Too real for comfort.
I’m just 20% in and the events going on in this story describe the realities of today, even the months in 2025 are about right, too close for comfort. Scary…
Idioma English
Publicado el 7 de marzo de 2019
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower is a 1993 speculative fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler. It is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel that provides commentary on climate change and social inequality. The novel follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who can feel the pain of others and becomes displaced from her home. Several characters from various walks of life join her on her journey north and learn of a religion she has discovered and titled Earthseed. In this religion, the destiny for believers is to inhabit other planets, alongside working with the change that the earth is undergoing to survive with the reoccurring message of “God is Change”, referring to the Earth as a god. Parable of the Sower was the winner of multiple awards, including the 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and has been adapted into a concert and a graphic novel. Parable of the …
Parable of the Sower is a 1993 speculative fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler. It is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel that provides commentary on climate change and social inequality. The novel follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who can feel the pain of others and becomes displaced from her home. Several characters from various walks of life join her on her journey north and learn of a religion she has discovered and titled Earthseed. In this religion, the destiny for believers is to inhabit other planets, alongside working with the change that the earth is undergoing to survive with the reoccurring message of “God is Change”, referring to the Earth as a god. Parable of the Sower was the winner of multiple awards, including the 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and has been adapted into a concert and a graphic novel. Parable of the Sower has influenced music and essays on social justice as well as climate change. In 2021, it was picked by readers of the New York Times as the top science fiction nomination for the best book of the last 125 years.Parable of the Sower is the first in an unfinished series of novels, followed by Parable of the Talents in 1998.
drfelip reseñó Parable Of The Sower de Octavia E. Butler
None
5 estrellas
Me resulta difícil concretar per què m'ha fascinat tant. La pobresa, la desesperació i la mort regnen en un futur massa proper (en anys i en versemblança), però sempre hi ha un bri d'esperança.
Per molt que diguin de les segones parts, no puc esperar a llegir Parable of the Talents!
Me resulta difícil concretar per què m'ha fascinat tant. La pobresa, la desesperació i la mort regnen en un futur massa proper (en anys i en versemblança), però sempre hi ha un bri d'esperança.
Per molt que diguin de les segones parts, no puc esperar a llegir Parable of the Talents!
Nat reseñó Parable Of The Sower de Octavia E. Butler
This felt like it was published last year
4 estrellas
Which feels like a cheesy thing to say in a review about dystopian fiction, but I genuinely didn't realize this book was published in the year 1993 until I read Butler's biography at the back and realized she passed away in 2006. It feels... pertinent
Others have said this is a pretty grim novel. I agree. It hurt to read, quite often. I feel like I've mostly moved out of my dystopian fiction era but this one hooked me a lot harder than most I've read. I haven't finished a book this quickly in quite a while.
I think Parable of the Sower has a lot to say about eco-fatalism, as well as the many "fatalisms" of neoliberalism in general, which it delivers on very well. I also felt like it would have a lot to say about the value of religion, divorced from the way people in …
Which feels like a cheesy thing to say in a review about dystopian fiction, but I genuinely didn't realize this book was published in the year 1993 until I read Butler's biography at the back and realized she passed away in 2006. It feels... pertinent
Others have said this is a pretty grim novel. I agree. It hurt to read, quite often. I feel like I've mostly moved out of my dystopian fiction era but this one hooked me a lot harder than most I've read. I haven't finished a book this quickly in quite a while.
I think Parable of the Sower has a lot to say about eco-fatalism, as well as the many "fatalisms" of neoliberalism in general, which it delivers on very well. I also felt like it would have a lot to say about the value of religion, divorced from the way people in my life and I suspect many others in the west tend to equate religion with Christianity. It delivered on the former part, but not so much the latter in my opinion. Still very compelling, and very well written nonetheless.
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Cuando estaba más joven la ficción y la ciencia ficción eran espacios que me hacían sentido para conectar con la imaginación y con la posibilidad de pensar y sentir la vida fuera de límites que percibía en mis presentes.
Como estos ámbitos de la literatura no resonaban tanto en algunas de mis redes cercanas, me alejé un poquito de éstos por algunos años y me metí a libros más teóricos y "serios". Pero desde que empecé a leer a Octavia Butler volví a interesarme por textos de (ciencia) ficción.
Octavia reflexionó sobre la ausencia/invisibilización de mujeres negras en un contexto donde predominaba una ciencia ficción de escritores hombres y blancos. También propuso escenarios que abordaran los pasados-presentes-futuros y que estimularan la imaginación y la creatividad como posibilidades ante las crisis que seguimos viviendo.
En Parable of the sower, Octavia tejió temas como: sensibilidad hacia otrxs seres; críticas …
Cuando estaba más joven la ficción y la ciencia ficción eran espacios que me hacían sentido para conectar con la imaginación y con la posibilidad de pensar y sentir la vida fuera de límites que percibía en mis presentes.
Como estos ámbitos de la literatura no resonaban tanto en algunas de mis redes cercanas, me alejé un poquito de éstos por algunos años y me metí a libros más teóricos y "serios". Pero desde que empecé a leer a Octavia Butler volví a interesarme por textos de (ciencia) ficción.
Octavia reflexionó sobre la ausencia/invisibilización de mujeres negras en un contexto donde predominaba una ciencia ficción de escritores hombres y blancos. También propuso escenarios que abordaran los pasados-presentes-futuros y que estimularan la imaginación y la creatividad como posibilidades ante las crisis que seguimos viviendo.
En Parable of the sower, Octavia tejió temas como: sensibilidad hacia otrxs seres; críticas al capitalismo, a las desigualdades socio-económicas, a la explotación y hacia la crisis climática; formas de construir relaciones y comunidades basadas en el reconocimiento mutuo; cercanías y comprensiones diversas con la tierra y la sostenibilidad de la vida (entre muchas otras cosillas).
Algo que me parece muy curioso, es la manera en que Octavia toma aspectos del libro, que como lectora me estuvieron haciendo cierto ruido de forma muy sutil, y los hace evidentes en la secuela (Parable of the talents). Creo que no es sencillo plantear todo un imaginario y luego construir una narrativa que lo replantee o que muestre sus matices, al menos de forma convincente. Por eso, aunque Parable of the sower es un libro que aprecié haber leído, verlo de la mano con Parable of the talents fue aún más apreciable para mí.
Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'
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.
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.
meeg reseñó Parable Of The Sower de Octavia E. Butler
Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'
3 estrellas
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?
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?
