Parable of the Sower
4.5/5⭐
I hate sci-fi. I find it to be a wholly self-indulgent genre. I’ve read a pretty wide array of science fiction, and to me they almost all fall flat. There are only two kinds of sci-fi I enjoy: space politics and self-destruction. I would say it takes me a lot to want to read a sci-fi book, a bit more to continue through it, and the most to finish and enjoy it. That’s how I know Parable of the Sower is an amazing book. It wasn’t enough for me to read through it - I had to keep going. I genuinely couldn’t put this book down.
There are minute things that make Parable feel more real than other books: Lauren shopping for tampons in the store, Keith, the dysfunctional-functioning family dynamics, how race exists throughout the book. These things make it feel grounded. It’s important to note that Butler’s world in Parable isn’t raceless; race exists much as it does in today’s world. There are aspects to the book that are, of course, fantastical — Lauren’s big secret, drug-addicted tribes full of arsonists, expansive space travel — but it doesn’t detach the reader from the realistic world Butler lays out. Parable nestles so deep in the brain because of the realism factor. It’s easy to see how in a few short years we may arrive at the world of Parable of the Sower, and it many ways - we’re already there.
The message of Parable (or at least what I think the message is) is clear: envision tomorrow better than the reality of today. The book makes clear in the first fourteen chapters that life is hard, and it’ll probably get a whole lot worse - but that’s not all life is.
The narrator, 15-year-old Lauren Olamina, is hard-headed, arrogant, and in many ways naive. She’s real. We see the world through her eyes. Set in the mid-2020s, Parable of the Sower is set in climate-ravaged California within Lauren’s own crumbling, walled community. The thing that makes Parable of the Sower so interesting isn’t just the world that Butler sets up nor the well-rounded, flawed characters, but the parallels between the book and our world. Lauren is the kind of character that feels real, that you can see yourself in. The questions Lauren raises about her community, Christianity, and her family are questions that I often find myself asking. From Lauren, we get Earthseed. From Earthseed comes the quote that echoes throughout Parable — “God is Change.”
It’s hard to properly describe Earthseed. It’s a religion but not. There are so many insightful, realized Earthseed passages throughout the book. Earthseed is more about principles to live life by rather than a god to worship. The thing that I think makes Earthseed special is that it’s not realistic; it’s hopeful. It’s the one truly unrealistic part of the whole book. It takes you out of the torment and suffering just enough to know that there is a future if you can see one for yourself. There are realities tucked into the passages, but the idea of Earthseed is about something more than your realities: it’s about creating the world we dream about and refusing to accept the world we live in now.
Lauren’s journey is one of troubles and tribulations. She is faced with great loss: her home, her friends and family, and life as she knows it. The one thing Lauren never loses is herself — her being. She’s a very thought-provoking character. Lauren, as a character, has her issues. She’s written in a way that seems much more like what someone imagines a smart 15-year-old to be rather than what a wise 15-year-old is. At times, it feels like she’s not all the way fleshed out. This doesn’t take away from the book. And it doesn’t make Lauren feel any less real. It is sad that Butler planned three books for the Parable series but died before she could see the third come to fruition. If you would like to read more of Lauren’s story, Parable of the Talents takes place further in the future and follows an adult Lauren. Following Lauren on her journey was insightful and thought-provoking. I cannot wait to continue to read her journey in Parable of the Talents. This book is definitely worth reading.
Next read: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
