Status
Available
Series
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2019), Edition: Reprint, 368 pages
Description
"Parable of the Sower is the Butlerian odyssey of one woman who is twice as feeling in a world that has become doubly dehumanized. The time is 2025. The place is California, where small walled communities must protect themselves from hordes of desperate scavengers and roaming bands of people addicted to a drug that activates an orgasmic desire to burn, rape, and murder. When one small community is overrun, Lauren Olamina, an 18 year old black woman with the hereditary train of "hyperempathy"--which causes her to feel others' pain as her own--sets off on foot along the dangerous coastal highways, moving north into the unknown"--
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User reviews
LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
I like how Octavia Butler writes. It’s almost a non-style, crisp and honest, evenly paced and matter of factly. It is what it is, like. For a story like this, a pre-apocalypse, relying on events themselves hitting the reader, it’s extremely effective.
Lauren grows up as the daughter of the
This, coming into the story as the apocalpyse is about to happen, strikes me as refreshingly unusual. It reminds me of ”Things we didn’t see coming” by Steve Amsterdam, but without the same scope in time. Stylistically and storywise, it’s impossible not to think about ”The Road”.
For of course Lauren’s community breaks down, stormed by hateful hungry looters in the night, and she is forced out in the world on her own. With her she carries just the emergency supplies, a few other saurvivors and the slivers of a new faith. For Lauren has had a revelation of sorts, a blasphemous idea, and she can’t help but thinking that it makes sense.
The book then deals with her travelling north, following the streams of refugees on the highways, meeting more people and starting a community of sorts. It’s often hard reading, in a horribly calm sort of way. This world is incredibly tough, especailly for children, and any reader should be warned of that. But there is more hope and dignity here than in ”The road” for instance, a hope of humankind actually being able to learn something. Occasionally, it’s subtly beautiful.
Written in 1993, this, sadly, feels incredibly visionary. This is pretty close to where the western world is heading if we don’t make some very radical changes very soon, I’m sure. Parable of the sower serves as both a robust alarm clock and a small injection of hope. I’m both eager and a little scared to read the sequel.
Lauren grows up as the daughter of the
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minister in a walled community outside Los Angeles. The United States is crumbling fast – global warming is eroding the coastline and burning away the crops, the last scraps of welfare are all but collapsed. The gap between those who have, however little, and those who don’t. is getting more and more acute. Police and fire department are privatized and corrupt. The states up north are closing the borders. Inflation is huge, and bartering is taking over as the means of trade. It’s the last twitches of an imploding capitalist nation. This, coming into the story as the apocalpyse is about to happen, strikes me as refreshingly unusual. It reminds me of ”Things we didn’t see coming” by Steve Amsterdam, but without the same scope in time. Stylistically and storywise, it’s impossible not to think about ”The Road”.
For of course Lauren’s community breaks down, stormed by hateful hungry looters in the night, and she is forced out in the world on her own. With her she carries just the emergency supplies, a few other saurvivors and the slivers of a new faith. For Lauren has had a revelation of sorts, a blasphemous idea, and she can’t help but thinking that it makes sense.
The book then deals with her travelling north, following the streams of refugees on the highways, meeting more people and starting a community of sorts. It’s often hard reading, in a horribly calm sort of way. This world is incredibly tough, especailly for children, and any reader should be warned of that. But there is more hope and dignity here than in ”The road” for instance, a hope of humankind actually being able to learn something. Occasionally, it’s subtly beautiful.
Written in 1993, this, sadly, feels incredibly visionary. This is pretty close to where the western world is heading if we don’t make some very radical changes very soon, I’m sure. Parable of the sower serves as both a robust alarm clock and a small injection of hope. I’m both eager and a little scared to read the sequel.
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LibraryThing member beserene
Octavia Butler was one of the most extraordinary science fiction writers of the modern age, and one of the least known. Though not as prolific as many of the 20th century sci-fi authors, she did leave a body of work that is consistently excellent; thoughtful and unabashedly political, Butler's
SPOILER (sort of) ALERT:
It should surprise no one, despite the above warning, that Lauren's community cannot last forever, and the second part of the narrative begins on the eve of loss and destruction. The novel then becomes a post-apocalyptic road novel, as Lauren walks the path toward a better place, as well as the path to true adulthood.
What colors and structures the novel most is the idea of "Earthseed", the religion that Lauren is constructing and disseminating as she walks her road. The story unfolds in a sequence of journal entries, but each section is headed with a passage from "The Book of the Living", which Lauren is also writing as she travels. The central belief of the religion is that "God is Change" -- and this idea sits uncomfortably with some of the characters, as it may sit uncomfortably with some readers. For myself, I enjoyed the philosophical element that these religious excerpts added to the text, as well as the critiques of corrupted religion that emanate from the frequent religious discussions within the story itself. Though some readers may grow frustrated with this focus, I feel that the beauty of the spiritual and social ideas elevate this beyond the typical post-apocalyptic road narrative and allow the reader to feel more connected to the characters and their future.
