Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower

by Damian Duffy, John Jennings, Octavia E. Butler

Published Aug. 8, 2020 by Abrams ComicArts.

ISBN:: 978-1-4197-3133-4
OCLC Number:: 1127066400

(243 reviews)

In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean …

In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

15 editions

Mythra P. Sattari reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I did not feel invested in any of the characters, but I did find them, their stories, and the setting very interesting. In that way I feel conflicted about this book. Another thing is that I was always expecting things to get worse in the next chapter, as the protagonist realizes early on, so I was anxious about continuing before I would read each time. But because I didn't feel invested in the characters, as shocking as the events were I wasn't too bothered by them.

Lily reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is kind of a begrudging 4* review because while I cannot deny the quality of Butler's art and craft in this novel, it just really truly wasn't for me.

Strong points of this work: the writing, the vision of the future feels very real, hyper-empathy syndrome was an interesting idea because how it plays out in the novel is completely contrary to my expectations.

Weak points of this work: I didn't feel like it offered much besides "Yup, everything is well and truly fucked." There weren't enough points of relief from the general violence and despair of the setting. I think the Earthseed portions of this work were intended to provide that, but I didn't find the religion in the book to be particularly captivating and as a fan of Carl Sagan, I feel like the religion should have appealed to me. It just didn't tho.

The lead is …

Eric Lawton reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

A dystopia that predicted many elements of the present day, including the slogan "Make America Great Again" and dealing with many issues facing us now, such as climate change and disease and the breakdown of civil society.

toreachpoise@wyrms.de reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

First time reading!

5 stars

Eerily accurate, hopeful, and written in a cool journal style. Highly recommend.

outofrange reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Wrenching and frighteningly prescient

4 stars

We might not have quite reached this level of dystopia but having nearly reached 2024 nothing seems too farfetched. Butler shows that she needs nothing supernatural to power a story. This one will stick with me should I manage to live through the time period it is set in.

jv reviewed La parábola del sembrador by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'La parábola del sembrador' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Me deja un poco frío la idea de religión como sustituto del resto de las instituciones sociales en un tiempo apocalíptico, y no acabo de ver qué papel juega la hiperempatía en todo esto, si es mero atrezzo o un elemento verdaderamene importante. Lo veremos en el volumen dos.

Desde luego es un terreno de juego completamente diferente del de Xenogénesis.

lijadora reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Well written. Lauren feels real.

The end of this book is more of a beginning. There's much promise in the characters and Lauren's philosophy/ religion and what she calls Destiny - taking root among the stars. Maybe in the second book?

This might be a book that is worth re-reading.

meeg reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

On a second read, I feel a lot differently than I did the first time around. I can't separate uncomfortable feelings of reading about a teenager basically starting a cult and attracting people who are at their absolute most vulnerable to join. It doesn't sit well with me to read about Lauren's glee to "raise babies in Earthseed." And the intense, intense, dehumanization and otherizing of people using drugs, making them into physically unrecognizable monsters, is something I can't get past. If Lauren has hyper-empathy, and is more sensitive to people in need of help, then why does the buck stop with people using drugs?

periwinkleReads reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Finally taking the time to read more Butler, after weirdly mentally saving her books. This definitely hit differently reading it amidst a pandemic, sometimes among unhealthily smoky air outside my space. The world building and the way we learn with and from Lauren is remarkable. The complete humanity of characters is also something. The cautionary tale of our near reality is still strong.

makbeta reviewed Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower by Octavia E. Butler

Review of "Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book is dark and heavy, so I'll start with trigger warnings: religion, violence, rape, slavery, cannibalism, environmental devastation.

The story is dark, and provocative, yet thoughtful and causes one to ponder on the various social issues such as racism, slavery, power, gender equity, etc. This book should be read as a journey and not the destination. To me, it was very much like Odyssey but much deeper and profound.

The novel contains strong religious themes, as the name of the book suggests. The religion parts of the book often include arguments for and against various aspects of the religion.

I enjoyed the author's view of California on the brink of apocalypse, from geography to the imagines social structures.

This book has been written almost 30 years ago. Yet, in 2021 the subject is still current.

I wished I had to read this book in high school or college instead …

Sharyl reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

When I heard an old interview of Octavia Butler on NPR, I was both very impressed and very surprised that I had never heard of her. She won a MacArthur Fellowship, Hugo, and Nebula awards. At the time, there were so few women's names in science fiction, and even fewer who were African American.

Jonathan Zacsh reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Still processing this book, but I think it might be one of my favorite sci-fi books I've recently read.

loppear reviewed Parable of the sower by Octavia E. Butler

Re-read for bookclub, still great first half

4 stars

This is stronger in many respects on re-read, somehow my dystopia lens last time glossed the climate youth aspect, the neurodiversity aspect, the ways she keeps the story focused on community and change at the same time so structurally.

cibertina reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is so good and about halfway through I thought to figure out when it was written and then nearly fainted from shock. This woman was a prophet.

Sean Gursky reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Once he's made everyone who isn't like him sound evil, then he can blame them for problems they didn't cause. That's easier than trying to fix the problems.

This book cuts deep. The bleak and truly dystopian world portrayed here is very, very close to home. Because of how topical the book felt I expected this book to be published in 2015 or 2016, but no, the first publication was 1993!

This book was too real and possible. The memories of the dumpster fire of 2020 are not yet a distant memory, America is crumbling under the 45th President and I read this story the same week there was a failed coup on the US Capitol building. At a time I want escapism Parable of the Sower was an extension of reality. It was not only a glimpse in to what if but what will.

Cormac McCarthy's The Road is a rough read, yet Parable of the Sower was more difficult for how prophetic it feels.

Take the following line from the book: Interesting that they fear Edward Jay Smith's supposed incompetence more than they fear Jarret's obvious tyranny.

Do a simple find and replace on a few characters and you have something that happened repeatedly Interesting that they fear Hillary Rodham Clinton's supposed incompetence more than they fear Donald's obvious tyranny.

The American events under Jarret's Presidency land uncomfortably close to reality. I found myself reeling from the similarities to real life that I was overlooking the story being told. A story of survival and hope, of looking for ways to improve society and have harmony. Cults have a bad connotation as being extreme and brainwashing their members and Earthseed would be criticized just as harshly in the fictional world Butler wrote of as it would be in real life.

Yet Andrew Steel Jarret was able to scare, divide, and bully people, first into electing him President, then into letting him fix the country for them. He didn't get to do everything he wanted to do. He was capable of much greater fascism. So were his most avid followers.

I needed a few chapters to understand the narrative perspectives and focus on the timelines and from there I was hooked. However, for all the pro's of Earthseed #1 I'm not sure the science fiction/fantasy part of the story is enough to keep me reading. Butler writes an enjoyable book but the story was almost too real for me to continue. I expect the next book to focus on the interstellar missions of Earthseed, and that creeps out of my genre preference and I lose interest.

Top marks for a brutally honest and frightening book that can be relevant and engaging nearly 30 years after it was written.