Parable Of The Sower

345 pages

English language

Published July 2, 2000

ISBN:: 978-0-446-67550-5
Goodreads:: 52397

(1 review)

Parable of the Sower is a 1993 speculative fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler. It is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth heavily affected by 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. The main tenets of Earthseed are that "God is Change" and believers can "shape God" through conscious effort to influence the changes around them. Earthseed also teaches that it is humanity's destiny to inhabit other planets and spread the "seeds" of the Earth.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 an opera and a graphic novel. …

Parable of the Sower is a 1993 speculative fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler. It is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth heavily affected by 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. The main tenets of Earthseed are that "God is Change" and believers can "shape God" through conscious effort to influence the changes around them. Earthseed also teaches that it is humanity's destiny to inhabit other planets and spread the "seeds" of the Earth.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 an opera 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.

8 editions

Willow reviewed Parable Of The Sower by Octavia E. Butler

3 stars

I cannot deny that I very much enjoyed this book, but over time my opinion on it has ... mellowed. The "charismatic leader with a bespoke philosophy going and starting a cult in the wilderness" is an idea that is both interesting and dangerous, in the sense of almost always leading to harm and domination.

Yet I found the "ideology" tremendously interesting, despite my aversion to the use of the word "god" (understanding considering Butler's, and by extension Lauren's, Baptist upbringing). The "ideology of change" is something I vibe with strongly, and found myself thinking about it heavily over the coming weeks. I even attempted to create a wordlist of all the words in the Earthseed verses, so as to create a conlang designed to express those concepts, baked into its structure. Needless to say my interest in that waned and the project never got anywhere.

Overall the book felt …

I cannot deny that I very much enjoyed this book, but over time my opinion on it has ... mellowed. The "charismatic leader with a bespoke philosophy going and starting a cult in the wilderness" is an idea that is both interesting and dangerous, in the sense of almost always leading to harm and domination.

Yet I found the "ideology" tremendously interesting, despite my aversion to the use of the word "god" (understanding considering Butler's, and by extension Lauren's, Baptist upbringing). The "ideology of change" is something I vibe with strongly, and found myself thinking about it heavily over the coming weeks. I even attempted to create a wordlist of all the words in the Earthseed verses, so as to create a conlang designed to express those concepts, baked into its structure. Needless to say my interest in that waned and the project never got anywhere.

Overall the book felt not-quite-satisfying in terms of completeness (a feeling that was somewhat relieved by the second), and I immediately picked up Parable of the Talents.