Parable of the Sower

It is 2024. America has all but collapsed under climate crises and economic duress. Only the very rich or powerful live without fear. Everyone else is on their own. Lauren Olamina lives in a crowded home with her father, stepmother, and stepbrothers in a walled cul-de-sac neighborhood in Los Angeles. Within the walls, there is food, shelter, clothing, medicines, guns--everything a person needs for a reasonable, if isolated life. But neighborhood residents keep watch day and night, for those people outside the walls will kill to take their homes, their food, their shoes. Those outside the walls are starving. Dying. As long as the residents of the neighborhood are watchful, careful, they are safe. But walls can be climbed. Razor wire can show more be cut. Guns can be found outside the walls too, and when the outsiders decide they want in, there is no stopping them.

Lauren saw it coming. At 18, she’s as ready as she can be when the walls come down. Dogged determination to survive drags her through the first few days on the outside. Belief that God is change keeps her true to what’s right. Her nascent religion, Earthseed, draws people to her as she and her ragged band start walking north along the highways among throngs of the displaced. It’s chaos. It’s violent. And it’s hell for Lauren, who is a Sharer, and feels the pain she imagines in others around her—especially when she is forced to kill in order to save herself and her followers.

Parable of the Sower is told through the journal entries of Lauren Oya Olamina, who starts the story as a young adult, still at home with her family. In her pages, she shares the daily events of life in their walled community, as well as news about what is happening outside. Through her eyes, we see the hardships they bear, as well as the blessings, and come to understand the compromises they’ve all made for their small piece of land and the security it offers. We also see Lauren’s fear when the experienced adults take the younger adults outside in groups and, later, when she flees the madness the outsiders bring when they invade the neighborhood, and burn the whole thing to the ground.

Lauren’s story is a classic Hero’s Quest. Everything she knew is literally ripped from her and destroyed. Thrust into an unfamiliar landscape, she must somehow learn to survive. Homeless, she undertakes a journey to a distant destination, enduring trials that will either kill her or strengthen her. And along the way she gathers followers who all have something to offer her goal. Yet though the story may follow a classic formula, its execution is so outstanding I could not put the book down. I found myself captivated by the heroine and her dedication not only to her cause, but to the people around her. I’d like to think I would be as strong as Olamina if I were put to the same tests. Perhaps we all hope for the same strength. Truth is, we never know until the test is in progress. Lauren, too, has her doubts. Her struggles feel so real, so intimate, it was almost as if I were in her shoes.

The thing that surprised me most about Sower is that it is so frightening. This book was published in 1993, and yet it feels prescient. Its horrific circumstances and setting feel imminently plausible here and now. I can easily imagine U.S. citizens reacting in these ways, and it stands my hair on end. Sower will resonate closely with anyone who fears for our future, and the choices our leaders have made not just in the political arena but regarding climate issues as well. For those who are on the fence about these things, Sower may be a nudge toward belief in the need for big changes, and a preview of what to expect if we don’t.

I can’t recommend this book enough, though I do caution the reader to go in knowing this is not a light-hearted read. Sower will sink into your bones, shadow your dreams, and force you to think about the “What ifs” in our not-so-distant future. show less

Octavia Butler didn’t write dystopia — she wrote prophecy.

Parable of the Sower is one of those rare novels that feels less like fiction and more like a warning whispered from the future. Butler builds a world collapsing under climate disaster, economic ruin, and social fragmentation, and then places Lauren Olamina at the center — a young Black woman whose hyperempathy becomes both her greatest vulnerability and her greatest strength.

What struck me most is how intimate this book feels. Lauren’s voice is steady, observant, and painfully aware of the world’s cruelty, yet she refuses to surrender her belief in community, connection, and possibility. Earthseed isn’t just a philosophy; it’s a survival practice. A way of shaping show more change when everything around you is falling apart.

This book is brutal, brilliant, and deeply human. It’s the kind of story that lingers — not because it comforts, but because it tells the truth. And it’s a truth we’re still living in.

I finished Sower feeling cracked open, haunted, and strangely hopeful. Butler never promised safety, but she offered clarity. And that clarity is unforgettable. show less

It's been a long time since a novel re-set some of my paradigms. This one did so gently but powerfully.

The story itself is not a gentle one. The world Lauren Olamina lives in is cruel and violent. Climate change and economic collapse have devastated much of the US, but young Lauren -- only 13 when the book starts -- is mystified that those around her are unwilling to see and accept that things are probably going to get far worse. Her practicality leads her to a new spirituality, which she calls Earthseed: one which recognizes Change as the only 'divinity,' and human beings as capable of molding the force of Change, if they choose.

