Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)

Feb 26, 2013 Regina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, african-american, favorites, gender-studies

I am going to start this review off by asking a theoretical question. There is a huge wave coming, it will wash you and everyone you love out to see. What do you do? Do you back up away from the water? Move to higher ground? Build a boat to ride it out? Or do you turn your back on it, play on the beach and pretend that it isn’t coming? Now imagine that it isn’t a wave of water, but a wave of violence, crime and people that will be unstoppable. No wall will hold them back. You may have nowhere id...more I am going to start this review off by asking a theoretical question. There is a huge wave coming, it will wash you and everyone you love out to see. What do you do? Do you back up away from the water? Move to higher ground? Build a boat to ride it out? Or do you turn your back on it, play on the beach and pretend that it isn’t coming? Now imagine that it isn’t a wave of water, but a wave of violence, crime and people that will be unstoppable. No wall will hold them back. You may have nowhere ideal to go. But you have access to books, learning materials and you have time to prepare, pack. Octavia Butler speculates that most people would ignore the coming onslaught and attempt to go about their daily business, not prepare and not learn. It is scary to move forward and change behavior and scary to imagine the world as we know it is ending. But change is necessary to survival, according to Butler. This is what Parable is about – change, adaptation and working together in a community to accomplish the change in order to survive.

The main character in Parable, a teenage girl named Lauren, is an agent of change. Lauren is unwilling to turn her back on the huge wave she knows is coming; instead she teaches herself through books everything she can learn and she prepares for what she knows and fears is coming. Lauren is inspired from inside herself and is somewhat of a prophet of a new religion and philosophy. Her belief is “God is Change.” And she goes out to preach it. The creation of the religion is a vehicle for Lauren’s story to be told and for hope to be seeded among her followers.

Octavia Butler published her book in 1995, so many apocalyptic novels have come after hers have incorporated elements that are present in this book. It is interesting for me that Butler appears to have less acclaim but she is the predecessor of so many well-known novels.

There are books that tell the story of the world ending by an apocalyptic event and then there are books that show you what the world would be like during an apocalyptic even – without holding back. Parable of the Sower is the latter. The images of lives being destroyed and violence being wrought on people just for living and just for having something, anything that is wanted by those who do not have anything – these images are described in details. They are not described, I think, for the delight of reading gore, but to serve as a marker of how far society has fallen. And it is a scary world that Butler describes; scary and realistic. Despite that I have absolutely no point of reference for the scenes described in this book, while reading I felt as though it could have been happening right outside my door. There is nothing about this apocalyptic world that is romantic.

In Parable, much of society’s downfall appears to have been caused by environmental devastation, which has in turn caused economic and political devastation. Polluted water, toxic chemicals, failed pharmaceutical and science experiments resulting in dangerous addictive drugs. Butler’s book is a scary warning of pushing consumer and corporate demands to the extreme.

Reading this book created questions in my mind. Is this book really about an apocalyptic event? It does take place in the US (California) and the society that is disintegrating is American society, but is this an apocalyptic event or the failure of one society? So many apocalyptic books describe world changing events; but in Parable, it is shortages – gas, water, food, governmental collapse (or increasing ineffectualness) but some infrastructure remains. There are police, but they investigate and then charge user fees; there are property taxes and there are colleges; there is electricity and there are entertainment outlets (like televisions, etc.); there are insurance companies and resources --- but everything for an elevated price and most people do not have the ability to pay for these items and services. What happens is that these institutions are not efficient, they are not accessible to most individuals and there is a heavy cost to purchase their services. There are still jobs and corporations and apparently very successful corporations. People without education and without jobs, crowd in to smaller housing and share space. Corporations dominate certain sectors of society and provide protection and infrastructure to those who can afford it. Punitive debt policies and employment policies are in place that hurt individuals but benefit corporations. Isn’t this describing the current state of some countries in this world right now – maybe even in this hemisphere? Where there is no protection for the individual beyond what they can obtain from people in their community and families? Don’t people already go on migrations to new places (bordering countries, mega cities, factory rich regions) with nothing but a small savings and a hope for anything different? I see this book as an envisioning of what if these situations happened in the United States. The scenarios described in Parable, the extreme violence, the extreme fear and the absolute lack of choices are just so out of the realm of anything most people in the US experience while living in the US that it is hard to imagine, understand and relate to images like written in this book that we may read about in the news, blogs or in non-fiction books. Butler brings it home; she recreates it here and it is absolutely terrifying.