Though some of the novel's social and racial perspectives are a little dated, many -- I must admit, with some shame -- are just as pertinent today as when the novel was written. So too are the warnings inherent in Butler's vision of a future America, where that oft-discussed gap between the haves and the have-nots has engulfed the entire nation. Many of the details of Butler's world will resonate with painful familiarity. As with many of the genre, this book is not always easy to read, but it is fascinating and, I believe, still incredibly important.
The novel ends openly, facing the future and the sequel the Butler eventually did write. I am planning to read the sequel almost as soon as I am finished writing this review. That might tell you something about this novel.
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novels offer up a rare perspective in the genre: that of the African-American woman. In this particular novel, as in most of her novels, the main character and narrator is a young black woman in a not-so-distant future. This particular future is bleak and terrifying; citizens with jobs in this future America must blockade themselves inside walled neighborhoods and try to fend off the thievery, murder and mayhem committed by the masses of "street poor" -- homeless, jobless, drug-addicted gangs stripped bare of sense and humanity. The very rich abide in well-defended compounds, but those less affluent must hold back the tide as best they can with what little they have. Our narrator, Lauren, is in this latter position -- she and her family are struggling to keep their community together.SPOILER (sort of) ALERT:
It should surprise no one, despite the above warning, that Lauren's community cannot last forever, and the second part of the narrative begins on the eve of loss and destruction. The novel then becomes a post-apocalyptic road novel, as Lauren walks the path toward a better place, as well as the path to true adulthood.
What colors and structures the novel most is the idea of "Earthseed", the religion that Lauren is constructing and disseminating as she walks her road. The story unfolds in a sequence of journal entries, but each section is headed with a passage from "The Book of the Living", which Lauren is also writing as she travels. The central belief of the religion is that "God is Change" -- and this idea sits uncomfortably with some of the characters, as it may sit uncomfortably with some readers. For myself, I enjoyed the philosophical element that these religious excerpts added to the text, as well as the critiques of corrupted religion that emanate from the frequent religious discussions within the story itself. Though some readers may grow frustrated with this focus, I feel that the beauty of the spiritual and social ideas elevate this beyond the typical post-apocalyptic road narrative and allow the reader to feel more connected to the characters and their future.
Though some of the novel's social and racial perspectives are a little dated, many -- I must admit, with some shame -- are just as pertinent today as when the novel was written. So too are the warnings inherent in Butler's vision of a future America, where that oft-discussed gap between the haves and the have-nots has engulfed the entire nation. Many of the details of Butler's world will resonate with painful familiarity. As with many of the genre, this book is not always easy to read, but it is fascinating and, I believe, still incredibly important.
The novel ends openly, facing the future and the sequel the Butler eventually did write. I am planning to read the sequel almost as soon as I am finished writing this review. That might tell you something about this novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ReginaR
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
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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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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LibraryThing member VisibleGhost
The title refers to the biblical parable of Saint Luke. The book also has some parallels to The Book of Job. Fifteen year-old Lauren Olamina is living in near-future southern California where society is crumbling and disintegrating day by day. Her father is a preacher and community leader but she
Lauren is beset with one calamity after another. She has an iron-strong determination to not only survive but create something from a position of powerlessness. Survival takes most of her energy but as time progresses she also takes baby steps in forming Earthseed. She's as tough a protagonist as they come. When most people would have given up in sheer exhaustion she determinedly forges ahead. Butler knows how to write tough women. There is nothing florid or fancy about Butler's writing. It is simple, concise, and clear. It is powerful and unforgettable. It's also a reminder that most societies are balanced on an edge of progression or regression.
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can't bring herself to believe what he believes. She writes her thoughts in diaries and slowly a nascent religion comes into being. She calls her book Earthseed: The Books of the Living. Each chapter starts with a verse from Earthseed. It's a stark religion with no empty promises. Stark but beautiful.Lauren is beset with one calamity after another. She has an iron-strong determination to not only survive but create something from a position of powerlessness. Survival takes most of her energy but as time progresses she also takes baby steps in forming Earthseed. She's as tough a protagonist as they come. When most people would have given up in sheer exhaustion she determinedly forges ahead. Butler knows how to write tough women. There is nothing florid or fancy about Butler's writing. It is simple, concise, and clear. It is powerful and unforgettable. It's also a reminder that most societies are balanced on an edge of progression or regression.
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LibraryThing member kaionvin
The most interesting thing about Parable of the Sower is how clear it makes Octavia Butler's central theme of survival through the main character's religious writings of "Earthseed":
"All successful life is
Adaptable,
Opportunistic,
Tenacious,
Interconnected, and
Fecund."
In the year 2027: oil is
While I respect what Butler was trying to do with Parable of the Sower, I didn't feel like she was particularly successful. The narrative lacks real vitality. Butler takes the narrative at an overly slow clip, particularly in the first half when we already know Lauren will be chased out of her home. The horrors of Butler's pre-apocalyptic world are never described into visceral presence, nor the scope of her vision large enough for the reader to get a sense of how the world got this way (and why it so needs a religion like Earthseed). Earthseed itself never faces any real challenging by either Lauren or the people she ends up preaching it to, rendering it mostly mumbo-jumbo. It's really unclear what use it offers the survivors-- if anything, the plot really preaches the use of guns.
