Parable of the Sower (Parable, #1) (Earthseed, #1)

by Octavia E. Butler

In California in the year 2025, a small community is overrun by desperate scavengers, as an eighteen-year-old African American woman sets off on foot on a perilous journey northward.

• ISBN10: 1538732181
• ISBN13: 9781538732182
• Publish Date: 30 April 2019 (first published 29 March 1994)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Grand Central Publishing
• Format: Hardcover (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

As always with Octavia E. Butler (or as what’s starting to become “as always”), this book has left me with a lot to think about, many screenshots of passages to think more about even later, and it has left me knowing that, written by someone else, the contradictory moral issues it tiptoes would probably either not be handled well or written with a very black-and-white point of view.

Content warnings:
- rape (I would highly suggest skipping this book if rape is a trigger for you)
- pedophilia & CSA
- age gap (more on this below)
- cannibalism

Representation:
- the MC and the LI are black, as are a few secondary characters
- there are also Asian and Latine secondary characters

In 2025, the United States has quickly become an apocalyptic nightmare: the wealthy live in walled neighborhoods in constant fear of being attacked for their resources, the middle class and working class have become one sea of wandering beggars in search of drinkable water--or gangs of drug addicts. Lauren Olamina lives with her family within one of the only walled neighborhoods left in San Francisco. She also struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her feel other people’s emotions. And in this world it’s mostly pain--especially when her neighborhood is burned down and she has to begin the long and dangerous trek up to the almost utopian-like Canada. Along the way, she spreads her fantastical ideas for a new religion and way of life.

I don’t really remember the writing style of the last Butler book I read, so I was a little bit surprised by the simplistic style, but it worked well here--especially because it serves as a young adult’s PoV from journal entries while the world is literally falling to pieces around her.

So … the age gap: I won’t lie and say I’m not uncomfortable by it, because I am. I could say a lot here about one’s options in an apocalyptic world and all that, but obviously this was a deliberate choice by the author. From what I know about Butler, she tends to push the borders of what’s “right” or “acceptable” in each one of her novels, so this one is no exception. Although I personally don't like it, unless the ages were mentioned I can put aside my discomfort; the age difference is not an integral part of the two characters’ relationship and the way they interact with each other.

But dang, this book is grim. And unfortunately, it's still very relevant (and terrifying). Some of my favorite things about what I’ve experienced with Butler’s books so far though have been her keen observations on the world and her creative takes on those observations. Here, it’s the fall of the US, mainly to a shortage of water. But also, foreign corporations are splitting American land up to build factories that house workers (providing essential protection from the outside) and pay them in money only usable at their company stores.

The plot here is rather straightforward but is made up by the very absorbing world building elements and the fact that the characters are all very real and dynamic. In comparison to the rest of the cast, though, the MC reads a little dull. Dull, but not one-dynamic.

Anyway, I'm very interested in reading where things go from here!

[laughingrachel]

Octavia Butler was a prophet. Read this book because its probably what our near future looks like

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Parable of the Sower through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

To be clear: Parable of the Sower is a graphic novel adaptation of a novel by Octavia E. Butler (of the same name, in case that wasn’t clear). The novel originally published back in the ‘90s, and it seemed right to try and do something more with it now.
Damian Duffy handled the writing for the adaptation, and John Jenning lent his artwork. Together they brought Butler’s tale to all-new heights.
Set in the year 2024, this novel if full of heavy dystopian plot. Butler didn’t write a happy futuristic world, but instead something dark and disturbing. Here is a world without regulations; a world created by the consequences of our actions. In a world where we destroyed the environment.
This is the world that Lauren Olamina was born into. Her life had been protected; she lived in a world more similar to a bubble than she would have ever liked to admit. That it, up until everything changed for her. And then it was her turn to change the lives of others.

I can’t emphasize enough that this is an adaptation. Now, I personally love adaptations. And I think many others do as well (how many times have we hoped to see a book make it into the theaters?). So I was incredibly excited when I saw that this one was getting turned into a graphic novel.
Butler’s tale translated perfectly onto the pages here. I know that Duffy had to edit some things to make it all fit with Jenning’s artwork, but I think the end result was something that still felt true to the original works. Actually, I think they built upon it, but that’s just a personal opinion.
This graphic novel is perfect for any dystopian fan, or any fan of Octavia Butler, for that matter. And if you’re a fan of both, then you’re in luck. Because this adaptation has everything I could have hoped for, and then some.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[clementine]

I really enjoyed a lot of the political implications of this novel, and it's refreshing to see a character of colour narrating a dystopian novel and for things like racism and sexuality to be addressed within this genre. The plot felt a little bare-bones to me, though maybe the next in the series is more exciting. I think I've probably exhausted my once avid interest in dystopian fiction for the most part.

[inlibrisveritas]

An odd and unique book. definitely need the second book. Full review to come

[brokentune]

"I stared down the hill from our camp where just a glint of water was visible in the distance through the trees and bushes. The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren’t any other kind and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful that glint of water was through the trees."

There is only one word to describe the world that Butler built in Parable of the Sower and that word is

BRUTAL.

I recently read a review of one of her other books, Kindred, in which the reviewer used the same word, and I was wondering if that really could be an appropriate description because, after all, a book is just words on a page right? What could possible be so bad about that?

And then I started reading The Parable of the Sower, Butler's story set in California in 2024, where communities rely on walls to keep them safe from wild animals, robbery, rape, and murder. But of course, walls are made to crumble. Communities disperse or are erased, and all that is left is a dog eat dog world.

"Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation."

What made this book special for me was its immediacy. The book was published in 1993, but is set in a 2024 that is not all that futuristic. There are no clocks striking thirteen. The only thing that has advanced are drugs. I was going to add 'human atrocities' but they have remained the same throughout time, they just disappear from focus, are kept outside the walls of social order. In this sense, The Parable of the Sower, tears down the illusion that social order is ever stable and that social constructs that are based on ideologies or intangible ideas are of any use to man when faced with a battle for survival.

I guess from the setting, the description of looting and arson, and the depiction of the police as corrupt and untrustworthy, that Butler may have drawn some inspiration from the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Remembering the images of the time and having seen similar events unfold in more recent years, Butler really captures the volatility of society in this novel.

Fortunately, however, in her motley crew of main characters, Butler also captures some of that human spirit that fights against this brutality and that has compassion for its fellow beings and draws strength from the support of and belief in mankind. There may be few of them, but given a chance they are set to thrive, much like the seeds that hit a fertile ground.

I am sorry if I have waffled my way through this review but The Parable of the Sower was one of those books that just provides so much food for thought. For all its brutality and distressing scenes and descriptions, it was a gripping read and I am looking forward to reading more by the author.