While the adults around her refuse to plan for a worst case scenario, it's her own clear-eyed foresight show more that enables her to escape the destruction of her community and search for a new place. With one fellow survivor, she takes to the road, learning how to survive -- and scattering her idea of Earthseed among the people who gradually join to become a community.

You don't have to accept Lauren's concept of Change as the only god to recognize its power and the affirmation it makes of the possibilities for human growth and development. Whether you characterize it as a philosophy or a spirituality, it is based on looking at the way the world works on a grand and fundamental scale and trying to constructively respect and partner with that reality. show less

rereading this almost 4 years to the day from when i last (and first) read it and the world is so much worse off now than it was then. it's harder to take the hopefulness from this book, even though the world lauren has lost is even worse off than we are (although we're on that road for sure). so this didn't read quite as hopeful to me this time, but i know it is, especially at the end, with the reminder that not all seeds will grow but if you plant widely, enough of them will.

this is such an unexpectedly readable book. it's partly that science fiction is tough for me and there's very little of it actually in this (it's apocalyptic which could be considered sci-fi but probably more speculative; it has the hyperempathy, which could be show more science fiction or could just be an allegory; it has the end goal of space, which probably is the main thing but that is meant to come later in the series) and it's partly that the concept and the characters and the writing make the pages fly.

i love that the leader is a young black woman, that not everyone agrees with her and that she has to confront and explain her thought process. i love that her religion isn't god-based, although she uses that language because people expect her to.

for me, this was a good time to read this because as overwhelming as things feel, and as often as i openly say that i don't plan to survive a catastrophic event, this is a reminder of how and why to do that. and that we do it together, not as individuals.

"'I know what it is to be left alone. This is no world to be alone in.'"

""Live!' Dad said. 'That's all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don't know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won't matter if we don't survive these times.'"

3.5 stars

from april 2020:
whew. this is both a really hard read but also a really hopeful one. i'm actually surprised it took such a hopeful turn, but i guess butler wanted to show us not just the danger we are facing, but also a possible path out.

it's never (that i can remember) explicitly stated that this new world is a result of climate change or a specific catastrophic event, but it makes sense that it is eventually what happens after ignoring a major climate emergency for decades. it makes sense that these things would happen as the result of a shift in weather patterns, sea level rise, drought, increased temperatures. or in combination with drugs or virus that cause unexpected deaths or hardship. it's, in a way, the same kind of "logical conclusion" that doesn't take a lot of thought to come to, to believe, that i love about the handmaid's tale. at first it's like - how did we get here? and then, without more than a beat or two - we know. but also, it's not just the climate change that makes sense. it's the societal change - the walled neighborhoods, the indentured servitude, the marauding gangs, the privatized social services, the wealth and race gaps made more stark. it's all hard and it all feels true and possible and like a flashing warning. with a possible answer.

this is one of the few books that is specifically (in parts, i mean) about religion and higher powers that i find philosophically interesting and not at all annoying. i appreciate her perspective on discovering earthseed rather than devising or inventing it. and the concepts of this religion (except for the destiny in the stars part) is one that resonates more with me. i'm not sure religion is even the right descriptor - it almost seems more like a collection of thoughts or a philosophy on how to live and survive and be in community, and almost uses god and religion just as a way for people to know what she's talking about contextually. but maybe that's just because it appeals to me on some level and i don't want to be drawn to something resembling a religion.

this is also, though, a warning to prepare. early on, lauren has an argument with her friend. they can both see what's coming, but her friend thinks there's nothing they can do about it, and to just try to make the best with what they have. lauren wants to prepare for things to get worse, to learn skills that will become necessary, to prepare for any eventuality so she can survive and thrive after whatever destruction comes. it really mirrors what we're seeing over the last decade (at least) about climate change and how the voices of urgency and action are being completely ignored while the people who are basically throwing up their hands and saying that it's too hard to change are the ones winning out. to the detriment of the entire world.

obviously the other parallels to today, in spite of our not getting to this extreme yet, are really scary, prescient, profound, and worrisome. she really (like atwood in the handmaid's tale) didn't take things too far. except maybe for the hyperempathy aspect, which is the only part that even approaches her usual sci-fi fare. but even that could be believed, as a delusion. (i wondered why she included that; with reflection i think it makes sense to give lauren a weakness or a vulnerability since she is otherwise so strong and steadfast, and unbending. but also, i love the idea that maybe what helps to save us, in the end, is not violence and subjugation, but to feel, even more, what everyone around us is feeling. to be so aware of everyone else's pain - and pleasure - that we take the only path forward that causes everyone the least amount of pain.) at any rate, it's really something to read about a united states with a corrupt and incompetent leader that might not survive a huge event while we're in the midst of a huge event being completely mishandled by a corrupt and incompetent leader. in a way, though, she gives us a way out. or at least a way to start to create a way out. together. with community. with intelligence and science and planning and most importantly, with each other.

