richy_qu33r_readzz 's review for:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The hype over-inflated my expectations and ai didn’t expect the writing to be that brutal/ violent. If, like me, you’re looking to see if it gets less brutal the answer is not really. My spoilers will have more detailed info on the dog attacks & rape mentions.

That said, Octavia’s world-building is mostly believable (how are the collecting taxes??) and seems scarily all too possible. Current political & economic trends definitely lend the book credibility. I enjoyed how she navigated the concepts of community, belonging, and connectedness. I did have difficulty following the Earthseed verses as well as the constant references to God. But I am curious to see how the narrative progresses in the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Police brutality

Minor: Cannibalism

On rape:

There are so many mentions of rape & sexual violence in this book. From the world-building to fear of it to witnessing its effects. There isn’t any explicit scenes detailing the occurrence of rape, but there are mentions of it with after-the-fact details which are violent & occur in minors at least twice. It is more mentioned in the beginning. Once Lauren leaves the neighborhood it is mostly mentioned as a concern or in characters’ backstories.

On dogs:

Dogs are never pets in this book. They are always a threat or scavengers. There is a lot of fear of dogs throughout. When Lauren goes to practice shooting, she kills a dog. She kills a dog one other time in the book, when it attacks their group’s most vulnerable. The details don’t get more gruesome than that.

I wouldn’t call this book trauma-porn, but there is a lot of repetition and the mentions can be extra which if it were edited nowadays it might seem some of that paired down.