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jay_webby 's review for:
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Reading this book, I wasn’t sure at first whether I liked several crucial parts of it — I wasn’t sure I liked the dialogue, which felt a bit prescriptive; a line from the foreword about Lauren Olamina being anachronistically know-it-all stuck with me; the journal writing style was also easy to read, but I’m not sure I was immediately sold.
And then, five days later, I finished the book. I realized I was hardly able to put it down.
I think Lauren as a character is the most compelling part of this novel for me. It’s incredibly audacious to think about writing a novel about someone starting a new religion. And essentially, this book ends up being the first part of her fictional autobiography. The idea of someone starting a religion is always going to engender some skepticism — the same way it does from Lauren’s eventual comrades and future community members. But I found myself connecting increasingly more as I reach with the teachings of Earthseed. Forge ahead and affect change, or God, as best as you can; avoid the empty comfort of platitudes.
The action of the book is also super compelling. Each time, you can feel yourself in battle with Lauren, taking the blows that others experience and figuring out how she herself is feeling in the fog of war.
I’m still not totally sure how I felt about some of the dialogue and supporting characters? I felt like Lauren and her dad were the best ones for sure. Everyone else sort of still seems like very traumatized archetypes. But it never really detracted from the experience of reading the book - more just what I was considering as someone fascinated with how Octavia Butler must’ve brought the whole thing together.
Amazing book. And, as cliche as it is to say, unfortunately very prescient
And then, five days later, I finished the book. I realized I was hardly able to put it down.
I think Lauren as a character is the most compelling part of this novel for me. It’s incredibly audacious to think about writing a novel about someone starting a new religion. And essentially, this book ends up being the first part of her fictional autobiography. The idea of someone starting a religion is always going to engender some skepticism — the same way it does from Lauren’s eventual comrades and future community members. But I found myself connecting increasingly more as I reach with the teachings of Earthseed. Forge ahead and affect change, or God, as best as you can; avoid the empty comfort of platitudes.
The action of the book is also super compelling. Each time, you can feel yourself in battle with Lauren, taking the blows that others experience and figuring out how she herself is feeling in the fog of war.
I’m still not totally sure how I felt about some of the dialogue and supporting characters? I felt like Lauren and her dad were the best ones for sure. Everyone else sort of still seems like very traumatized archetypes. But it never really detracted from the experience of reading the book - more just what I was considering as someone fascinated with how Octavia Butler must’ve brought the whole thing together.
Amazing book. And, as cliche as it is to say, unfortunately very prescient
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Murder, War