"Secretaries of Astronautics don't have to know much about science. They have to know about politics."

"In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn."

"I wonder what you have to do to become a cop. I wonder what a badge is, other than a license to steal. What did it used to be to make people Bankole's age want to trust it. I know what the old books say, but still, I wonder." (4 stars) show less

“Parable of the Sower” follows
Lauren Olamina, a young woman who has hyper-empathy, navigates a post-apocalyptic life in California. While the world around her is filled with horrifying happenings, Lauren manages to fight for survival and create hope by beginning a new faith. I found that while this book can be considered dark as it showcases the darker side of human nature with the world seemingly crumbling around them, it also presents the bright side of human nature, the will to survive and create a new future. I loved main character Lauren, as she grows from a sheltered child to a strong-willed adult woman with sheer determination and tenacity. Author, Octavia E. Butler, has earned a high place in my reading world and I can’t show more wait to devour more of their books! show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/parable-of-the-sower-by-octavia-e-butler/

On the one hand it’s a grim narrative of the disintegration of society in an all too credible future, where the state no longer protects people against each other, climate change is out of control and the narrator’s safe home enclave becomes steadily less safe. There are some gruesome moments of psychological and physical horror, and the whole situation seems a lot more plausible now than it must have done in 1993 (which was the exact time that the Republican Party declared war on the Constitution).

At the same time the narrator, Lauren Olamina, is a symbol of hope, founding a new belief system that allows her and her found family, her tribe, to start rebuilding show more society for the future. The book ends on a note of optimism despite the horror. One can question how realistic it is that even the most gifted eighteen-year-old could start a successful religious movement for the long term, even (especially?) under such extreme circumstances, but great stories are often written about unlikely events. show less

Set in 2024 and moving forward in time until 2027 (the novel was written in 1993), "Parable of the Sower" is a picture of a collapsed world. We never get the fall spelled out - all the stories are rumored and hinted at but it appears that the collapse had come because of climate change and corporate greed. By the time the novel opens, most of humanity is struggling for their lives, living in enclaves (which get raided and destroyed often enough) or on the streets. Water is more valuable than anything, South California (where the novel opens) had not seen any rain in years and people had turned into their worst selves.

The protagonist of the novel, Lauren Olamina, is 15 and as most teenagers wants to be older. She has an unusual gift - show more because of some drugs her mother had been taking while pregnant, her brain had been rewired and she is a sharer - she can feel what other people can feel. Awesome during sex, not so much when someone suffers. And in her world, suffering is a lot more likely to be encountered than joy.

At the start of the novel, Lauren and her family live a pretty safe live - yes, it is hard and a lot of work but they appear to be safe. But then the world superimposes itself and things start going wrong - a brother decides that he is better off on his own (and for awhile he is... until he is not), a parent disappears. And then comes the raid and the security of the small enclave is gone forever - and the survivors band together and start going north.

This is the time where the novel really starts - the initial part is more of a setting and a calm moment in the middle of a storm. And this walk shows just how much the world had disintegrated - it is still here (even air travel turns out to still be around... but not for a girl from South California). But under that patchwork world old things had rared their heads - from slavery to company towns, from cannibalism to greed and lack of care for anyone but oneself. Although the rays of hope are still there - babies are still born and sometimes people help each other.

Lauren and her companions meet more people on the road and even find a common purpose - find a place and build a community. The place turns out to not be a problem, the community part takes a lot longer to even get around it.

And on top of that story, there is a second one - the birth of a new religion which Lauren believes to be just "known". In some parts I wished Butler had left that part alone - it has its part in the novel and possibly for a lot of people it is the important part of the novel but... for me it was a distraction in some cases and made Lauren look almost unapproachable and annoying. Which is probably the point.

The novel closes with a glimmer of hope - not a ray of it, nowhere near but despite the long chances, maybe things can work out for our ragged group of survivors.

The novel works on its own but there is a continuation out there and I plan to read it soon(ish). Butler's world is scary and it is surprising how complete it feels even without the complete backstory. And that lack of the "how it happened exactly" is probably what makes it even scarier - you never know when things reached the point of no return in this world and how close we are to it. Because nothing in what she writes about contradicts anything in the world we are in - and this may as well be our future. show less