At one point in the novel, Lauren travels disguised as a man but she travels along side a woman who is described as highly desirable, Zahra. Zahra encounters problem after problem because men will just not leave her alone – and in a threatening way. There is no government, no structure – and no laws to protect the weak. Butler describes horrible crimes that happen to females of all ages and most of them sexual. What point is Butler making about the physicality of being a woman? Is she saying that in the absence of the protection of a societal framework a woman is more at risk, simply because she is a woman? Does this mean Butler believes this threat is inherent? I have a hard time accepting this concept, but I also know I approach this concept of equality and physical integrity from an extremely privileged position. The mass rapes that happen in war torn countries, the use of rape as a weapon of wars, and the kidnapping and use of children soldiers – these horrors that take place and demonstrate this fragile place in society that women and children can occupy.

But again, from my extremely privileged position, I have a hard time grasping that in the absence of government and infrastructure, human beings will turn violent and devoid of empathy. The mass chaos Butler describes is only kept out by walls, guns and guards. However, I have mentioned this and been told by some people, very intelligently, that it does not take a majority to create chaos. A minority of criminals and desparados are enough to create the chaos that endangers people, the forces them to withdraw from society and that puts women and children at risk. If the natural condition in a situation devoid of an effective government is chaos and danger, how could society have evolved? Why would we be here? I do think the answer is that people would join together, form a community, work as a group and attempt to protect the community members. And that, is what I think this book is about – community, bonds, joint action and moving forward as a group. The acceptance of change and the trusting of each other.

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Jun 23, 2010 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jennifer (aka EM) by: jo

Shelves: read-only-coz-of-gr

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've started and stopped this review several times--as I did the book itself--and I wasn't sure why I was having such a hard time putting my thoughts into words until I read reviews of The Road. That's the problem. I'm comparing this novel to The Road, perhaps naturally enough: both are journeys through dystopian landscapes, with evidence of the degradation of environment and humanity all around, central characters who represent 'goodness' and 'morality' and 'hope' in the midst of nothing but bl...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of dystopian literature

Shelves: black-african-or-aa-heroine, african-american-experience, science-fiction, audiobook, library-checkout, very-dark-read, not-for-the-faint-of-heart, apocalyptic-postapocalyptic-dystopi, heroine-i-loved, kickbutt-heroine, character-diversity, leadership, family, on-the-road, hero-or-heroine-mentally-ill, older-hero-younger-heroine, futuristic, coming-of-age, all-things-summer-challenge, 2011-reading, epistolary-narrative

For this pleasure reader, there wasn't much pleasure in reading this book. Even still, I was compelled and drawn in. Octavia Butler was a very good writer, and I am glad I did get a chance to finally read one of her books. The narrator, the actress Lynne Thigpen, did an incredible job. Now, when I think of Lauren, I will picture her voice, feminine but strong and rich. I also liked the way she varied her voice to reflect the different characters speaking.

Lauren was a protagonist that rubbed me t...more For this pleasure reader, there wasn't much pleasure in reading this book. Even still, I was compelled and drawn in. Octavia Butler was a very good writer, and I am glad I did get a chance to finally read one of her books. The narrator, the actress Lynne Thigpen, did an incredible job. Now, when I think of Lauren, I will picture her voice, feminine but strong and rich. I also liked the way she varied her voice to reflect the different characters speaking.

Lauren was a protagonist that rubbed me the wrong way at times (as she did those who knew her in this book). And yet, her strength and the powerful humanity of her won me over. I love reading about strong women, and that is definitely Lauren. For her young age, what she accomplished, despite the odds, must be recognized. She is a true leader, and she is the kind you want to follow, because they ask no more of you than they demand of themselves. I loved the way she brought a small group of survivors together, empowering them, and encouraging them to protect each other and themselves.

The world was bleak, depressing, disturbing, disheartening. Any joy was fleeting, any laughs and 'happy' moments as I listened were greatly appreciated. Hearing of the atrocities that were normal in this post-apocalyptic California setting was not an easy thing for me. At times, I had to remind myself that it wasn't truly the reality (although the way thing are going, this story seems like prophecy). When I got out of my car, I had to pull back out of this book and get back to my normal reality. And I am grateful that this was just a book, even though my senses didn't seem to accept that at times. This book has a powerful message in it that is very timely. The society that we know and love is on the brink, and if we don't stand up, we might find ourselves working as wage slaves, having police and government who hurt us more than they protect us. Politics are not something I go on about in reviews, but this is something that struck me as real about this story, so I have to talk about that in this review. This scary message definitely gets me thinking, and hoping that the United States doesn't end up like this. Not destroyed by some catastrophic event that you might usually find precipitating societal collapse, but chipped away and slowly eroded into a horrible future like a nightmarish dream. More scary because it is so very plausible.

