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Loading... Parable of the Sower (1993)by Octavia E. Butler
 veracite | Apr 5, 2013 |  The story is set in the not too distant future (2026) with rather frightening scenes of where a society with too many guns and too many drugs could end up. Powerful tenets from Earthseed the Books of the Living begin each chapter. Frightening, gripping, literate, thought provoking this would make an awesome book discussion book. (  ) lindap69 | Apr 5, 2013 | 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 died way too young. I wish there were more of her books to look forward to. Here's my favorite verse from Olamina's Earthseed- it's one that resonates with me, so much so that I have it by heart: "All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change." (  ) satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 | 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 died way too young. I wish there were more of her books to look forward to. Here's my favorite verse from Olamina's Earthseed- it's one that resonates with me, so much so that I have it by heart: "All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change." ( ) satyridae | Apr 4, 2013 | I found this book relentlessly grim, which is saying a lot as I have a pretty high tolerance for these things. I understand what Butler was trying to argue here but that was so dominant it broke the spell of the book for me. Also, the narrator's philosophies were transparent and unconvincing, and yet I felt we were supposed to be won over by them. Not one of my favourite books by Butler! (  ) allyshaw | Apr 4, 2013 | no reviews | add a review Is contained in
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0446675504, Paperback)Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:01:57 -0400) In 2025 California, an eighteen-year-old African American woman, suffering from a hereditary trait that causes her to feel others' pain as well as her own, flees northward from her small community and its desperate savages. |
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I keep writing and deleting because everything I think to say is a negative good. Suffice it to say: a great young heroine, a harrowing, engaging story and possibly more close to home for the visible SF reader than it was 18 years ago.
Added later: Reading other reviews of this novel is fascinating. Reviewers giving it a high score almost all seem to want to find something to dislike strongly, whether it is Lauren's narrative voice, the nature of her relationship with Bankole, the centrality of faith to the story or the blistering frankness of the description of awful things (things that happen to real people now and when the book was written.) This is why number rating systems suck, by the way. But it's also an interesting glimpse into what makes the reviewer uncomfortable about the book, what they are least able to articulate. (