- Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Time Warner International; Reprint edition (Feb 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0446601977
- ISBN-13: 978-0446601979
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 17 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 179,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
In California in the year 2025, a small community is overrun by desperate scavengers, as an eighteen-year-old African American woman sets off on foot on a perilous journey northward.
From the Back Cover
The first book of the Earthseed series (the second being the Nebula Award winner Parable of the Talents).
Set in the early 21st century in a California where civilisation has all but broken down and poverty and uspeakable violence is the norm, this is a horrifying vision of what might be. Teenage Lauren Olamina is one of the few citizens fortunate enough to have a home ... However Lauren, knowing ... there must be a better way to live invents Earthseed, an entirely new religion that holds workable, positive solutions to society's ills. When the worst happens and her neighbourhood is invaded and destroyed, Lauren embarks on a perilous journey to find a place far away from the horrors of LA ...
'The missing link between Marge Piercy and Ursula Le Guin ... surreal, sensual science fiction.' Everywoman --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
At least three years ago, my father's God stopped being my God. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
At least three years ago, my father's God stopped being my God. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Post-apocalyptic literary scenarios have been a dime a dozen since well before Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and these days it takes something quite remarkable - like Cormack McCarthy's sublime The Road - to raise even a flicker of interest in this genre from all but the dullest sci-fi fanboy. Octavia Butler's essay on the same theme is now getting on for 20 years old, and stands up well - indeed, it so closely anticipates McCarthy's novel that you have to wonder whether he was aware of it. That is not to suggest plagiarism, however, for the similarities are general indeed: an un-described catastrophe has caused the total breakdown of society and forced a family unit on the road, where they fend for themselves against allcomers in vain hope of a promised land.
While Butler employs a couple of nice devices - the P.K.Dick-eque hyperempathy condition is a neat literary device - much better in fact than the hokey "Earthseed" concept which gets unwarranted prominence in the story - but Butler doesn't do nearly enough with it to make it worthwhile. In other aspects, the novel is a little flat. There's not a much in the way of a plot arc - it's more linear: things sort of episodically muddle along to a fairly uninvolving conclusion - and nor do the characters get well fleshed out or developed. Like her protagonist Lauren, Butler throws quite a lot of "seed" about which then appears to fall on stony ground: Lauren's father disappears, presumed dead but unresolved - to no effect. Likewise, Lauren's original sweetheart is introduced, developed, and disposed with for no discernible plot-functional reason.
My hunch is that Butler was more interested in developing a quasi-religion than writing a science fiction novel, yet 20 years later, the post-apocalyptic road story is the only part that really holds up. But, all the same, it pales in comparison with Cormack McCarthy's bleaker, more eloquent visualisation, and ultimately I couldn't recommend this novel over, or even really as a complement to, The Road.
Olly Buxton
While Butler employs a couple of nice devices - the P.K.Dick-eque hyperempathy condition is a neat literary device - much better in fact than the hokey "Earthseed" concept which gets unwarranted prominence in the story - but Butler doesn't do nearly enough with it to make it worthwhile. In other aspects, the novel is a little flat. There's not a much in the way of a plot arc - it's more linear: things sort of episodically muddle along to a fairly uninvolving conclusion - and nor do the characters get well fleshed out or developed. Like her protagonist Lauren, Butler throws quite a lot of "seed" about which then appears to fall on stony ground: Lauren's father disappears, presumed dead but unresolved - to no effect. Likewise, Lauren's original sweetheart is introduced, developed, and disposed with for no discernible plot-functional reason.
My hunch is that Butler was more interested in developing a quasi-religion than writing a science fiction novel, yet 20 years later, the post-apocalyptic road story is the only part that really holds up. But, all the same, it pales in comparison with Cormack McCarthy's bleaker, more eloquent visualisation, and ultimately I couldn't recommend this novel over, or even really as a complement to, The Road.
Olly Buxton
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This didn't work for me. It has themes that are fundamentally interesting--the economical and moral breakdown of society, the creation and function of religion, the nature of humanity--and a intriguing concept of 'hyperempathy', but none of it really goes anywhere. The plot centres on a journey undertaken by a group of survivors; they walk, take on other people, get into fights, buy supplies, have sex and talk about the way things are. It felt like this should have been a couple of chapter's worth of setup on the way to the actual story.
The main character I found a little too po-faced to be engaging, and the others are not really fleshed out. The religion itself was rather simplistic and again didn't really seem to have any function.
This is decent enough--although as another reviewer mentioned, there are tons of very annoying proofreading mistakes--but ultimately disappointing. Survivalist stories have been done better, apocalyptic stories have been done better, philosophical stories have been done better, race/gender stories have been done better.
The main character I found a little too po-faced to be engaging, and the others are not really fleshed out. The religion itself was rather simplistic and again didn't really seem to have any function.
This is decent enough--although as another reviewer mentioned, there are tons of very annoying proofreading mistakes--but ultimately disappointing. Survivalist stories have been done better, apocalyptic stories have been done better, philosophical stories have been done better, race/gender stories have been done better.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Parable of the Sower is artfully written. Every detail of life in a depleted, violent future Califoria is plausible, and anyone who's been an adolescent can instantly relate to Lauren, the narrator and protaganist. The unflinching realism of the rest of the book makes the Earthseed philosophy into an unconvincing afterthought. Could a band of multi-culti ragtag survivors make it out of the imploding city and up to the relative haven of Northern California? Yes, Butler makes me believe. Does that human triumph have anything to do with the mystic pseudo-faith espoused by Lauren in her diary and in the chapter headings? I'm unconvinced.
Read this book for the author's unflinching apocolyptic vision and the very human hope which springs from it, and leave the poorly articulated spiritual element behind.
Read this book for the author's unflinching apocolyptic vision and the very human hope which springs from it, and leave the poorly articulated spiritual element behind.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
an apocalyptic vision, with mutunt
This is a very intense story set against the backdrop of the breakdown of an industrial society. Butler's vision of a chaotic LA is truly chilling, from the near-defenselessness of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by rob crawford
My 100-word book review
Parable of the Sower is a vivid, often harrowing, story of survival, loss and companionship, set in a United States in the near future, where the environment and society have... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2008 by A. J. Cull
Hype, typos and simple prose
The narrative holds your interest and keeps you turning the pages well enough. It's really just a conventional dystopian fantasy, though, told in pretty spare, conventional prose... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2007 by laughing gravy
freighting and could premonitory...
After seeing how some people reacted during Katrina... this could perfectly be our futur, but I realy hope not.
Published on 13 Sep 2005 by "zblouf"
IT'S OKAY!
It was a slow moving story. The overall premise is very good, but to me something of the story was lacking. Read more
Published on 8 Oct 1997
Wonderfully moving and engaging
This book shows clearly why Octavia Butler is one of the
best writers in the business. The novel succeeds on
multiple levels; the characters are well-drawn and... Read more
best writers in the business. The novel succeeds on
multiple levels; the characters are well-drawn and... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 1996
Parable is one of those perception changing stories
PARABLE of the SOWER
BY: Octavia E. Butler
296 pp New York
Aspect. $5.99 Paper ($6 who are they fooling?)
$17. Read more
BY: Octavia E. Butler
296 pp New York
Aspect. $5.99 Paper ($6 who are they fooling?)
$17. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 1996
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