I have to say that I liked that Lauren founded a spiritual movement that kept her small band of compadres together. But, on the other hand, I deeply disagreed with the mantra that "God is change." I was taught (and believe) that God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. My mind and heart won't accept that God is malleable and that we shape God. I can understand that Lauren is about empowering and allowing oneself to be shaped, and to shape back by the forces around them; to survive no matter what, to grow stronger. I just don't think that we have to make God into some concept that is far from the truth to feel strong. In my mind, what I believe is that God is our rock--although we are buffeted by the harsh things we suffer, we can stand on His never-changing promises. Anyway, I don't mean to preach in this review, I am just saying what I feel about the Earthseed religion that Lauren founded. If I was in this story, I would be on board with her mission of creating a home and a community, but I could never accept her concept of God as change. I am glad that she found strength in it and was able to inspire her friends and companions though.

One other thing that I liked about this story is that more than half of the main characters are non-Causcasian. Not that I don't like reading about white characters. I am totally fine reading about any character of any ethnicity. However, it is good to see a main character who is black, who embodies many traits that I love and respect in a protagonist. To see people of color finding their way through some horrible circumstances, seeing the strength from within that compels them forward. Diversity is important to me, and I loved that Lauren's band was diverse, ethnically. And for all their diversity, they were a found family, helping, standing for and with each other, protecting their unit against all threats.

This is not the kind of book I will read often, because I like to read stories that take my mind off the ugliness of life, and that empower me by giving me hope and enjoyment. There is both empowerment, and a tentative hope in this story. But it's a long, hard journey to reap the harvest of those kernels, those small seeds, in my consciousness. Ms. Butler did such a good job of sowing that seed in the tough, unfertile ground of this story, and for that I commend her.

When I eat my Wheaties, I will try more of her stories.(less)

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Nov 08, 2007 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Parable of the Sower isn't the easiest book to read. The prose is clear and uncomplicated, but the content can be hard to take. This is a close-to-home dystopia, one which I found hard to dismiss as improbable. And the world that it depicts is cruel and ugly. Even the well-meaning must do ugly things to survive.

This is science fiction only in the most technical sense. Sure, it's set in a hypothetical future, and the main character, Lauren, has an uncanny/(super)natural ability to feel the pain o...more Parable of the Sower isn't the easiest book to read. The prose is clear and uncomplicated, but the content can be hard to take. This is a close-to-home dystopia, one which I found hard to dismiss as improbable. And the world that it depicts is cruel and ugly. Even the well-meaning must do ugly things to survive.

This is science fiction only in the most technical sense. Sure, it's set in a hypothetical future, and the main character, Lauren, has an uncanny/(super)natural ability to feel the pain of others. But there is no reliance upon imagined technologies, alien races or superhuman heroics to move the plot along. The framework of this fictional universe is our own, moved forward in time to a barren future.

Lauren is intent upon founding her own religion. Her ideas are represented by excerpts from her poetry at the beginning of each chapter. As the story progresses, Lauren explains her ideas to many (initially skeptical) people. I was a little bit unhappy with this (central) aspect of the book: the ideas, and Lauren's writing, felt to me a lot less deep and meaningful than Lauren intended.

But what was Octavia Butler's intention? Did she intend these ideas, and Lauren's writings, to be full of meaning, resonance and depth? Was it supposed to be a bit naive and simple, but with potential (which is how I felt)? The answer isn't to be found in this book.

When I finished the book, satisfied at its refusal to come to a pat conclusion or judgment about Lauren's ideology, I found out that there is a sequel. I look forward to it and to finding out whether Lauren's ideas mature once put to the test. Apparently, Butler had begun to work on a third book in this series, but sadly she never completed it.

Oh, one warning: don't read the back cover. At least for the edition I have, the description on the back gives away a crucial, major turning point in the plot that occurs midway through the book. I hate knowing too much in advance, and I would have been really irritated had I seen that beforehand.(less)

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Jan 05, 2010 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, apochalypse

3.5 stars, but I expected better.

This should have been the must-read dystopia of the 90s. Perhaps it wasn't because Butler tried too hard. Or readers couldn't see past the obvious shortcomings.

Dystopias have been with us since 1948 and Brave New World, and Utopia's since Mores and even Plato's Timaeus. But Parable of the Sower may well have been this generation's dystopia. A really engaging, challenging story of believable, empathetic characters. Great social commentary.

