Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butlerpublished
January 1st 2000
(first published 1993)
by Warner Books
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binding
Paperback, 352 pages
literary awards
Nebula nominee (1995)
isbn
0446675504
(isbn13: 9780446675505)
description
Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
I dunno...
Parable of the Sower is nightmarish. I read this book in two days, and I had nightmares for weeks after I read it. Butler will always remain the Queen of imagery. I don't know that I would really recommend this book to everyone. Some scenes are beyond brutal. I understand the omission of certain scenes would have certainly compromised the integrity of the work, but I think I might have lost it if I had read one more time about someone being clubbed on the head, raped, or shot. When Octavia...more
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Read in November, 2007
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...more
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...more
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Read in December, 2007
I'm usually not into science fiction but this book discusses complex issues like racism, drugs, sexual relations, corporate corruption and environmental destruction in a simply adventurous way. It is an easy read but you will find a never-ending amount of hidden meanings and symbolism. Octavia Butler was one of the first African American science fiction writers to break through the literary scene. If all else, read it for the sake of history and for fear of the future.
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Read in April, 2008
What a terrifying book. Written in the early 1990s about the 2010s, it depicts a world wherein mercenary law rules, supplies, consumer goods, and transportation are scare, and death is only a step away if you play your cards wrong. It tells a story of a girl who tries to escape from Los Angeles to find a better world heading north along the coast. After reading this book it will make you think twice about not taking global warming seriously (as weather plays a major role in shaping the societies...more
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Absolutely love this book. It was my introduction to Octavia Butler, and to what a black, female sci-fi writer could do with the genre. The story is completely captivating and the book is much more about the possibility of culture change and the hopefulness of revolution than it is about any traditional ideas of an apocalyptic scenario.
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Riveting.
I love this womans' writing style and her incredible imagination.
I love this womans' writing style and her incredible imagination.
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4 comments
Read in September, 2008
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Read in January, 2006
I discovered Octavia Butler several years ago by chance, some of her Hugo winning short stories were in a Sci-Fi collection I was reading. The first Novel I read of her's was Wild Seed (also very good, I will review it too). But I think that Parable of the Sower (followed closely by the sequel Parable of the Talents) is far and away my favorite.
Set in the not-to-distant future, in an America that has fallen from grace. There is wide-spread poverty and lawlessness, an enormous gap between ...more
Set in the not-to-distant future, in an America that has fallen from grace. There is wide-spread poverty and lawlessness, an enormous gap between ...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Sci-fi fans, wanderers
I'm very glad I didn't read any descriptions of Octavia Butler's "The Parable of the Sower" before I started reading it, because I probably would have put it back on the shelf. After reading Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" which I actively disliked, I believed there was nothing that the dystopian future genre could give me that I would enjoy without feeling chastised or preached to. I am delighted to have been proved completely wrong by this book.
"The Parable of t...more
"The Parable of t...more
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My friend InfoDva recommended this series. The Parable of the Sower is, of course, the first followed by The Parable of the Talents, which I haven’t read yet.
Let’s see how to summarize this. Lauren Olamina is a young black woman who lives in the United States in what appears to be a nearly post-apocolypse world. It’s not, though. Only that humans have destroyed the world. People live in small walled communities or else they have no protection. By “small,” I mean neighborhood ...more
Let’s see how to summarize this. Lauren Olamina is a young black woman who lives in the United States in what appears to be a nearly post-apocolypse world. It’s not, though. Only that humans have destroyed the world. People live in small walled communities or else they have no protection. By “small,” I mean neighborhood ...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Jenny by:
LovemyLife
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 author's immagine how s...more
I love these post appocolyptic future type books best out of the sci-fi genre. I love seeing how the different author's immagine how s...more
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Read in January, 2005
Genius at it's best from Speculative Fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947-2006). From Publisher's Weekly:
Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Butler's first novel since 1989's Imago offers an uncommonly sensitive rendering of a very common SF scenario: by 2025, global warming, pollution, racial and ethnic tensions and other ills have precipitated a worldwide decline. In the Los Angeles area, small beleaguered communities of the still-employed hide behind makeshift walls from hordes of desperate homel...more
Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Butler's first novel since 1989's Imago offers an uncommonly sensitive rendering of a very common SF scenario: by 2025, global warming, pollution, racial and ethnic tensions and other ills have precipitated a worldwide decline. In the Los Angeles area, small beleaguered communities of the still-employed hide behind makeshift walls from hordes of desperate homel...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
People who believe the revolution is coming
This book was great! Butler immediately launches us into a world only 18 years into the future. It's a world reminiscent of the so-called "Third World" where people with more wealth have to build walls around their homes and communities-- only this world is America. It's an intense world where water costs more than food. The main character, Lauren, can tell that the end of the community she grew in is coming to an end. Lauren seems to be the only person who knows the ship is sinking...more
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Having just re-read "Dawn," I decided to also re-read this work of Octavia Butler. This is one of those books that may be ignored because it will be considered "just" science fiction. Butler has written a tale of an America, not post-apocalyptic like McCarthy's "The Road," but an America that has collapsed into anarchy through a natural progression of trends identifiable today. The author considers the basic problem a destroyed economy as a consequence of global ...more
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Read in August, 2007
Octavia Butler is cool.
This is a "sci-fi" set in the very near future. There are no robots and space ships, only humanity tearing itself apart.
The American economy and government has collapsed for some reason or another and all that is left are islands of civilization; walled communities under constant threat from the destitute, deranged and drug-frenzied who live outside. The main focus is on a young girl who must escape with friends to the north ie Canada in an attempt to su...more
This is a "sci-fi" set in the very near future. There are no robots and space ships, only humanity tearing itself apart.
The American economy and government has collapsed for some reason or another and all that is left are islands of civilization; walled communities under constant threat from the destitute, deranged and drug-frenzied who live outside. The main focus is on a young girl who must escape with friends to the north ie Canada in an attempt to su...more
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Read in September, 2007
I picked this off a library shelf at random, having never heard of the author's name or the book's title, but noticing the "sci-fi" stamp on its spine. And, lo and behold, Adam gets a post-apocalyptic story which is the first in what appears to be a promising series. I'll be heading back for the following books soon.
The main character seeks to survive after the collapse of her walled neighborhood, one of many walled, small groups of people seeking to maintain some semblance of ed...more
The main character seeks to survive after the collapse of her walled neighborhood, one of many walled, small groups of people seeking to maintain some semblance of ed...more
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Read in April, 2004
recommends it for:
Fans of thought-provoking sci fi.
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...more
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...more
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3 comments
Read in July, 2007
I read Parable of the Talents before I read this -- it was my first Butler, whereas this is my fourth? Fifth? I've read enough to be familiar with her, anyway, and if it is my fifth I'm about halfway through her ouevre.
It was good, but I think I liked Parable of the Talents better; the Earthseed stuff is cooler the first time you read about it. I find it a bizarre religion. As I recall the main reason why I found it s...more
It was good, but I think I liked Parable of the Talents better; the Earthseed stuff is cooler the first time you read about it. I find it a bizarre religion. As I recall the main reason why I found it s...more
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2 comments
recommends it for:
anyone
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2007
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...more
The...more
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