning showed some promise. There were glimpses of a compelling dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, but most of the interesting plot threads went absolutely nowhere. Instead of exploring this society and its collapse, we got bogged down in Lauren’s preachy cult gatherings.
I wanted so much more from this book. I wanted a rich, thought-provoking exploration of a broken world and the people trying to survive in it. What I got was a tedious, overwrought narrative about a teenager who thinks she’s the second coming. It was a disappointment, through and through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Incest, Rape, and Torture