What's wrong? One, her pr...more

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Mar 17, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, dystopian, female-protagonist, audiobook, nebula-nominee, female-author, feminist, american-literature, poc-author, poc-protagonist

Octavia Butler's vision of an American state on the brink of economic and social collapse seems all too near and plausible. Lauren Olamina, the young minister's daughter, lives in a gated community that falls prey to the violence and anarchy that's been eating away at the edges of civilization for years. It's a brutal novel, as everyone Lauren loves dies, and the deaths are often described in gruesome detail. Lauren herself suffers from a condition called hyper-empathy, which causes her to feel...more Octavia Butler's vision of an American state on the brink of economic and social collapse seems all too near and plausible. Lauren Olamina, the young minister's daughter, lives in a gated community that falls prey to the violence and anarchy that's been eating away at the edges of civilization for years. It's a brutal novel, as everyone Lauren loves dies, and the deaths are often described in gruesome detail. Lauren herself suffers from a condition called hyper-empathy, which causes her to feel what people around her feel... a very bad thing when people around her are being attacked, raped, and killed.

But Lauren is anything but a fragile helpless character. She carries the seeds of a new religion, and she's been planning for the collapse since she was a child. This novel has a lot in common with similarly-themed sci-fi where the protagonist is a "chosen one" destined to lead his or her people out of chaos and barbarism, except that no one has "chosen" Lauren. She's decided for herself that this is something she has to do.

The story takes us on Lauren's journey up the coast of California, as its highways are flooded with refugees and its cities burn (thanks in large part to a drug called "pyro" which turns people into psychotic pyromaniacs). What is most interesting is not Lauren's "adventures" (which are mostly just a series of tense encounters fraught with dangers, as she constantly has to weigh the need for allies against the hazards of trusting unknown people on the road) but the brutal laying bare of certain truths beneath our capitalist society. Lauren's father foresaw the coming collapse and tried to keep his family from being lured into company towns that were economic traps, but even he didn't foresee how bad things would really become. Lauren discovers that slavery is real, and has been real and common, right here in the U.S., for quite some time.

You might think it's a cynical and overly pessimistic view of the future, but if you're not among the privileged classes, it's not far from how many people live today. Ultimately, the book gives some hope for the future, but there is certainly going to be more blood and tears along the way.

This was actually my first time reading Octavia Butler, whom I really should read more of, and I'm definitely going to pick up the next book in the series.(less)

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Dec 10, 2012 Bettina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this is my first Octavia E. Butler book.

i kept contrasting Parable of the Sower with Cormac McCarthy's The Road and to a lesser extent with McCarthy's Blood Meridian. where McCarthy's The Road failed Butler succeeds extraordinarily--feminist perspective, social commentary that doesn't fly in your face but is also not completely opaque and mysterious. I felt that much of the social commentary (re: the process of social decay) took root in the front half of the book and then was fleshed out as the...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Julie Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a-good-story-is-hard-to-find-podcas

Scott's choice for the next A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. It is my introduction to Octavia Butler. Despite the rather off-putting description that the author likes to focus on feminist and racial issues, luckily I have found none of those yet, just an interesting dystopian world as told by a young woman who has known little else.

I liked this book though I preferred the "road" sequence to the "community" sequence, which went on too long I thought. I also appreciated the "classical" style...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Parvoneh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just skimmed a few other Goodreads reviews of Parable of the Sower and felt confused about why difficult subject matter seems to be a weakness to many readers. If anything, I wish Octavia Butler were around so I could thank her for that. She wrote about survival, change, and power with incredible insight; she grapples with some Big Stuff but her novel, ideas, and genre also manage to be accessible. Butler's clarity is a strength and perhaps a stylistic weakness, but mostly I think there's some...more

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Jul 09, 2009 Beth A. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Beth A. by: Laura Dotson

Shelves: sci-fi, audio-book, apocalyptic

What if Global Warming truly devastated our environment, and that destroyed the economy and made government useless, and homelessness the norm? What if water was a rare, expensive commodity? Add in a drug that makes people set fires for pleasure.

Octavia Butler creates all of this in her book Parable of the Sower.

This isn’t my usual book. I normally try to avoid the kind of violence and language that occurs within. It was –barely- within my tolerance levels but confirms that I still don’t enjoy r...more What if Global Warming truly devastated our environment, and that destroyed the economy and made government useless, and homelessness the norm? What if water was a rare, expensive commodity? Add in a drug that makes people set fires for pleasure.

Octavia Butler creates all of this in her book Parable of the Sower.

This isn’t my usual book. I normally try to avoid the kind of violence and language that occurs within. It was –barely- within my tolerance levels but confirms that I still don’t enjoy reading graphic writing.