To be fair, the other characters don't appear to offer much resistance to anything, being particularly thin, somewhat interchangeable creations that offer no conflict to Lauren's natural leadership-taking. There's really no conflict that drives the plot at all, to be honest, not even within Lauren herself. Her super-empathy plays almost no part, and all this lack of drive in the narrative really shows up as stagnancy in the novel. "Idea"-books are common in science-fiction, but Parable of the Sower lacks the conflicts that really illustrate the worthiness of its idea.
"All successful life is
Adaptable,
Opportunistic,
Tenacious,
Interconnected, and
Fecund."
In the year 2027: oil is
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rare, water is expensive, and food a precious commodity. Many are homeless and/or jobless, police are crooked, and pyromaniac druggies roam the streets. Lauren, who has superempathy, grew up one of the lucky ones, relatively safe inside the gated community her father conceived. But after her home is attacked and scavenged--and her family killed-- Lauren joins the hordes who walk north, in search of work and land, while she dreams up "Earthseed". While I respect what Butler was trying to do with Parable of the Sower, I didn't feel like she was particularly successful. The narrative lacks real vitality. Butler takes the narrative at an overly slow clip, particularly in the first half when we already know Lauren will be chased out of her home. The horrors of Butler's pre-apocalyptic world are never described into visceral presence, nor the scope of her vision large enough for the reader to get a sense of how the world got this way (and why it so needs a religion like Earthseed). Earthseed itself never faces any real challenging by either Lauren or the people she ends up preaching it to, rendering it mostly mumbo-jumbo. It's really unclear what use it offers the survivors-- if anything, the plot really preaches the use of guns.
To be fair, the other characters don't appear to offer much resistance to anything, being particularly thin, somewhat interchangeable creations that offer no conflict to Lauren's natural leadership-taking. There's really no conflict that drives the plot at all, to be honest, not even within Lauren herself. Her super-empathy plays almost no part, and all this lack of drive in the narrative really shows up as stagnancy in the novel. "Idea"-books are common in science-fiction, but Parable of the Sower lacks the conflicts that really illustrate the worthiness of its idea.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
This book pulled off a delicate balancing act—while thinking that a couple of the central elements were only mediocre, I enjoyed reading the story.
My complaints are two and both are in the area of consistency. The first is the setting of the story: America of about 15 years in our future (35
The second was the in the character of the protagonist, Lauren Olamina. Her destitute family had banded together with others like it who wanted a bit of sanity and safety inside a walled community, shooting intruders. Yet, when the community is finally overrun and she must flee, a lifetime of caution and distrust is abandoned as she becomes a Pied Piper, picking up disciples for her nascent religion/utopian community. The lack of continuity linking old Lauren with new Lauren made this book read as two separate stories that felt separated by years rather than days.
So, what made this book work? There are two things and, somewhat paradoxically, they are Lauren and Butler’s vision of the future.
In just a few pages Lauren goes from being the poor little black girl with a crippling psychosomatic condition to someone who feels real and whose fate concerns us. Her determination not to sink into the depths of barbarism and to establish some kind of foothold for a viable society is in the best traditions of post-apocalyptic fiction but it’s done with more than the usual amount of intimacy and human-ness.
And, setting aside the inconsistency mentioned above, Butler’s vision of the future feels scarily possible. Unlike many near-future dystopic visions that predicate some radical shift in society that doesn’t pass the gut check of plausibility, Butler took the trends of the late 1980s and extended them. What if we continued pumping pollutants into the environment, particularly greenhouse gases?...Might we, as some scientists claim, reach a tipping point where the temperature shifts radically and irrevocably? What if we continue to widen the gap between the rich and the poor?...Might we reach a point where we don’t have a sustainable economic base? What if we continue a blind eye toward corruption?...Might we reach a point where our societal protections become unreliable? The cautionary tale that Butler gives us was, for me, equally as fascinating as the spiritual pilgrimage of the protagonist.
I’ll read the sequel, The Parable of the Talents, in anticipation that Butler continues to capitalize on the strengths and that the inconsistencies will fade into irrelevance as the story moves into the future.
My complaints are two and both are in the area of consistency. The first is the setting of the story: America of about 15 years in our future (35
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from when the book was written). Environmental and economic collapse, coupled with rampant drug use and a failure of police forces, has turned entire states into violent ghettos, while others—marginally more stable—institute border patrols to turn back or kill those attempting to enter. Yet, at the same time, we’re told that the federal government is still functioning, that the National Guard is still operational but, for some reason, not really being used even though the rich and powerful are also getting burned out by the mobs. It was a jarring inconsistency.The second was the in the character of the protagonist, Lauren Olamina. Her destitute family had banded together with others like it who wanted a bit of sanity and safety inside a walled community, shooting intruders. Yet, when the community is finally overrun and she must flee, a lifetime of caution and distrust is abandoned as she becomes a Pied Piper, picking up disciples for her nascent religion/utopian community. The lack of continuity linking old Lauren with new Lauren made this book read as two separate stories that felt separated by years rather than days.
