Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
We are coming apart. We’re a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.
America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to feel the pain of others as her own, records everything she sees of this broken world in her journal.
Then, one terrible night, everything alters beyond recognition, and Lauren must make her voice heard for the sake of those she loves.
Soon, her vision becomes reality and her dreams of a better way to live gain the power to change humanity forever.
All that you touch,
You Change.
All that you Change,
Changes you.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
The Reason
I’ve been wanting to read Octavia E. Butler and this was a buddy read!
The Quotes
“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.”
“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.”
“Freedom is dangerous but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and pottage.”
“We’ll have to be very careful how we allow our needs to shape us.”
The Narrator(s)
Lynne Thigpen. No complaints, I enjoyed the narration.
My Thoughts
I am conflicted on what I think about this book. On the one hand, it was a really great story and so well-written. I’m also discovering that I love on-the-road stories. I also love that it was first published in 1993 but set in our current times. It’s so interesting to see what the author thought 2024 would look like, and frankly she wasn’t far off. I loved most of the story, I loved the characters, I love seeing how everyone and everything changed as they went, to the theme of the story. It was brilliant!
On the other hand, it went into preachy territory for me and I don’t like that. To be clear, I have no issues with the beliefs presented in the book, in fact, I agree with a lot of them. I also have no issues with religious and spiritual preaching being a part of the story for the purpose of the story, but I don’t like when it feels like the story was written for the purpose of the preaching, unless the story is upfront about it, that is. As it is, it feels like a bait and switch; promise me a good story but preach me a sermon instead.
As mentioned earlier, it is still a good story and I have to give it props, and to be fair, this book isn’t the worst offender for preachiness – it just barely straddles the line – but that makes me conflicted and I guess I don’t like it enough to overlook the preaching and continue with the next book.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. It’s a good story and well-written.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
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