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A review by ryanberger
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A masterpiece of dystopian (which might just get so dark it short circuits the fictive reality and becomes an exploration of utopia) fiction.
The binding agent Butler uses to tell this story is the sprouting of the Earthseed religion that Lauren, the central character, begins to develop over the course of her young life and journey north along California's raider wasteland. As Lauren learns and begins to write the world down into her notebook, she builds the book of Earthseed and creates a torch to guide people through a world that appears to be rapidly approaching its own doom with each passing year. She detaches from her religious upbringing and finds a new god in the very nature of 'Change'.
Lauren is the preacher's daughter, putting her in a fairly well-off (considering the rest of her neighborhood) position. Though she doesn't subscribe to the mysticism of her father's faith, she has an understanding of it that borders on mastery. She ostensibly grew up with a front-row seat to gods love. So why then, does she turn elsewhere and begin her own faith?
Earthseed, both as a faith and a community, is designed to clarify her existence, her place in the cosmos, and create a better foundation for a moral code than what Christianity can provide in the modern world. For all the hardships Lauren faces over this gauntlet of her teen years, she never has a crisis of faith and is rarely bit by her own mistakes. Once she surrenders to change, it makes the atrocities of the world seem navigable. And so too does our own world.
Butler takes a somewhat detached approach to writing this story in journal entries from Lauren's life, but the symbolism in play is complex and satisfying. I can imagine some people thinking her depictions of rape, murder, and cannibalism (among other things) are gratuitous or provided without grace and sympathy. I would disagree, though it should be said that I could see this book simply being too much for the wrong kind of reader.
A good story can change out, or add parts to the clockwork of your brain-- making you into a more thoughtful person. Sometimes, one will come along that replaces the entire engine block. This book accomplishes the latter. It makes me want to see Earthseed succeed in my own life, to care for all around me, and end up somewhere among the stars.
The binding agent Butler uses to tell this story is the sprouting of the Earthseed religion that Lauren, the central character, begins to develop over the course of her young life and journey north along California's raider wasteland. As Lauren learns and begins to write the world down into her notebook, she builds the book of Earthseed and creates a torch to guide people through a world that appears to be rapidly approaching its own doom with each passing year. She detaches from her religious upbringing and finds a new god in the very nature of 'Change'.
Lauren is the preacher's daughter, putting her in a fairly well-off (considering the rest of her neighborhood) position. Though she doesn't subscribe to the mysticism of her father's faith, she has an understanding of it that borders on mastery. She ostensibly grew up with a front-row seat to gods love. So why then, does she turn elsewhere and begin her own faith?
Earthseed, both as a faith and a community, is designed to clarify her existence, her place in the cosmos, and create a better foundation for a moral code than what Christianity can provide in the modern world. For all the hardships Lauren faces over this gauntlet of her teen years, she never has a crisis of faith and is rarely bit by her own mistakes. Once she surrenders to change, it makes the atrocities of the world seem navigable. And so too does our own world.
Butler takes a somewhat detached approach to writing this story in journal entries from Lauren's life, but the symbolism in play is complex and satisfying. I can imagine some people thinking her depictions of rape, murder, and cannibalism (among other things) are gratuitous or provided without grace and sympathy. I would disagree, though it should be said that I could see this book simply being too much for the wrong kind of reader.
A good story can change out, or add parts to the clockwork of your brain-- making you into a more thoughtful person. Sometimes, one will come along that replaces the entire engine block. This book accomplishes the latter. It makes me want to see Earthseed succeed in my own life, to care for all around me, and end up somewhere among the stars.