Product Description

Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #415188 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com
Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.

From Publishers Weekly
Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Butler's first novel since 1989's Imago offers an uncommonly sensitive rendering of a very common SF scenario: by 2025, global warming, pollution, racial and ethnic tensions and other ills have precipitated a worldwide decline. In the Los Angeles area, small beleaguered communities of the still-employed hide behind makeshift walls from hordes of desperate homeless scavengers and violent pyromaniac addicts known as "paints" who, with water and work growing scarcer, have become increasingly aggressive. Lauren Olamina, a young black woman, flees when the paints overrun her community, heading north with thousands of other refugees seeking a better life. Lauren suffers from 'hyperempathy," a genetic condition that causes her to experience the pain of others as viscerally as her own--a heavy liability in this future world of cruelty and hunger. But she dreams of a better world, and with her philosophy/religion, Earthseed, she hopes to found an enclave which will weather the tough times and which may one day help carry humans to the stars. Butler tells her story with unusual warmth, sensitivity, honesty and grace; though science fiction readers will recognize this future Earth, Lauren Olamina and her vision make this novel stand out like a tree amid saplings.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-On Friday, July 30, 2027, Lauren Oya Olamina's California walled neighborhood is burned and plundered by pyro addicts. She and two other teens appear to be the only survivors and join the seemingly endless stream of poverty-stricken people looking for a better life or, at least, for another day. Like her Baptist minister father before her, Lauren carries her faith in her religion, Earthseed, with her. In the insanity of this future world, her faith, practical skills, and determination to survive (whatever the cost) are enhanced by the basic goodness of the folks who expand her group. YAs may see the similarity between Lauren's world and the nightly TV-news coverage of current war-torn nations. They should appreciate this tender coming-of-age story and/or the glimpse into a future they can work to prevent. Romance; science fiction; a strong, black, female protagonist; and a hopeful ending should attract readers to this novel.
Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Fantasic Work of Speculative Fiction


This is a fascinating and stimulating read. Butler gives us a dystopia with heart, faith, hope, love and all in the midst of a picture of the absolute worst in human nature when turned desperate. It gives a startling glimpse of what religion looks like when placed up against suffering and injustices that seem to have no exit strategy or end in sight.

This one is also theologically packed. The characters are rich and deep. Fantastic book. It is almost like reading McCarthy's The Road if it had depth of character and purpose.

WHAT
First off let me say I have never read this book.In fact I never even heard of this book untill I was reading some reviews on The ROAD.This person praised this book but sence he gave The ROAD 5 stars I figure he don't know what he is talking about.The Road was a really lousy book written by a no tallent hack.So on that persons recomendation I think I will let this one pass.

Who knew the apocalypse could be so boring?
The narrative has no sense of pace. It just plods on from event to event, told in mechanical prose. We went here and this happened. Then we went there and that happened. No building of dramatic tension, little development of theme or character progression. A flat recording of events.

Odd that the novel posits a new religion but draws its title and its ending quote not from the new scriptures written by the protagonist but from the Bible, which the protagonist says she doesn't believe. The chapter headings are drawn from the protagonist's new scriptures, so why isn't the novel's end-note?