One thing that bugged me about this book was Lauren’s arrogant attitude. She was able to predict the coming chaos and was impatient with the denial of the others in the community. She had a strong urge to prepare for impending disaster, but others around her shut down when she tried to talk about it. I became frustrated with her complaining. I also felt I didn’t get to know the characters other than Lauren on any more than a superficial level.

Midway through the story the plot got moving and flowed quickly. For the most part, I followed it as one might stare when passing a car accident; a morbid fascination rather than true enjoyment of the story.

The whole Earthseed Religion aspect was hard for me to follow. I think this is because my own ideas about God are so firmly entrenched, and important to me, that I was unable to put them aside. I usually am able to put aside my own beliefs to understand another POV, but I really had to work at it this time. It helped if I substituted the word change for the word God.

Some of the themes in book include...

Global warming
The importance of water
Change: The idea that it’s unavoidable, and being aware and prepared can help you “shape” the change in ways that will be beneficial to you.
Importance of a group- watching out for each other
How quickly society can break down into violence.
The reoccurrence of slavery, due to “the company store” and the elimination of labor laws.
Destruction (fire), poverty, and homelessness
The idea that the survivors of this society are the seeds for the next generation, for what society will be like in the future.
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Mar 25, 2008 nimrodiel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to nimrodiel by: LovemyLife

Shelves: 2008-books-read, bookcrossing-books, controlled-release, 2012-books-read, audiobooks, reread

Wow, I have been having people tell me for years, that I should read this author's writing. When she past away a year or two back I intended to read something she had written, but somehow managed not to, until now. I was blown away by the lyricalness of the included Earthseed poetry and drawn in by the starkness ond richness of this imagined futeure of the US.

I love these post appocolyptic future type books best out of the sci-fi genre. I love seeing how the different authors immagine how societ...more

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Sep 06, 2007 Aberjhani rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of thought-provoking sci fi.

Shelves: speculative, literature

A TERRIFYING YET INSPIRING VISION OF DAYS TO COME

Octavia E. Butler's PARABLE OF THE SOWER is one of those rare, dangerous novels that succeeds as both fascinating fantasy and uncompromising social commentary. Within its first dozen pages, we encounter members of a typical family, armed with guns, on their way to church, a headless corpse, a naked homeless woman, a community walled in by terror, and a young woman dreaming of stars.

The dreamer is 16-year-old Lauren Oya Olamina, the would-be sower...more

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Oct 22, 2007 Shane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: readin2007

Actually closer to 3.5 stars. I liked this one a lot but I didn't like the whole sharer idea. It just seemed like a random sort of fantastic element that was thrown in. It was interesting but there didn't seem to be a purpose to it. Maybe that will all come out in the next book? I also thought the ending was too short. It could have been a complete book all by itself if the ending had been drawn out a bit more. Instead it kind of came off to me as a stepping stone to the next book.

The "Earthseed...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: heard, dystopia

Revisiting an old favorite via audio. This is a tale of a near-future dystopia which seemed much less likely when it came out than it does now. It's also an exploration of religion, and how an ordinary young girl can become the head of a new religion called Earthseed. Parts of this seem a bit fuzzy to me now, which is why I'm knocking it down one star from my original review. It's still an edge-of-your-seat ride, with an engrossing plot and interesting characters. Butler was a good writer who di...more

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Aug 23, 2007 Vaughn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 15+

This was an interesting book in terms of dystopian fiction. I really liked how realistic it was, and how the U.S. in the book could very well be our U.S. in the future.
What really appealed to me was the interesting disease called "sharing". It's a lot like being an empath, except you actually, literally, feel the pain a person is experiencing. The writing is to the point, and is conversational-style; the book is mostly from journal entries...
There's another part, about religion and God, that I e...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Coquille Fleur rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalypse

Although I am not that into the Earhtseed religion idea of this book, it was an excellent apocalyptic tale with all the elements you'd expect from a book in this genre. While it starts out slow, the community is falling apart in a larger nation and world that has already fallen apart. This book follows an intelligent heroine from a fragile community in Southern California barely able to to survive, to the greater community of survivors hiking up the 101 in a mass of refugees. With Lauren's hyper...more

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Mar 07, 2009 CuriousLibrarian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

This book was very uneven. The first 130ish pages dragged on interminably. Lauren is desperately wishing to be 18 so she can set out on her own. And I swear as the reader you are feeling all of those years actually slog by. I felt like the world, character, and world view could have been set forth well in about 20-50 pages, 130 was just painful.

But, I knew that these books are highly regarded, so I kept at it. And once Lauren is forced to leave home, the book really picks up and becomes interest...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Natasha Oliver rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi-dystopian

If you're fanatical about Christianity (or as my mother would say 'simply a good Christian'), then this book is not for you.

