Parable of The Sower Review

Power of The Adaptable Soul

What do you do when the world you know, or at least the world you were told of is gone? And in its place was a broken, ruined, rotting thing. You do the only thing you can, you Change.

At least that’s one of my many powerful takeaways from reading Parable of The Sower.

I’ve had this series recommended to me for a long time. I also know I’m late to the party by 3 decades so bear with me. In the last few years Octavia Butler’s series has come back into the spotlight, getting love on Booktok, an adaptation was announced in 2017, and seems to be picking up steam recently. It was on the eternal, Sisyphean list that we all have as a readers wherein you’re constantly torn between the books you want to read, the books you “should” read, the books you “have” to read, and of course the 4 books you buy on impulse as you cut through a Barnes and Noble to get to the AMC.

Every now and then the call has to be made and books have to move up the list.

Parable was that.

Parable of The Sower is a dystopian soft sci-fi novel set in the near future. Written in 1991, Butler set the period in the 2020s. Our main character is a young girl by the name of Lauren Olyamina. She is determined, precocious, and protective of that which she loves. It’s set in a modern America that has all but fallen. Towns are tightly knit and protected communities with limited resources as everything else outside their walls crumbles due to marauders, corporate slavery, and a cost of living so high it might as well be imaginary. The parallels are obvious.

Butler uses this backdrop through the lens of Lauren as she grows up in this world and the ideas, takes, and philosophies someone like this would develop. Including the her invention of “Earthseed” which is the main thrust of the story. Lauren invents a new religion in the first few pages of the book of what she thinks humanity is and what it needs to be if they are to survive in this new and frightening time. And this story certainly challenges it.

Butler also uses this world as background to tackle gender, relationships, community, and the very question of what it means to be human, to be American, and who America is really for. While the external world Butler builds is equal parts shocking, terrifying and interesting, she puts the same if not more emphasis on the internal world of the characters. Less attention to typical sci fi proper nouns and the fictional institutions they would represent and more time spent on Lauren’s ever changing world view and the connections she makes through out her life and the impact it leaves on her soul.

I don’t want to get too much into the story but I will say Butler writes Lauren’s voice in a very empathetic, vulnerable, and yet cautious way. You can feel the tenacity, the fear, the emotion with every twist and turn of Lauren’s adventure. I would even argue its just as much an intro to philosophy book as it is science fiction.

If you’re a fan of Station Eleven, The Road or any other of those beautiful sad and dusty dystopian stories, then you owe flowers to Butler because without this series I doubt these would have the power they have.

I would consider this book along with it’s sequel as required reading for anyone who just reads in general, it should also be a staple in anyone starting a personal library. Even after I finished the series I know that I will be contemplating Lauren, Acorn, and the tenets of Earthseed for a long time.

As you read Lauren’s story of survival, resilience, and the birth of a new faith, I encourage you to consider: In a world filled with uncertainty, what stories will you carry with you? How will they change you? And what role will they play in shaping the future of our ever-changing world?

P.S. One of my favorite RnB groups made a song based off of Earthseed here!