Parable of the Sower

[mild spoilers] There were a lot of things I didn't like about this book, but it's well worth a read.

First, the main character starts to think through her own religion, complete with scripture verses. I had a hard time taking the verses seriously, since they were so broad as to be meaningless. Second, the romances seemed forced and awkward. Still, there's a ton to think about, especially in the meaning of community and its relevance today.

This book was raw and realistic to the point of being a bit scary. Octavia Butler's writing is powerful and doesn't shy away from telling things the way they really are.

I rarely enjoy reading in the dystopian genre, but I know if she wrote it, I'll enjoy it.

A book that feels a little surreal to read in 2025 considering it's depiction of a dystopian USA set in the 2020's. A very grim setting that ultimately tells a story of about the power of hope and community; not in a feel good way but the importance of those aspects to our very survival. Still the book never really clicked with me. Felt perhaps I read the story a bit too late considering the state of the world. Things are in a way worse than Octavia could've foreseen. Going to space is a far away as the heavens in our reality.

Es una buena historia, muy buena de hecho, pero es un poco aterrador que se pensara en los 90, se escriba en contexto de estos años y no creo que sea tan lejano. No mañana, pero en una década o menos lo veo posible.

My thoughts on this one are complicated.

By happenstance, I read it when the story was set, and in one case, I read a journal entry on the day the main character "entered" it.

I'm typically not a science fiction or post-apocalyptic literature fan, though I'm a sucker for a good story. I'm not sure the story is here, though the development of the Lauren Olamina character is rich and layered. I wanted more of that from some other characters, but I get this is the first of two in a series (and, from what I read, potentially was the first of three before Butler's untimely passing). There are eerie elements that read like prognostications on Butler's part, and while one can still hold hope that things won't get that bad, it's not hard to see how it could.

I also have trouble reading novels structured as vignettes, journal entries, flashes, etc. I find myself being lost in the details, trying to remember every little thing on the off chance they're foreshadows for something down the road. Oddly, though, I find the pace of novels structured as such to be too fast for absorption. So, yes, this paragraph definitely describes a "me thing," but I need to make note of it in my review.

One might think that this is a negative review, but as I said, it's complicated. I couldn't put the book down; when I would, I had to force myself to not "just go one more page." I found myself really enjoying the Earthseed verses, and I would have been interested in Lauren's reflection on them. How did she wrestle with the concepts and the language? As the narrator, Lauren notes that she revised them substantially. As such, I would have enjoyed seeing earlier "drafts," or possibly even recreations of the handwritten journal pages as images to see some of the scribbles that we all make when revising our work.

The writer of the afterward shared similar reflections. She said it took her three tries to really dig the book on a personal level. Maybe I'm like that. If so, I'm game for a re-read down the line.

Science fiction often aims to speak broadly about mankind, either where we come from or where we're going. Usually this leads to novels that feel impersonal. Not the case with Butler. In all her works, that I've read so far, she's always displayed the nuanced tapestry of human emotion. She understands that rarely is something absolute. If we hate someone we don't just hate them. We can pity, envy and even love them all at the same time. Though at times it's hard not to feel as though our narrator isn't a sheltered 18 year old girl speaking but Butler herself in all her wisdom. On one hand she often speaks broadly of the world with a deep philosophy on life, adding another layer to this already interesting character, on the other it's slightly jarring having someone speak so deeply about the world who has yet to fully experience it.

Butler expertly manages to maintain both intrugue and tension throughout the first half of the novel but drops the ball in the second half where stakes should be at there highest. We meet character after character with little to no fanfare or fireworks and each hurdle is overcome without much difficulty or sacrifice. Similar to Kindred this book doesn't really have a climax, more the story just reaches its natural conclusion and simply ends.

This book felt too real. It’s heavy, honest, and full of heart. The world is falling apart, danger is everywhere: the drug epidemic, homelessness, climate change, and the LA fires. And yet, we watch this young woman, Lauren, build hope in the middle of it all. Her journey made me feel everything. It’s disturbing, intense, and way too close to reality. Not an easy read, but definitely an important one.

