A review by teej7
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

 This will be my 3rd Octavia Butler novel. I was really looking forward to this one, and it felt spooky reading this in 2024 when that is the year this 1993 novel takes place (at least to start.) 

I saw a lot of people had problems with the format of the dates, and the skipping days and sometimes weeks. This didn’t really affect my reading experience. I actually somewhat liked it, there’s a lot of periods throughout the book where they’re just traveling for days with nothing that significant occurring, so it makes sense. 

Overall, I thought it was a smart concept. The events that take place that lead us to where the novel starts, this post-apocalyptic but still capitalist society seems very realistic, something that could very well happen in our lifetime. Until you start asking too many questions. Like how are property taxes a thing but people are setting fires everywhere and squatting wherever they can find? 

For a while, I thought this book felt very juvenile. In a YA type way - and I couldn’t figure out if I just thought that because our MC is 15 at the start. I think the problem is just what N.K. Jemison speaks of in her forward, Lauren feels too much like what a middle aged woman THINKS a 15 year old is like. I get that she’s very mature for her age, but it felt a little trite during some parts. Specifically Earthseed which I felt lacked depth --  a lot of it was just too surface level for me to consider it believable for these fully grown adults to be following her blindly into the seed. 

And then we can’t forget the elephant in the room.
The age gap relationship. What is going awnnn. Why is this the second wide age-gap present in one of her books that makes me feel icky? Lauren is repeatedly comparing him to her father, understandably so,  the man is the same age her father was when he disappeared. Is Butler trying to tell us Lauren is looking for her father in other men? Or is this a genuine connection? I’m unsure. All I know is I’m 2 books into the year and this is the second book I’ve read that has a icky relationship with someone old enough to be their father. Again - what is going on.


 Regardless, the relationship with Lauren and her father touched me, and was one of my favorite things about this book, reminiscent of my own relationship with my father.

I wish we learned more about Lauren’s abilities and the drug her mom took that left her with these abilities. Hopefully that’s expanded in the sequel? 

Speaking of the sequel - I feel like the ending to this book does feel like it’s missing a chapter. I have a feeling this is another case of the author sacrificing the ending for sake of blending the story into the sequel. 

You might finish reading this and think I hated this book. My opinion is far from that. I really enjoyed this book as I do with most of Butler’s books. Despite the icky age gap relationship.
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