So, what made this book work? There are two things and, somewhat paradoxically, they are Lauren and Butler’s vision of the future.
In just a few pages Lauren goes from being the poor little black girl with a crippling psychosomatic condition to someone who feels real and whose fate concerns us. Her determination not to sink into the depths of barbarism and to establish some kind of foothold for a viable society is in the best traditions of post-apocalyptic fiction but it’s done with more than the usual amount of intimacy and human-ness.
And, setting aside the inconsistency mentioned above, Butler’s vision of the future feels scarily possible. Unlike many near-future dystopic visions that predicate some radical shift in society that doesn’t pass the gut check of plausibility, Butler took the trends of the late 1980s and extended them. What if we continued pumping pollutants into the environment, particularly greenhouse gases?...Might we, as some scientists claim, reach a tipping point where the temperature shifts radically and irrevocably? What if we continue to widen the gap between the rich and the poor?...Might we reach a point where we don’t have a sustainable economic base? What if we continue a blind eye toward corruption?...Might we reach a point where our societal protections become unreliable? The cautionary tale that Butler gives us was, for me, equally as fascinating as the spiritual pilgrimage of the protagonist.
I’ll read the sequel, The Parable of the Talents, in anticipation that Butler continues to capitalize on the strengths and that the inconsistencies will fade into irrelevance as the story moves into the future.
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LibraryThing member wildrequiem
I so regret not reading this when I was an actual young adult. This blows all the apocalyptic books that millennials read these days out of the water. It's realistic, not cliche, has an extremely diverse cast of characters, and is unapologetic. Even though I'm an Atheist, the religious aspect
It's kind of scary that the socioeconomic chaos that the United States is in in this book is not so far off from where we could end up especially considering the book's apocalypse began in 2016 after the elections.
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didn't bother me at all.It's kind of scary that the socioeconomic chaos that the United States is in in this book is not so far off from where we could end up especially considering the book's apocalypse began in 2016 after the elections.
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LibraryThing member sparkypants
This book is frightening because it feels like it could really happen. A story about a slow-moving apocalypse, not caused by zombies or aliens or a comet, but by our own greed and inertia, and the people trying to survive through it and build a future.
LibraryThing member nbmars
This book is the purported diary of teenager Lauren Olamina from 2024 through 2027. In writing about future America, the author said she wanted to "consider where some of our current behaviors and unattended problems might take us." The escalation of drug use, crime, corporate greed, global
The dark vision of Butler's future America (which includes pyromania, parasitism, random violence, gang warfare, and cannibalism) is not without hope. Lauren starts a new religion - Earthseed - that says "God is change." God changes us but we can also change God; that is, one can in fact learn, adapt, and grow.
Lauren finds love with Bankole, a man one year older than her father had been. He has some land in northern California, and they all make their way there to start a new community that will "live according to Earthseed" - the essentials of which are for people "to learn to shape God with forethought, care and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and theselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny [populating other planets]." The group symbolically bury their dead, plant an oak tree for each dead family member, and decide to call their new community Acorn.
Butler ends with the Parable of the Sower from St. Luke 8:5-8:
"A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold."
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warming, the rich/poor gap, inattention to literacy all lead to a United States that has become "through the combined effects of lack of foresight and short-term unenlightened self-interest, a third world country." Burned out of her home with her family dead, Lauren sets out with other stragglers to find a place to live. They include Harry and Zahra from her old neighborhood, a young couple Travis and Natividad and their baby Dominic, abused sisters Allison and Jill, former doctor Taylor Bankole, and the former slaves Emery and her daughter Tori and Grayson and his daughter Doe. Lauren's survival instincts are impeded by "hyperempathy syndrome" caused by her mother's drug use: when she sees another in pain, she feels it also. The former slaves are also "sharers." The dark vision of Butler's future America (which includes pyromania, parasitism, random violence, gang warfare, and cannibalism) is not without hope. Lauren starts a new religion - Earthseed - that says "God is change." God changes us but we can also change God; that is, one can in fact learn, adapt, and grow.
Lauren finds love with Bankole, a man one year older than her father had been. He has some land in northern California, and they all make their way there to start a new community that will "live according to Earthseed" - the essentials of which are for people "to learn to shape God with forethought, care and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and theselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny [populating other planets]." The group symbolically bury their dead, plant an oak tree for each dead family member, and decide to call their new community Acorn.
Butler ends with the Parable of the Sower from St. Luke 8:5-8:
"A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And others fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold."
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LibraryThing member sturlington
A reread of Parable of the Sower reveals a dark vision of the near future that is eerily reminiscent of the pictures we all saw on TV following Hurricane Katrina, a frighteningly realistic portrayal of poverty and anarchy that is all too easy to imagine following on the heels of global warming’s
But Butler’s story is one of hope too: of a prophet leading her people toward a better future, following a spiritual practice that makes more sense to me than most organized religions I know of, and of a goal — to sow the seeds of humanity throughout space — that I have always believed held the key to our survival as a species. God is change, indeed, but instead of fighting it or surrendering to it, just recognize it and use it to make your goals a reality. This message is contained within a work of fiction that paint a frightening picture of the future, but it rings very true to me.
