Octavia E. Butler

This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale" (John Green, New York Times)--now with a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin. When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.

Parable of the Sower

Alli

Imogen

Sigh. This is the third Octavia Butler book I’ve read, and I think it’s my final. I was very excited to read this because of how renowned it seems to be, and while I appreciate Butler’s undeniable contributions to sci-fi — especially those written by bipoc authors — this just doesn’t hold up to me in 2024 the way I’d hoped.

I was really intrigued at the beginning and thought I’d get to see the main character’s attempts at survival in this dystopian world. However, the focus of the story shifted like three times. I won’t give spoilers, but just know, that’s NOT what the story was about.

On top of that, I found the narrator annoying. She supposedly has this empathic superpower, which is ironic because she had ZERO emotions throughout the story. She was boring and very monotone. The book is a collection of her journal articles, so while I understand that her character was taught to control her extreme emotions in this volatile world, I would’ve thought she could emote in her writing. She didn’t.

Additionally, none of the background characters stood out or brought anything interesting to the story. They were pretty much interchangeable. The only person that seemed to have any depth was her father.

I don’t have much else to say outside of reiterating my disappointment. It wasn’t fun. The content was barely there and then altered multiple times. The characters sucked. It’s a 2 star instead of a 1 because I made it about 35% into the book fully interested in what was going on.

Nik ✨

Sigh. This is the third Octavia Butler book I’ve read, and I think it’s my final. I was very excited to read this because of how renowned it seems to be, and while I appreciate Butler’s undeniable contributions to sci-fi — especially those written by bipoc authors — this just doesn’t hold up to me in 2024 the way I’d hoped.

I was really intrigued at the beginning and thought I’d get to see the main character’s attempts at survival in this dystopian world. However, the focus of the story shifted like three times. I won’t give spoilers, but just know, that’s NOT what the story was about.

On top of that, I found the narrator annoying. She supposedly has this empathic superpower, which is ironic because she had ZERO emotions throughout the story. She was boring and very monotone. The book is a collection of her journal articles, so while I understand that her character was taught to control her extreme emotions in this volatile world, I would’ve thought she could emote in her writing. She didn’t.

Additionally, none of the background characters stood out or brought anything interesting to the story. They were pretty much interchangeable. The only person that seemed to have any depth was her father.

I don’t have much else to say outside of reiterating my disappointment. It wasn’t fun. The content was barely there and then altered multiple times. The characters sucked. It’s a 2 star instead of a 1 because I made it about 35% into the book fully interested in what was going on.

Beautiful and oddly reflective for an apocalypse story. The first half might be a challenge if you’re having an existential crisis about the end of the world. The second half will give you hope. I’ll be reading the sequel.

Naomi J.

Brilliant! Great musings on religion/ capitalism/ humanity, great writing, interesting characters

Kierce

hard to get through at the beginning, but towards the middle it was more engaging. not much to look forward to, can’t say i enjoy science fiction or fiction that parallels the real world in such an artificial way, but i couldn’t help but realize that the fiction of this book is a reality for people from other parts of the world. 

nailah

Chris Dailey

Dystopian future where the climate has ravaged civilization to the point where water, fresh food and personal security are daily struggles. Told through the eyes of a young woman with the (dis)ability to feel others' pain and pleasure. The daughter of a preacher and her family lives outside of LA in a community that is well off - in the sense that they are walled off from the homeless hordes of poor and violent. Focused on family, community, and tribalism, the novel also touches religion (new and old), capitalism, the climate and humanity's self-destruction.

Mat Connor

I wanted to like this much more than I did. You have to respect Octavia Butler's imagination and prescience. This novel was first published in 1993 and describes the United States in 2024: Society is falling apart due to climate change, inequality, and water shortages. This is a dystopian vision that feels scarily realistic.

In my opinion, there were two major issues with this book.

1. The main character (Lauren) suffers from an imaginary disease called "hyperempathy", a condition where a person physically feels the pleasure and pain of others, but Butler makes the curious decision to portray her as completely flat and unemotional. Lauren is constantly reminding us about her debilitating empathic condition but recites terrible events like murder and rape as if she were an unfeeling robot.

It would be like if an unfunny person was constantly telling you that people found them hilarious or a boring person talking about all the people who find them charming.

2. This is an epistolary novel, told through Lauren's Journal entries, and the format saps most of the tension out of this novel. There are great epistolary novels (Frankenstein, Carrie, Augustus by John Williams), but Lauren's flat journal entries made this a tedious read. 

I'm not going to give up on Octavia Butler though. I still have copies of Kindred and Dawn I plan to get to. But based on the expectations I had going in, this was my most disappointing read of 2023.

