Parable of the Sower

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts.

God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs—and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.

For her elegant, literate works of science fiction, Octavia E. Butler has been compared to Toni Morrison and Ursula K. LeGuin. Narrator Lynne Thigpen's melodious voice will hold you spellbound throughout this compelling parable of modern society.

©1993 Octavia E. Butler (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC

AMAZING Read!!!

This storyline was so enchanting and hypnotizing. I couldn't stop until I reached the end, and then grew upset because I wanted more, I went through every emotion, my eyes swelled up with tears more than once and despite the horrid conditions, there were moments I smiled in joy for Laura. This book makes you go into deep thought of social and environmental problems of today and what our future will look like if we continue. Amazing, amazing book. I must read more by Octavia Butler.

Great but depressing

Get ready for a great story that is bleak as heck. This book is great but man, what a downer. Don’t read this if you’re going through a rough time.
Lynne Butler gives a masterful narration

perfect audible book

loved it. Perfect reading. I have read this book and I'll listen to it. This reading had me totally involved and every day of the journey outlined in the story.

The second half of the story gets better

Octavia Butler is a legend. She was one of the first to bring some literary style to science fiction, and for that, she deserves to be lionized. Her lovely writing is the reason to read this book. There are events, but the story just feels very slow. But hang in there--if you can make it through the first half, you'll find yourself really engaged in the second. Hard-core science fiction fans should be warned, however, that this only just barely squeezes under the flap of the SF tent. There's not much science fiction in this dystopian novel aside from one small fantasy element, and the story doesn't so much end as set us up for the other book in the series.

Lynne Thigpen is consistently excellent as the narrator and turns in a flawless performance that enhances the story line. She creates a thousand pictures with her words.

Even though I couldn't give 5's across the board, I'm really glad I stuck with this book and look forward to the other one in this series.

A Must Read for Our Time

A story ripe for the times in which we live, where change is the only constant, much of it destructive... But parables are the way through the present, from the past, and into our future.