Octavia challenges the contemporary thinking of what/who God is and even goes one step further to create her own religion. One of the reviewers (luckily only 5 of the 100 reviewers didn't like this novel), called the author and this story "heresy"... which I think should warn those who would use such a term in 2008, to stay away from this award winning tale.

For those of you...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parable of the Sower is a post-apocalyptic coming of age story set in a world where there has been no actual apocalypse. Our narrator, Lauren Olamina, is growing up in a near future version of Southern California. For many years jobs have been scarce, the climate has been warming, prices have been rising, and society has been slowly crumbling under the pressure. The safest neighborhoods are those protected by barbed wire fences and neighborhood patrols. The cities are full of horrifying violence...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Monica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, classics

I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to "Parable of Talents". This was my first Octavia Butler novel, and it was entirely different than I expected. I am a sci fi fan and this book did not entirely fit that description (this is not a criticism). Butler was able to immerse me into a world that was scary and brutal, yet not altogether unfathomable. In my mind, that is what was scariest. She diagramed a world of the poor and more or less ignored, only occasionally giving the reader a glimps...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Hannah Reynolds rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parable of the Sower?

More like "Parable of the RAPEYRAPERAPERAPE!" What Gospel is this again? Where exactly is the good news? "A rapist scattered rape on a rapescape, and some rapes caused unending trauma, and other rapes caused unending despair, but still other rapes created Strong Female Protagonists, and they would never let any man take Advantage of Them Again."

Mindnumbingly stupid and insulting to actual real assault victims everywhere.

I stopped reading 40 pages in.

Hooray, another "gritty...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Evelyn Puerto rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian

The Parable of the Sower presents a believable scenario of a dystopian future, this one portraying the US in decline but still functioning. The dollar has not collapsed yet, there are still governments at work, but they aren’t working well. The protagonist finds it difficult to believe in anything, so she begins to develop her own creed. Her new religion is bland and not well developed, but that is a credible reflection on the fact that it is a teenager’s attempt to make sense of her world. “Cha...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Kay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book was my first introduction to Octavia E. Butler, and it was undoubtedly one of the most influential novels I've ever read. It affected my own writing as well as my perception of writing; Butler's multiracial cast and mix of realism with sci-fi (or fantasy, in other books) told me that I could write about people who looked like me and my friends, and gave me the confidence to create diversity in my stories. I related to Lauren Olamina and found the place she lived in to be all too plausi...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Stefanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As is perhaps evidenced by the fact that I completed it in a day, I really really really enjoyed this book. I got into it in a way I haven't for a while, to the point where I almost missed my stop on the train. That's always a good sign.

I wasn't sure what to expect at first- it was filed under science fiction, and I read one of Butler's other trilogies (Lillith? I don't remember. I mean, I remember the story, but not what it was called) for my terrible women's studies class. Like I said, most of...more As is perhaps evidenced by the fact that I completed it in a day, I really really really enjoyed this book. I got into it in a way I haven't for a while, to the point where I almost missed my stop on the train. That's always a good sign.

I wasn't sure what to expect at first- it was filed under science fiction, and I read one of Butler's other trilogies (Lillith? I don't remember. I mean, I remember the story, but not what it was called) for my terrible women's studies class. Like I said, most of the books we read in that class were good, but I couldn't stand my teacher. Plus, I know I liked the other books, but they got a little preachy and some of the themes weren't terribly subtle.

Unlike Lillith's Brood (I remembered!) this installment (I haven't read the rest) of Earthseed, though filed away under science fiction, has nothing to do with aliens or distant worlds or advanced technology. Rather, it's about a post-apocalyptic world (How often do I type that phrase? Probably more often than the average person.) ravaged by the effects of global warming. Government and law are enforced in name only, poverty is rampant, resources are scarce, and the date is only fifteen years from now. Granted, it was written in 1993, but there's a definite closeness in this. Yet, the world has not completely collapsed and pockets of civilisation remain.

Enter Lauren, our protagonist, a young girl who hopes to change the world. She's armed with no illusions that the past was necessarily better, her own personal religion, and a gift/curse/disease that forces her to feel "hyperempathy." When her own personal world finally succumbs to the chaos around her, she finds the strength to not only move on, but to try to start a whole new world, without the prejudices and fear of the old one.

Butler's prose is in great form here. The world she creates is terrifyingly realistic, aided by Lauren's voice, which is pragmatic without being cynical. Lauren is, at her core, a dreamer, but she has learned to hide her emotions and bottle up her hyperempathy. She isn't perfect- she can be short tempered and stubborn, not to mention a bit naive at times- but despite the fact that she's only a teenager, she's wise beyond her years, no doubt as a result of the world she was born into. Lauren makes a great protagonist- realistic but still heroic.

