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A review by alina_leonova
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Characters
The protagonist and the POV character is a black teenage girl Lauren Olamina. The story is told through her diary entries. Trying to make sense of the world that is changing and becoming more and more dangerous while she's growing up, she comes up with her own religion. She is wise and observant beyond her years, even though she seems overconfident at times. She has agency, and she wants to shape her fate instead of passively going with the flow. She knows that everything will only get worse, and she's not going to sit around and wait. Instead, she's about to take matters in her own hands.
There are a lot of secondary characters introduced at different points in the story. I wouldn't say that I got to know them really well, but they all felt like real and diverse people. I didn't really like most of them, but their behavior made sense and I could easily distinguish between them.
World-building
The world-building is really interesting. The story starts in 2024, which is a very near future, and a really grim one, too. Some of the things seem prophetic: water shortages, soaring food prices, the resulting social chaos that scientists have been warning us about for a while. Also, Mars exploration.
But the social collapse is ongoing, which means that some institutions and processes still work. While some people have to fight for food and water, get killed or become homeless, planes still fly, space is still being explored, taxes are still being paid and elections are being held. Some view it as and inconsistency, I view it as a realistic depiction of how a collapse like that would happen. Not overnight. Gradually, slowly, insidiously, little by little every day. And it won't affect everyone the same way at the same time. The poorest will be the first to suffer, and the powerful will hang on to their power as long as they can. That's exactly what we see in 'Parable of the sower'.
Our characters are poor, but they still have some property they hold on to. There are people who are worse off than them and those who are doing way better. Little by little, the crisis gets to the middle class and it will get to the rich too. Someday.
Through her dystopian vision, Octavia Butler explores the issues of inequality, poverty, slavery, politics, capitalism, religion and human psychology. She depicts what human beings are capable of in crisis: some choose mindless violence just because they can, others turn to crime to survive, others still choose this path because it's an easier way to earn money. Others have their moral code, but being a good person is difficult when helping someone can mean your death. Even the best ones will have to kill to survive. The powerful seize the opportunity to enslave desperate people who would do anything to survive, creating new corporate towns and establishing indentured service.
It's a grim, desperate, violent world.
There is also an issue of drug addiction, but I wouldn't say it's explored and analyzed like all the other subjects. The whole philosophy can be summarized like that: drugs are bad, drug addicts are bad and crazy people. I don't think a lot of analysis went into that, and the drug problem seems to be there just to say 'don't do drugs, kids' or to be another scare in a world that really is horrible enough without that. I personally think it's an unfair and harmful representation of addiction and drug use in general.
Plot
The plot is linear and clear. We observe Lauren's coming of age and accompany her on her journey. Part of the story happens in a walled community in California, and part of it happens on the road, through the chaos and dangers.
Impressions
I liked the book, though it left a rather heavy impression on me. I couldn't put it down despite how grim it was.
The religion of Earthseed was fascinating. I'm more inclined to view it as a philosophy rather than religion, even though it involves god. It's not god in the traditional meaning of the word though, it's not a guy in the sky who watches you. God is change. It took me a while to understand what it meant, and I'm still not sure I understood everything about Earthseed, but I think there is a lot of depth to the whole concept. It was very refreshing and stimulating. It got me thinking and wondering.
Telling the story through diary entries felt detached at times. I think it suits the desolated world, as seeing too much suffering and being through too much pain probably desensitizes a person to such things. At the same time, I believe it made the book loose some of the potential intimacy that first person narrative can provide. It wasn't always detached though, sometimes it felt as if I was there and some of the scenes were vivid.
I also think there was too much rape. It's not graphic, but it's always there, even when you don't expect it to be.
You might enjoy the book if you like grim dystopian settings, are interested in climate change, social issues, philosophy, human psychology in crisis and don't mind a lot of violence.
Check out my blog about sci-fi by women and non-binary authors where you can find more book reviews, lists, interviews, short stories and more.