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devastation. The follow-up, Parable of the Talents, is even more grim and harrowing than its predecessor in its depiction of an America plunged into chaos. Butler deftly picks up the threads of the major issues facing us today — climate change, the widening gap between rich and poor, the privatization of education and social services — and follows them to the inevitably disastrous results if these problems aren’t addressed. Most frightening of all is the depiction of an America in the grips of Christian extremists who murder and enslave people and separate children from their parents, just because they do not hold the same beliefs.But Butler’s story is one of hope too: of a prophet leading her people toward a better future, following a spiritual practice that makes more sense to me than most organized religions I know of, and of a goal — to sow the seeds of humanity throughout space — that I have always believed held the key to our survival as a species. God is change, indeed, but instead of fighting it or surrendering to it, just recognize it and use it to make your goals a reality. This message is contained within a work of fiction that paint a frightening picture of the future, but it rings very true to me.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Well written in terms of character and world-building but it felt 'lite' almost conceited, a faint smug sense of 'I'm alright' all the way through and didn't properly capture the fear, uncertainty and unpreparedness the characters would actually have - which is ironic because that was part of the
One of those the future is now books. Written decades ago, the opening is a futuristic 2024. We had managed to develop much better technology (although phones are close and not envisaged) but the trends of growing extremism and drug gang segregation, enclaves and no-go areas, have all risen much faster and overcome the world. Our heroine is living in a low-middle class such enclave surrounded by the mostly lawless and feral Outside. More feared than experienced. However the frequent attempts to break in are proof that at least some of the fears are real. It of course all comes crashing down and she's forced to flee, initially alone, but then with a small but growing crowed of trusted friends and companions to whom she preaches her new-though religion - why don't we all try to be nicer to each other.
I'm sure at the time it was ground-breaking and much disliked by many of the conservative side, even though it's portrays the evils of drugs etc. but I could never quite suspend my disbelief far enough, not just from the timeline, but also in how the enclaves and towns they passed through survived. Civilisation relies on a lot more integrated networks than seemed to exist. And all the people she met were either nice or obviously terrible, and the world just doesn't work that way.
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message it was trying to convey.One of those the future is now books. Written decades ago, the opening is a futuristic 2024. We had managed to develop much better technology (although phones are close and not envisaged) but the trends of growing extremism and drug gang segregation, enclaves and no-go areas, have all risen much faster and overcome the world. Our heroine is living in a low-middle class such enclave surrounded by the mostly lawless and feral Outside. More feared than experienced. However the frequent attempts to break in are proof that at least some of the fears are real. It of course all comes crashing down and she's forced to flee, initially alone, but then with a small but growing crowed of trusted friends and companions to whom she preaches her new-though religion - why don't we all try to be nicer to each other.
I'm sure at the time it was ground-breaking and much disliked by many of the conservative side, even though it's portrays the evils of drugs etc. but I could never quite suspend my disbelief far enough, not just from the timeline, but also in how the enclaves and towns they passed through survived. Civilisation relies on a lot more integrated networks than seemed to exist. And all the people she met were either nice or obviously terrible, and the world just doesn't work that way.
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LibraryThing member unclebob53703
The writing is excellent, the world building doesn't interfere with the story, and many of the characters are beautifully drawn, especially in the earlier part of the book. I felt the story itself was ordinary and predictable--we get the origin story of the hero, then a journey in which she
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collects a band of followers, then an open ending as befits volume one of a series. As for the religion, I found it interesting but not compelling--I don't understand why acceptance of change and trying to influence it the best you can needs to be a deity or a creed. That said, the book kept me turning the pages and I will read the sequel. My fear is that because this was supposed to be a trilogy, the second book will leave off in the middle of something that is never going to be finished. I try very hard not to be drawn into multi-volume storytelling, but I'm afraid Margaret Atwood and James Kunstler have ruined those plans. Show Less
LibraryThing member bobp0303
I read someone's review of this book and took a chance on it. Thought I'd put it down this afternoon after a few pages -- hah! Finished it at one ayem! A young woman finds a new way of believing, but much more importantly, finds a way to survive and possibly prosper in our sick world. A wonderful
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read that's made me think and ponder. Show Less
LibraryThing member m.belljackson
Realistic and totally depressing predictions of the chaos that awaits America if we do not change our values, beliefs, and behavior
related to people, animals, water, and the environment.
related to people, animals, water, and the environment.
LibraryThing member kukulaj
I found this book on a list of climate change fiction - cli-fi. It's more just generic dystopian, but water is scarce so there's that. The book was written in 1993 and takes place around 2026. Probably things won't descend quite that far quite that fast, but then again Butler might have got the
I read right through this in a few days. It definitely pulls the reader along. A core feature of the book is how the protagonist is working out a new religion, a sincere attempt at understanding reality. A curious feature is that it includes interstellar colonization, but the reality portrayed by the novel is one where interstate colonization is practically unachievable. The idea seems to be that we need some heaven to hope for. Maybe it's just that Butler writes science fiction and a book can't find its way to that section of the bookstore without including interstellar colonization. For me that did help the book's plot a bit, because it got me thinking - how in the world will our protagonist work her way into a rocket ship from such a bleak start?