Furthermore, Butler addresses so many themes here- race, religion, socioeconomic strife, urbanisation, global warming, to name just a few- but never does it feel forced or preachy. Even Lauren's "religion," which she does preach about sometimes, feels very organic. I'm not one for organised belief structures, but the nature of Earthseed is that there really isn't any organisation to it. And though Lauren is looking for converts, she recognises that she doesn't have the power to force it on people, instead demonstrating its value as a belief system by being a strong leader.

Like I said, I was really into this book. There's a lot of tragedy in it, and some parts are horribly chilling to read, but it never loses heart or optimism. Definitely a little less "weird" (for lack of a better word) than the Lillith series. We'll see if the sequels continue to deliver.(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Linda Robinson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bumped into a British website that listed who the writer chose as the 5 women writers who best "write like a man." You know I had to look, grim-lipped and ready for battle. And I found Octavia E. Butler. Her character in this book, published in 1993, lives in a world so closely akin to what ours might become soon, it's uncanny. When I was an early reader, I was convinced that SF writers knew the future, that insights into what was to come were delivered directly into their writing neural synapse...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Darrell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Lauren Olamina suffers from hyperempathy, which means if she sees someone else get hurt, she feels just as much pain as if she was the one who got injured. This is a particularly bad disorder to have in the pre-Apocalyptic world in which she is living. She lives a somewhat normal life inside her walled community, but just outside the wall feral dogs, thieves, rapists, arsonists, murders, and cannibals are running loose.

She lives in a world of almost complete anarchy, yet there are still vestiges...more Lauren Olamina suffers from hyperempathy, which means if she sees someone else get hurt, she feels just as much pain as if she was the one who got injured. This is a particularly bad disorder to have in the pre-Apocalyptic world in which she is living. She lives a somewhat normal life inside her walled community, but just outside the wall feral dogs, thieves, rapists, arsonists, murders, and cannibals are running loose.

She lives in a world of almost complete anarchy, yet there are still vestiges of order. The government is still involved in space exploration, electing Presidents, and sending out police and firefighters, although the later are so ineffective as to be non-entities. People still have jobs, go to college, have insurance, worry about making house payments, and are afraid of being arrested for having illegal guns even though they need them to survive. Gangs routinely set neighborhoods on fire and have shootouts in the middle of the street, yet the police are more concerned with handing out fines. It's a strange disconnect that didn't work for me. After all, true anarchy could never exist. If the police didn't keep crime in check, then some other organization would step in to fill the power vacuum.

The characters are real people, presented with warts and all. The book is written in the form of a teenage girl's diary and perfectly captures the teenage mindset. The writing is not quite childish, but not quite adult either. Since Lauren, a preacher's daughter, decides to start her own religion, it's also quite didactic. Written in 1993, this novel is somewhat prophetic as it deals with the negative effects of climate change and unregulated companies. Although, like all science fiction, it's more about the time in which it was written than about the future. There is one point in which the narrator talks about science fiction novels in a somewhat self-referential way that broke the fourth wall for me. Overall a very interesting read, but I didn't like it as much as I was expecting.(less)

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May 22, 2012 Nancy Newcomer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book imagines a dystopian future United States that is so plausible it is horrifying. Set in the near future, this story has no zombies, transformers, robo-cops or parallel realities. But its desperate characters have crossed over into survival mode in a world that is lawless and toxic.
The story begins with the day-to-day life of a middle class black family living in a walled enclave near Los Angeles, protected by razor wire and armed guards (the neighbors take turns.) Gangs of crazy and v...more This book imagines a dystopian future United States that is so plausible it is horrifying. Set in the near future, this story has no zombies, transformers, robo-cops or parallel realities. But its desperate characters have crossed over into survival mode in a world that is lawless and toxic.
The story begins with the day-to-day life of a middle class black family living in a walled enclave near Los Angeles, protected by razor wire and armed guards (the neighbors take turns.) Gangs of crazy and violent people roam on the outside by day and especially at night. The “paints’ are fueled by a new drug that causes the users to set fires which they find give them a powerful high.
In this new reality, lives Lauren Olamina, a strong 18-yr. old girl, her minister-professor father, her step-mother and brothers. Her stepmother runs the only school in the neighborhood -- a make-shift one at their house. Lauren helps by teaching the little ones. At night there are sounds of explosions, fire-lit skies, gunfire and screams. In the daytime, they hold school classes, tend their gardens and have a semblance of normal life, but the madness is creeping closer all the time. Lauren believes that this tenuous lifestyle will end before too long and she reads all her parents’ books on survival, farming, plants, herbal medicines and other knowledge that could contribute to her survival on the outside.
She also keeps notebooks in which she records her thoughts about a new religion or philosophy can could help people find a better future. She calls this Earthseed and its guiding principles are: All that you touch you change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.
i don’t want to say any more about the plot because it is a compelling series of events and I don’t want to spoil it. This book is the first in a trilogy and I have read the second which I thought was good but not nearly as powerful as this one.
This book moved me deeply and i believe it is a scenario that could really happen here if we don’t fix some current problems. I share Butler’s belief that there is a very fine line separating civilization from the other side and it could be easily crossed.
Hugo and Nebula award winner Butler died in 2006.(less)