The protagonist and the POV character is a black teenage girl Lauren Olamina. The story is told through her diary entries. Trying to make sense of the world that is changing and becoming more and more dangerous while she's growing up, she comes up with her own religion. She is wise and observant beyond her years, even though she seems overconfident at times. She has agency, and she wants to shape her fate instead of passively going with the flow. She knows that everything will only get worse, and she's not going to sit around and wait. Instead, she's about to take matters in her own hands.
There are a lot of secondary characters introduced at different points in the story. I wouldn't say that I got to know them really well, but they all felt like real and diverse people. I didn't really like most of them, but their behavior made sense and I could easily distinguish between them.
World-building
The world-building is really interesting. The story starts in 2024, which is a very near future, and a really grim one, too. Some of the things seem prophetic: water shortages, soaring food prices, the resulting social chaos that scientists have been warning us about for a while. Also, Mars exploration.
But the social collapse is ongoing, which means that some institutions and processes still work. While some people have to fight for food and water, get killed or become homeless, planes still fly, space is still being explored, taxes are still being paid and elections are being held. Some view it as and inconsistency, I view it as a realistic depiction of how a collapse like that would happen. Not overnight. Gradually, slowly, insidiously, little by little every day. And it won't affect everyone the same way at the same time. The poorest will be the first to suffer, and the powerful will hang on to their power as long as they can. That's exactly what we see in 'Parable of the sower'.
Our characters are poor, but they still have some property they hold on to. There are people who are worse off than them and those who are doing way better. Little by little, the crisis gets to the middle class and it will get to the rich too. Someday.
Through her dystopian vision, Octavia Butler explores the issues of inequality, poverty, slavery, politics, capitalism, religion and human psychology. She depicts what human beings are capable of in crisis: some choose mindless violence just because they can, others turn to crime to survive, others still choose this path because it's an easier way to earn money. Others have their moral code, but being a good person is difficult when helping someone can mean your death. Even the best ones will have to kill to survive. The powerful seize the opportunity to enslave desperate people who would do anything to survive, creating new corporate towns and establishing indentured service.
It's a grim, desperate, violent world.
There is also an issue of drug addiction, but I wouldn't say it's explored and analyzed like all the other subjects. The whole philosophy can be summarized like that: drugs are bad, drug addicts are bad and crazy people. I don't think a lot of analysis went into that, and the drug problem seems to be there just to say 'don't do drugs, kids' or to be another scare in a world that really is horrible enough without that. I personally think it's an unfair and harmful representation of addiction and drug use in general.
Plot
The plot is linear and clear. We observe Lauren's coming of age and accompany her on her journey. Part of the story happens in a walled community in California, and part of it happens on the road, through the chaos and dangers.
Impressions
I liked the book, though it left a rather heavy impression on me. I couldn't put it down despite how grim it was.
The religion of Earthseed was fascinating. I'm more inclined to view it as a philosophy rather than religion, even though it involves god. It's not god in the traditional meaning of the word though, it's not a guy in the sky who watches you. God is change. It took me a while to understand what it meant, and I'm still not sure I understood everything about Earthseed, but I think there is a lot of depth to the whole concept. It was very refreshing and stimulating. It got me thinking and wondering.
Telling the story through diary entries felt detached at times. I think it suits the desolated world, as seeing too much suffering and being through too much pain probably desensitizes a person to such things. At the same time, I believe it made the book loose some of the potential intimacy that first person narrative can provide. It wasn't always detached though, sometimes it felt as if I was there and some of the scenes were vivid.
I also think there was too much rape. It's not graphic, but it's always there, even when you don't expect it to be.
You might enjoy the book if you like grim dystopian settings, are interested in climate change, social issues, philosophy, human psychology in crisis and don't mind a lot of violence.
Check out my blog about sci-fi by women and non-binary authors where you can find more book reviews, lists, interviews, short stories and more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism, Death, and Murder
Minor: Rape