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timing just right. She covers an interesting stage in collapse, where a small community has been staying in their house and protecting them, then their little neighborhood is overrun by gangs and just a few of them survive. These few head north and get started on a way to live off the land. I read right through this in a few days. It definitely pulls the reader along. A core feature of the book is how the protagonist is working out a new religion, a sincere attempt at understanding reality. A curious feature is that it includes interstellar colonization, but the reality portrayed by the novel is one where interstate colonization is practically unachievable. The idea seems to be that we need some heaven to hope for. Maybe it's just that Butler writes science fiction and a book can't find its way to that section of the bookstore without including interstellar colonization. For me that did help the book's plot a bit, because it got me thinking - how in the world will our protagonist work her way into a rocket ship from such a bleak start?
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LibraryThing member abergsman
It is eerie reading a sci-fi dystopian futuristic novel that has multiple flashbacks to 2010 (the novel was published in 1993). A novel that marks 2015/2016 as the beginning of the end for America.
The year that has, in the real world, brought us Trump as a presidential candidate.
In case you
I looked ahead to the second novel, Parable of the Talents. In the second novel, fictional President Jarrett has a catchy campaign slogan..."Make America Great Again". Interesting...
If Octavia Butler was alive today, I wonder what she would say about the 2016 presidential election.
The year that has, in the real world, brought us Trump as a presidential candidate.
In case you
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aren’t familiar with the novel, it’s a story about a young girl, Lauren Olamina, growing up in California in 2024, when parts of America have been decimated by economic and environmental disasters. She’s living in a sort of dystopian wasteland, in a gated community with her family. Lauren was born with hypermpathy, a result of her mother's drug addiction during pregnancy, and can feel other people's pain and pleasure. It is Lauren's journey that we follow through the story.I looked ahead to the second novel, Parable of the Talents. In the second novel, fictional President Jarrett has a catchy campaign slogan..."Make America Great Again". Interesting...
If Octavia Butler was alive today, I wonder what she would say about the 2016 presidential election.
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LibraryThing member allyshaw
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
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yet I felt we were supposed to be won over by them. Not one of my favourite books by Butler! Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
On second reading, I think Butler's riff on post-apocalyptic travails hit me harder than the first time. After seeing the devastation in New Orleans on television and talking to friends and others whose relatives made it out of the city, the concepts of civilisation falling apart and humanity's
Most post-apocalyptic tales feature some gigantic catastrophe - a nuclear attack or an asteroid hitting the earth, etc... but in Parable..., although global warming has rendered the south of the US a desert, and water is a precious commodity, there has been no single, sudden catastrophe - and other parts of the world, and even the USA's rich - are still doing fine... companies are coming out with new advances in entertainment technology, the government is even completing missions to Mars... it's been a gradual decline, with the masses left to fend for themselves if they can... and this makes it that much more terrifying a vision....
However, against the horrific backdrop of a cautionary tale, Butler's parable, which refers to the Biblical parable, but can also work as a parable for today, is a tale that is ultimately hopeful, as her heroine, Lauren Olamina, struggles to find a life for herself, along the way gathering to herself a group of decent people and persisting in trying to start her own religion/spiritual path called 'Earthseed,' still believing that humanity may have a great destiny among the stars.
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worst nature coming to the forefront seem a lot closer and more likely... events in general since I first read the book have certainly not reached anywhere close to what Butler predicts in this novel - (which is the United States falling into total economic collapse, with violent drug addicts and criminals preying on anyone weaker than themselves, citizens forming walled communities which are only temporary havens from the inevitable tide of violence, debt slavery growing, as rich corporations and exploiters from richer countries come in to use Americans as a disposable third-world workforce....) - but it seems more and more every day that this is a nation in decline.Most post-apocalyptic tales feature some gigantic catastrophe - a nuclear attack or an asteroid hitting the earth, etc... but in Parable..., although global warming has rendered the south of the US a desert, and water is a precious commodity, there has been no single, sudden catastrophe - and other parts of the world, and even the USA's rich - are still doing fine... companies are coming out with new advances in entertainment technology, the government is even completing missions to Mars... it's been a gradual decline, with the masses left to fend for themselves if they can... and this makes it that much more terrifying a vision....
However, against the horrific backdrop of a cautionary tale, Butler's parable, which refers to the Biblical parable, but can also work as a parable for today, is a tale that is ultimately hopeful, as her heroine, Lauren Olamina, struggles to find a life for herself, along the way gathering to herself a group of decent people and persisting in trying to start her own religion/spiritual path called 'Earthseed,' still believing that humanity may have a great destiny among the stars.
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LibraryThing member jsabrina
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
While the adults around her refuse to plan for a worst case scenario, it's her own clear-eyed foresight 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.