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May 16, 2012 Carl Brush rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The only Octavia Butler book I’d read was the marvelous Kindred, a science fiction crossover about a woman who travels in time back to an ancestor’s world in slavery times. Parable of the Sower takes us in the opposite direction. We find ourselves in the post-apocalyptic world of the late 2020’s. Corporate greed and global warming have combined to disintegrate the American social and economic and political body politic to the point where people tend to live in small enclaves, responsible for the...more The only Octavia Butler book I’d read was the marvelous Kindred, a science fiction crossover about a woman who travels in time back to an ancestor’s world in slavery times. Parable of the Sower takes us in the opposite direction. We find ourselves in the post-apocalyptic world of the late 2020’s. Corporate greed and global warming have combined to disintegrate the American social and economic and political body politic to the point where people tend to live in small enclaves, responsible for their own protection because the police are corrupt and/or powerless to deal with the predatory gangs that roam the streets and countryside. Living in a walled community in Southern California, Lauren Olamina, daughter of a minister/professor sees better than most that even the fragmented stability they have will probably disappear before long. She reads and writes and plans, trying to prepare herself and whoever will listen to deal with the approaching holocaust.

She’s eighteen when it finally comes. A gang of marauders swarm over the protective walls of her little village. Bodies painted, high on a drug called “pyro” that gives the druggie high thrills from watching fires, they pillage and burn and rape and kill. Her entire family is dead or missing, and she’s left with a couple of friends to negotiate her way through a dangerous world.

Three things special about Lauren: 1) She’s smart and prepared and a natural leader. 2) In addition to her learning, she’s developing a religion she calls “Earthseed” meant to renourish the race once these times are over. 3) She’s a “sharer” possessed of a condition called “hyperempathy” that enables (requires) her to share the pain of those around her. If she strikes a blow against an enemy, she literally feels his pain. If she shoots someone, she feels his death (though she doesn’t die.). On the other hand, if she has sex, she gets to feel the other’s pleasure as well as her own. Tradeoffs.

In her dilemma, she pursues a plan she’s formed over many years--head north where it’s rumored there are jobs that pay money rather than just food and water and sometimes shelter. She has maps. Destination Oregon? Washington? Canada? She doesn’t know, but things couldn’t be any worse than they are here. And so begins the kind of classic trek common to literature since at least The Odyssey.
Butler creates a tale and a world worthy of an artist who has won such honors as multiple Hugo and Nebula awards as well as a M
acArthur genius stipend. If Parable doesn’t, in my mind, come up to the wonder of Kindred, it suffers only by comparison. It’s a marvelous work in itself. Even if you don’t care much for science fiction, you can’t deny Lauren and her new religion, and you can’t deny the validity of Butler’s fears that the world she describes may shortly come to be.

I was sad to learn that Octavia died recently. Didn’t know it. But she left some stuff behind that may be telling our future. We best keep watch, for the marauders could be at the gates.

(less)

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Mar 06, 2012 Gabe Dybing rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this because I'm surveying novels for a possible course concerned with "Women Writers of Science Fiction."

This novel is metaphysical. Butler builds an apocalyptic backdrop it seems, as a stage for her main character "Lauren" (who also sometimes seems like a stand-in for Butler herself) to expose her views on religion - a revisionist religion, of sorts, in which God is Change and Humans can shape God just as God shapes Humans. The science-fictional element in here is that Lauren also is a...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is "Hunger Games" on steroids. It is clearly a dystopian novel and by my measure very violent. It was recommended by an acquaintance on our 2010 Christmas cruise. I promised I would read the book and I wasn't disappointed by her appraisal. I had never heard of Octavia Butler before and I am glad I discovered her work. She is a very good writer, but probably not a great writer of science fiction.

The story really mirrors the present political and social situation of America today and it...more

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Parable of the Sower (Earthseed #1)

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