4.5 stars rounded up. I couldn't put this book down. It depressingly nails the particular dystopia we've created for ourselves in America, from 1993. Excited to read the sequel.

Knocked off half a point for the main character being a little too cool and competent, and for the pyro users which feel a bit one note “drug user evil killer cannibals” to me.

I was both embarrassed and a little intimidated to pick up Octavia Butler for the first time, so it took me a second to be fully invested. One I was, however, I couldn't put this down. This is everything that I want in my dystopian fiction. Endlessly amazing.

I can finally say I know why Butler is all of my favourite authors' favourite author.

3.5 Stars
Review Coming Soon

Intense and brutal and hits way too close to home for comfort, which is, in part, the point. The near-future dystopia feels VERY near these days, and while technically this is speculative fiction, it's barely speculative and barely fiction. There's a little something extra to it beginning in 2024, the current year, but it was written in 1993 and obviously RL 2024 isn't where book 2024 is. But fast-forward 20 or 30 years, and maybe?

This is a tough read, and I don't know if I can say I "enjoyed" it, but it's certainly well-executed, believable, and upsetting. I've read a bunch of reviews trying to see not only what others thought but also whether I had missed key takeaways -- I don't think I did -- and I am struck by the things a lot of the negative reviews are complaining about. Some of then don't like "Earthseed," which is protagonist Lauren's invented religion based around change. I saw one person complaining that it was unbelievable because the police -- and the book starts in LA, so it would be the LAPD! -- are depicted as unhelpful and corrupt. A couple people didn't like the prose; people are entitled to their opinions, but I thought it was perfectly fine.

An early takeaway for me was preparing for impending disaster instead of pretending it won't happen, but Butler wrote this to envision the near-future based on the continuation of contemporary trends. So I think a better takeaway more accurate to her perspective is to effect change now to avoid this bleak future. I wish I were more optimistic about that.

I think that this book just wasn't for me. I've never really been a huge fan of dystopia, or YA dystopia for that matter, and Parable of the Sower didn't do much to make it stand out from the others. I did like the ideas of Earthseed and the effects of religion that were discussed, but that's pretty much the majority of what the book had going for it. It started fairly slow, the plot wasn't too interesting, and the romance was creepy.

Grim. Felt somewhere between The Stand and The Road. Just a kind of post-apocalyptic story that I guess doesn't really work for me. I wonder if it felt more science fiction-y and less really just-a-few-years-in-the-future when it was written. The religious element also just didn't work for me. Not sure whether I will read the sequel at some point, but definitely passing on it for now.

As someone who’s read this twice and even taught it in 9th Grade, it leaves something to be desired. Things that are a little too few and far between: stretches of world-building to make the apocalypse more loved in and undergird; the social critiques; motif bricklaying (e.g. the astronaut stuff); romance plots that aren’t a little skeezy; and explanation for what caused the apocalypse (not always necessary, but could be helpful here).

My edition of this novel had an introduction by NK Jemisin; this pre-disposed me to like it since Jemson's introduction is half critique. She found the novel difficult to get into and hard to believe. She's right on one count; Lauren doesn't read like a teenager, however smart for her age– she reads as an adult's idea of how a smart teenager ought to act. However, I think that's kind of the point. This is a parable, after all, and the religion Lauren creates will, if successful, have Lauren as its central prophet. Prophets don't get to be kids. Was Jesus Christ a believable child? He seemed a bit preachy.

I think this novel is an excellent litmus test as to whether or not someone can appreciate SF that is at once both hard and light. Yes, all the guns and ammunition works as it should, but the ‘sharing' makes little ontological sense. All the decisions Lauren make are correct and logical– and that's kind of ridiculous for an eighteen year old. The book functions as a religious parable; don't worry so much about the details, only focus on the meaning at its heart.

I read Kindred before and I am glad that the second book I read by her was also really good. Instead of slavery this one tackles consequences of climate change, drugs, politics. It's a survival book, the author's mother was a green thumb, the author researched religions, guns to write it.

It feels so real and there's barely anything magical in it, the “magic” here would be diseases anyway.

The world is brutal. The religion which is supposed to bring relief to people is realistic and practical, it's more like community guidelines.