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
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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 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.
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LibraryThing member Tikimoof
Oof that was grim. Not as angry as I thought it might be.
I appreciated the forthright language in the midst of horrors. No prettying it up or making the bad things palatable - they just were.
The religion and stuff....eh? It's a purpose to live for.
I appreciated the forthright language in the midst of horrors. No prettying it up or making the bad things palatable - they just were.
The religion and stuff....eh? It's a purpose to live for.
LibraryThing member bexaplex
Parable of the Sower is one of those books that is difficult to judge on a first read. The choice of first-person narration given to an 18-year-old creates an immediacy to the constructed world and pulls you through the often traumatic plot without once losing sight of Lauren. She's an intelligent
The consistency of the voice is what impressed me, and the theme of truth in the book, so similar to what I look for in novels: in order to engage your empathy, a book's characters have to act as real human beings. Lauren talks not about inventing Earthseed, but uncovering it — coming to an understanding of the truth of life as a human being. As Lauren talks about deepening her understanding of people and life, Butler shows her own mastery of human interaction by bringing every character to life. A lot of post-apocalyptic novels rely on your own reaction to terrible events and end up in an arms race of horribleness (as you reach the plot crescendo things just get so awful it's difficult to believe any of the characters could ever survive with their minds intact). Butler takes you through some awful things, but she lets Lauren react to them, which means the plot deepens the characterization instead of overwhelming it. Lauren reacts with a combination of coping mechanisms which is uniquely hers within the book's landscape: an assertion that life is randomly unbearable (perhaps the most Buddhist part of the book), but that people must bear it to survive, and a community of like-minded people can help each other survive.
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observer, but she's also an 18-year-old in an era without mass education. So the prose is not sparkling, but it is incredibly compelling, well-matched to a teenaged-going-on-40 daughter of a minster who is inventing her own religion in a time of turmoil.The consistency of the voice is what impressed me, and the theme of truth in the book, so similar to what I look for in novels: in order to engage your empathy, a book's characters have to act as real human beings. Lauren talks not about inventing Earthseed, but uncovering it — coming to an understanding of the truth of life as a human being. As Lauren talks about deepening her understanding of people and life, Butler shows her own mastery of human interaction by bringing every character to life. A lot of post-apocalyptic novels rely on your own reaction to terrible events and end up in an arms race of horribleness (as you reach the plot crescendo things just get so awful it's difficult to believe any of the characters could ever survive with their minds intact). Butler takes you through some awful things, but she lets Lauren react to them, which means the plot deepens the characterization instead of overwhelming it. Lauren reacts with a combination of coping mechanisms which is uniquely hers within the book's landscape: an assertion that life is randomly unbearable (perhaps the most Buddhist part of the book), but that people must bear it to survive, and a community of like-minded people can help each other survive.
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LibraryThing member DanielAlgara
Very interesting. She didn't delve into the political which is what brought this book up from 2 stars to 3. The story was a little flat, but the events are vivid and it really makes one think about what one might do in similar circumstances.
I can tell I would hold Ms Butler's political views in
It's too bad I found the underlying premise a little lame.
I can tell I would hold Ms Butler's political views in
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revulsion, but the fact that she chose to just tell a compelling story (albeit rather flatly)without getting into why, to me was a teastment to her story telling ability.It's too bad I found the underlying premise a little lame.
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LibraryThing member veracite
I read a lot of apocalyptic future stories when I was younger - it seems to be fully a quarter of the SF genre. Maybe if I'd read this one I wouldn't have stopped reading professional SF for nearly 20 years. It was published around the same time I started to stop going to bookstores.
I keep writing
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.
I keep writing
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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.
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LibraryThing member pwaites
I’ve heard a lot about Parable of the Sower. I only narrowly missed out on reading it in high school — the freshmen English teachers began teaching it when I was a sophomore. I’ve also heard people say that it’s eerily accurate to the United States after November 2016. I’ll come straight
Lauren’s gated community is an island of safety in a sea of chaos. Her father is a minister and college professor who mostly works from home — venturing out beyond the gated walls is dangerous. A wrecked economy and exorbitant prices for food and water have left many people poor and desperate. To make matters worse, a new drug that compels its users to start fires is gaining in popularity. Lauren’s community may have walls, but they are far from wealthy. They are the remnants of the middle class, and they are struggling to get by. And Lauren knows that it can only get worse. Eventually, their walls will fail and the hoards of impoverished thieves and drug addicts will descend on them.
Part of what makes Parable of the Sower feel so real is it’s a post-apocalypse novel without an apocalyptic event. The government still exists — in fact, a new president has just been elected. But most people don’t bother to vote, and you have to bribe the police to investigate a murder. Even then they probably won’t turn up anything. There’s no comet, alien invasion, nuclear bomb, or viral outbreak. Just a slow and steady decline that started years before Lauren was born.
Lauren’s especially vulnerable thanks to her hyper-empathy symptom. If she perceives someone experiencing pain, she reacts as if she herself is in pain. The condition is entirely mental, and Lauren experiences no physical harm. However, it makes it very difficult for her to hurt others.
