Tim Null's Reviews > Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
by
by
According to Octavia Butler,
today is the day: February 1, 2025
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/01/octa...
###
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us to grow the f*ck up, but not with so few words. When Octavia Butler is at her best, she doesn't waste words. She gets right to the point. When she's at her worst, she plods along and struggles to get to the point. Unfortunately, I found the Parable of the Sower to be one of Butler’s worst efforts. My initial reaction to the story was: Gawd save me from another Margaret story.
In the Parable of the Sower, there were two storylines. There's a wonderful apocalyptic story and a disagreeable story about Lauren Olamina's personal philosophy, which Lauren labeled Earthseed. Those two storylines struggled against each other throughout the book. Unfortunately, the Earthseed storyline wins out in the end.
It was the whole Earthseed business that drove me crazy. Perhaps one reason was the fact that it reminded me of myself when I was a religious teenager, and I scribbled my thoughts down in a little notebook. I was full of self-importance and ignorance. In many ways, I was similar to Lauren, just not as resourceful.
About halfway through the second half of the book, Lauren discussed her ideas about Earthseed with her travel mates, and her mates offered suggestions that would have made Earthseed a viable philosophy in an apocalyptic world. I then thought, "Isn't Butler brilliant." But regrettably, Lauren Olamina ignores the advice of her mates.
Even given all that I would have been delighted if the book had ended with the scene where Lauren and her mates were working together on their version of a "promised land" to create a new social structure. Believers and nonbelievers working side-by-side for the common good. It would have been a beautiful ending. But no, Butler didn't end there. She goes on to give us the King James version of the parable of the sower, as if she doubted we were familiar with the tale. I found that to be somewhat offensive.
If Butler had just stuck to her tale of an apocalyptic world, I would have loved it, but all the Earthseed business ruined it for me.
today is the day: February 1, 2025
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/01/octa...
###
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us to grow the f*ck up, but not with so few words. When Octavia Butler is at her best, she doesn't waste words. She gets right to the point. When she's at her worst, she plods along and struggles to get to the point. Unfortunately, I found the Parable of the Sower to be one of Butler’s worst efforts. My initial reaction to the story was: Gawd save me from another Margaret story.
In the Parable of the Sower, there were two storylines. There's a wonderful apocalyptic story and a disagreeable story about Lauren Olamina's personal philosophy, which Lauren labeled Earthseed. Those two storylines struggled against each other throughout the book. Unfortunately, the Earthseed storyline wins out in the end.
It was the whole Earthseed business that drove me crazy. Perhaps one reason was the fact that it reminded me of myself when I was a religious teenager, and I scribbled my thoughts down in a little notebook. I was full of self-importance and ignorance. In many ways, I was similar to Lauren, just not as resourceful.
About halfway through the second half of the book, Lauren discussed her ideas about Earthseed with her travel mates, and her mates offered suggestions that would have made Earthseed a viable philosophy in an apocalyptic world. I then thought, "Isn't Butler brilliant." But regrettably, Lauren Olamina ignores the advice of her mates.
Even given all that I would have been delighted if the book had ended with the scene where Lauren and her mates were working together on their version of a "promised land" to create a new social structure. Believers and nonbelievers working side-by-side for the common good. It would have been a beautiful ending. But no, Butler didn't end there. She goes on to give us the King James version of the parable of the sower, as if she doubted we were familiar with the tale. I found that to be somewhat offensive.
If Butler had just stuck to her tale of an apocalyptic world, I would have loved it, but all the Earthseed business ruined it for me.
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Reading Progress
December 7, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 7, 2022
– Shelved
December 17, 2022
–
Started Reading
December 17, 2022
–
5.51%
""Being the most vulnerable person I know is damned sure not something I want to boast about.""
page
19
December 19, 2022
–
30.0%
December 21, 2022
–
45.0%
December 24, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Susie
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rated it 3 stars
24 jan. 2023 21:30
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