Loved it, there's nothing to complain about.

Wow. Excellent dystopic sci-fi. Incredibly well written, with great ideas shining light on truths about reality that are hard to ignore. Like all good sci-fi, has ideas in it that will stay with you and leave you thinking.

This review doesn't really do it justice. Look - it's just an amazing book. You've gotta be ready for some tough stuff, but it's very worth it.

Also, there are some interesting parallels to the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, I wonder if it in any way inspired some of this.

Too YA for me. Not nearly as well written as Xenogenesis.

Before I joined the 52 Book Challenge I had never heard of Octavia Butler and I certainly did not pick up dystopian fiction intentionally. And this is why I joined the challenge because Wow what a ride! This book is outstanding and terrifying. Butler wrote it in 1995 and it takes place in California in 2025- in a falling society. Government is ineffective, water shortages are the norm, corporations have pushed the country to dangerous levels of greed and corruption. Failed biotech has created a dangerous and highly addictive drug. I could go on and on. The narration by 15 year old heroine Lauren is unemotional, stripped of any joy and very little optimism. It's a world of survival and of building a community out of ruin. Fantastic read. Highly recommend.

Fantastic and painful. It feels so real in a way that is scary but important. It feels like it's coming from a writer who knows what she's talking about.

It took me too long to read this book, but the dragging of my feet led to me starting this novel, one year from its fictional start date.

Octavia's near term California dystopia is a world we are familiar with. We can see how she build these scenes by extrapolating the societal issues of the 90s to today. Though our immediate 2023 world is not as bleak as the one she narrates, I found eerie truths that are highlighted today - severe weather patterns, inequality of wealth, societal drug reliance, and a dose of anarchy are continued forces of concern.

And we see these all from the eyes of a determined, mature, natural leader in Lauren. She guides us through countless heart breaks and losses, but your confidence in her ability to survive doesn't waiver. It's the same with the people she picks up along the way, then slowly believing in this preacher's daughter. Their strength grows around the new faith she built and her innate ability to create hope when you just can't believe there should be any left.

What a prescient novel to read in 2023! Perhaps it should be classified as horror, because when I look at the state of the world it isn't hard to imagine it devolving to this scenario.

The main character, Lauren, is in somewhat of a Cassandra scenario where she is telling people what will likely happen, but nobody will listen and will in fact actively deny and repress what she is saying. She is the lone voice of wisdom, or at least the voice of practicality without denial.

The novel explores hope, loss, and trust. How well do you really know people you have known all of your life when the world you know crumbles? How do you know you can trust people you have just met? How can you maintain your moral code when the world around you does not follow that same code, and you are pressed in to acts that you would not normally do?

The author makes a bold choice in exploring the beginning of a religious movement while simultaneously setting its goals far beyond just establishing morality. Earthseed is the metaphor for the titular Sower, and where in Maslow's hierarchy is space exploration when you need to determine where you are going to get your next meal or drink of water?

I look forward to reading the second book, and I'm sad that the third book in the trilogy wasn't finished before the author's death. (Doing a little research I see the author intended for there to be several more novels in the series, too.)

this book has me thinking. so much thinking.

edited after rereading:

still holds up really well! i do think that i glossed over lauren and bankole's incredibly uncomfortable age gap the first time (

This started off promising then slogged A LOT in the middle then actually got good and finally ended with a whimper. I found the protagonist really annoying which is ironic considering that's exactly what the person who wrote the foreword said. And her relationship with a 57 year old man as an 18 year old girl that everyone in their group is just totally fine with? Bizarre and unsettling, even in an apocalypse. Also the fact that the group just elected her their de facto leader when Zahra was right there? And were totally willing to go along with her crazy ass Earthseed? Made no sense to me and doesn't seem how actual humans would react at all in that situation.

Overall very disappointed and will not be returning to Butler's works in the near future. 

I hear a lot about how this particular dystopian fiction is more reflective of today and I can see some parallels.

This was a well written book and I think some nice work went into it. I'm not a big dystopian fan so I could only enjoy it so much. I would say that it was a good read in all!