Oh, and since I haven’t yet mentioned it, Lauren’s founded a religion called Earthseed, the principal tenet of which is “God is change.” Lauren believes intensely in Earthseed, although the characters around her don’t always. Her entire goal in life is to establish a community around Earthseed, using it to make the world a better place. The narrative is interspersed with Lauren’s writings on Earthseed, which take the form of poems. To be honest, it did not take long for me to begin skipping these. It’s nice that Lauren has goals in life, but I don’t care about Earthseed.
I generally did like Lauren, even if she was a bit weird. If creating her own religion wasn’t enough, her love interest is a fifty-seven year old man, one year younger than her father. She’s eighteen. It was sort of making me wonder if she had daddy issues. Are eighteen year olds normally into men the age of their fathers? Actually, nobody answer this. I’d rather continue my life in peace.
Having finished Parable of the Sower, I was right about one thing — it’s dark. Dark dark. Like, there’s a brief mention in passing of a pregnant thirteen-year-old eating a human leg. That’s the sort of background this story is set against. For all that, it wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. People kept making references to how eerily similar some of it is to what’s happening in US politics right now. I didn’t see much of it in Parable of the Sower… but when I started the sequel, Parable of Talents, I soon realized that I had the books mixed up. Parable of Talents is where a presidential candidate promises to make America great again. Yikes.
Parable of the Sower is doubtlessly ripe for a lot more thoughtful analysis than I go into here. If I ever reread the books, I’ll have to dig into them more for thematic material. As it stands, it was still a compelling but disturbing story of one girl who remains optimistic about the potential of community even in the worst of situations.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
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out and say it: I was scared to read Parable of the Sower. Octavia Butler’s books are always intense, and I didn’t know if I had the emotional fortitude to deal with Parable of the Sower.Lauren’s gated community is an island of safety in a sea of chaos. Her father is a minister and college professor who mostly works from home — venturing out beyond the gated walls is dangerous. A wrecked economy and exorbitant prices for food and water have left many people poor and desperate. To make matters worse, a new drug that compels its users to start fires is gaining in popularity. Lauren’s community may have walls, but they are far from wealthy. They are the remnants of the middle class, and they are struggling to get by. And Lauren knows that it can only get worse. Eventually, their walls will fail and the hoards of impoverished thieves and drug addicts will descend on them.
Part of what makes Parable of the Sower feel so real is it’s a post-apocalypse novel without an apocalyptic event. The government still exists — in fact, a new president has just been elected. But most people don’t bother to vote, and you have to bribe the police to investigate a murder. Even then they probably won’t turn up anything. There’s no comet, alien invasion, nuclear bomb, or viral outbreak. Just a slow and steady decline that started years before Lauren was born.
Lauren’s especially vulnerable thanks to her hyper-empathy symptom. If she perceives someone experiencing pain, she reacts as if she herself is in pain. The condition is entirely mental, and Lauren experiences no physical harm. However, it makes it very difficult for her to hurt others.
Oh, and since I haven’t yet mentioned it, Lauren’s founded a religion called Earthseed, the principal tenet of which is “God is change.” Lauren believes intensely in Earthseed, although the characters around her don’t always. Her entire goal in life is to establish a community around Earthseed, using it to make the world a better place. The narrative is interspersed with Lauren’s writings on Earthseed, which take the form of poems. To be honest, it did not take long for me to begin skipping these. It’s nice that Lauren has goals in life, but I don’t care about Earthseed.
I generally did like Lauren, even if she was a bit weird. If creating her own religion wasn’t enough, her love interest is a fifty-seven year old man, one year younger than her father. She’s eighteen. It was sort of making me wonder if she had daddy issues. Are eighteen year olds normally into men the age of their fathers? Actually, nobody answer this. I’d rather continue my life in peace.
Having finished Parable of the Sower, I was right about one thing — it’s dark. Dark dark. Like, there’s a brief mention in passing of a pregnant thirteen-year-old eating a human leg. That’s the sort of background this story is set against. For all that, it wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. People kept making references to how eerily similar some of it is to what’s happening in US politics right now. I didn’t see much of it in Parable of the Sower… but when I started the sequel, Parable of Talents, I soon realized that I had the books mixed up. Parable of Talents is where a presidential candidate promises to make America great again. Yikes.
Parable of the Sower is doubtlessly ripe for a lot more thoughtful analysis than I go into here. If I ever reread the books, I’ll have to dig into them more for thematic material. As it stands, it was still a compelling but disturbing story of one girl who remains optimistic about the potential of community even in the worst of situations.
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
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LibraryThing member saltypepper
This book is on my desert island list. Although it is not cheerful it is full of hope and truth and beauty. Despite the 1993 publication date, it looks disturbingly prescient today, 15 years later. Let's hope things things do indeed change, and not in the way Butler describes.
Subjects
Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 1994)
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Nominee — 1997)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1995)
ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Fiction — 1999)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1993-10-15
Physical description
8 inches
ISBN
1538732181 / 9781538732182