Henk's Reviews > Parable of the Sower

A sweeping book which vividly describes a world falling apart through gang violence, government retreat and climate change. The ending is less satisfying than I had hoped but I enjoyed Butler her writing enormously
When it comes to strangers with guns, I told her, I think suspicion is more likely to keep you alive than trust.

A thoughtful book on a girl growing up in an incredible grim world with kids of 12 and 13 roasting and eating a human leg, rape, killings and other atrocities. Main character Lauren develops a philosophy of god being change, and is forced on a journey almost more grim than The Road by McCarthy.

From a gated community to the collapse of society, Lauren, born in 2009, is a remarkably resilient and capable main character, who manages to bind a ragtag group to her and her philosophy. She is a hyperempath, able to feel the pain of others around her, limiting her effectiveness in a world falling apart.

Octavia E. Butler describes in a very vivid manner the 2024/2025 dystopia, with police violence and government retreat, measles and cholera epidemics and preppers being right. Exoplanets and dead female astronauts play a part as well, and the overall state of the world is incredibly grim. Climate change eroding coastline cities, dogs trying to eat babies, 8 year olds being raped and people ripped apart by automatic weapon fire. A new slavery emerges in these circumstances, corpocratic, with kids of people in debt being required to work off the debt of their parents. A modern underground railway starts up as well.

While reading this book I was reminded of Margaret Atwood her writing, except that Parable of the Sower is more grim and devastatingly clear eyed on what climate change and a breakdown of society would mean.

This is a deserved classic, not just in the genre but in literature in general.

Quotes:
Is it a sin against god to be poor?

Intelligence is ongoing, continuous adaptability

People have been killing little kids since there have been people

I intend to survive

Not scared enough to use her brain apparently

Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to groups.

A biological conscience is better than no conscience at all

There is nothing safe about slavery

Commenting on sci-fi tropes

She wants a future she can understand and depend on, a future that looks a lot like her parents present.

We don’t look for what we don’t want to see

I’m not good at denial and self deception

They have no power to improve their own lives but they do have the power to make other people their lives more miserable

God is change. I hate god.

Shop in peace

We need our paranoia to keep us alive

We have to be very careful about how we let our needs shape us

The 1990s were crazy, but at least they were rich

Yes but only living people need food

I wonder what a badge is, except a license to steal