Liyah 🤎

Not that Octavia Butler Needs my cosign but I enjoyed Parable of the Sower more than I thought I would. One of the few books/authors to actually live up to the hype. I was reading this for my thesis but I'm going to read the second book two just because I'm really invested now. The groundedness is almost eerie and it feels so full of history even though its set in the future.

lala

Okay. I’m a bit ashamed that this is the first time i read Octavia E. Butler’s works. But i just had the opportunity to find a physical copy of hers. So here goes. Parable of the Sower tells of a dystopian world where USA is basically a lawless land where people starve, are poor, and in need of shelter. People have to have their guards on even at home. This book tells the story of Lauren, whose father is a pastor and a lecturer, and whose stepmom runs a school for the neighbourhood she lives in. Lauren lives in a fenced neighbourhood where people outside, who doesn’t have a home and are poor is kept at bay. The world as depicted in the book has also a drug problem— the drug, called pyro, when it’s taken, it makes the user wants to commit arson, and feel a sense of enjoyment watching the fire. This book takes us to Lauren’s journey in navigating her life in this world— in hope for a better lives. At first I was kinda bored because it takes a long time for things to actually happen. By my estimation it takes roughly halfway to where things get to be interesting. But even for a while, we get to learn Lauren’s thoughts— her persona, her way of thinking, her plans, etc. Also, whilst she’s surviving, she is also building a new religion called Earthseed, and we get to see how she begins this. This was an interesting dystopian world. My only protest is why does Lauren’s love interest must be 39 years older than her?!?! It’s a bit creepy 😮‍💨

The cycle of violence followed by religious introspection loses power as the plot treads water and the central conflict becomes muddled. But the world Butler imagines is compelling and prescient. I hope this is a just-okay book in a really fantastic series.

elizabeth

Sonia Grgas

This book was published 1/1/2000 and if you told me it was published just yesterday i would believe you. The story feels as if it could happen in the very near future if we are not careful. Sobering yet somehow hopeful. 4.5

Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future

I can’t (yet) describe the impact this book has had on me over the past couple of weeks, but what I do know is I’m not ready to let it go. 

Emma Cragg

Reminds me of Mary Doris Russell’s “The Sparrow”. Ties religion in with humanity and distills it to find people’s core essence. Great read for anyone who enjoys the metafictional introspective book. 

amy w

A little long winded at times which made it hard to come back to after stepping away. Worth reading. I'm glad I finally finished it, even though it was too easy for me to put it down. The message is poignant. Didn't get much science fiction from the story. 

Sarah Henry

Eerily similar to The Road but also completely different. 

Laura Hilliger

jennifer 

God is change.

the most unsettled i’ve ever felt reading so far. It was so hard just reading horrific event after horrific event. Never felt like anyone could catch a break until the end which felt like a sigh of relief. But nothing felt outrageous and everything made sense. Truly a startling picture of the horrors of complacency. 

very vivid and plays out like a movie so without analysis it’s still engaging. But it was super interesting to read about how people define God during crisis. And this book wove Marxism very well without directly defining it and rubbing it in ur face. gonna have to analyze this for class so let me not give turnitin more material ✌️

Lisa Lindquist 

Great book. Some superfluous storylines that left me a bit unsatisfied. Maybe it was meant to have sequels? Smart read regardless. Wish it was longer

Joy Bush

It's like a prophecy book, written in 1993 but takes place in 2024-2027. So many quotes that sound like what we are going through now, how life will be in the near future. 
Everyone should read this!

Don’t have all the words quite yet…. there were sooooo many gems and lessons in this. I won’t soon forget any of them. 

ren corr

Michaella 

Ali Angco

'In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time... for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler's novel may be unmatched' New Yorker In order for me to understand who I am, I must begin to understand who she was. Asha was born into a broken world. There are many things she needs to know: how her country could embrace a violent, far-right President promising to make America great again, why they turned a blind eye to the suffering - and the truth about her mother. In her journals, Lauren Olamina tells of a great love divided between her young daughter, her community and the revelation that led her to found a new faith that teaches 'God Is Change'. But under a tyrannical religious regime who consider the mere existence of a black female leader a threat, Lauren knows she must soon either sacrifice her daughter and her followers - or forsake the beliefs that could transform human destiny. Octavia E. Butler's award-winning novel is an almost-prophetic take on our world today. What readers are saying about Octavia Butler: 'Kindred was written in 1979 but could have been written last year. Incredible. I couldn't put it down' 'Emotionally and viscerally alive and challenging. I don't know how I missed it before now' 'A masterpiece by a matchless artist. Butler is simply sublime' 'Reading these books will change your life' 'A finely crafted work, rife with emotional power, horrifying in its believability, with a message that cannot be ignored'

A Nebula Award-winning novel of a terrifying dystopian future

Parable of the Talents

Maya Johnson

TW: Sexual assault, slavery, theocracy 

This book was hard to get through but it was fantastic, I had so many emotions all through out reading this! Fear, anxiety, sadness, and hopefulness all coursed through me while I devoured this dystopian sci fi by Octavia E. Butler. I think the hardest parts for me were the sexual assault and the slavery. I gave this 4 stars because I'm torn on whether there needed to be so much sexual assault with such vivid imagery in the novel. As a sexual assault survivor I definitely got triggered more than once while reading this book.

A New York Times Notable Book: In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future. “A stunner.” —Flea, musician and actor, TheWall Street Journal 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 salvation for all mankind. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

Gillian Rose

This book deserves to be taught alongside 1984 and Brave New World. I liked the first half of the book better than the second when it became a bit like The Road. But overall, this is incredible and my first time reading Butler!

Parable of the Sower

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