The answer, “Ourselves” captures the hopelessness of Parable of the Sower. So many operate with out faith–perhaps a reason why fear crippled so many people (and was allowed to cripple the economy) when Covid spread and media and politicians fed the flames. If all you can pray to is yourself, what hope do you have as you age, face illness, or read the headlines? For Christians, we’re just passing through, and life gets better after this! It’s why the answer to “what do you pray to?” is striking. “Ourselves” is a real answer for many, and it’s an attitude that could certainly lead toward Butler’s dystopia.
Parable of the Sower is one of the more depressing and hopeless books I’ve read in a while. As many anti-Christian books do, it capitalizes on a Christian theme or passage, and twist it into a non-Christian tale. In the story, our protagonist leads a group of survivors through a desolate, dangerous, and dystopian modern day California. The world is Godless, and the characters double down on living the same way, while justifying it. “We only kill people who threaten us.” “We only steal from other people.” “God is Change”…and we “try to shape God.” While there is some creativity, sharing people’s pain, a pyro drug that makes people want to start fires, Butler avoids much descriptive language, writing as desolate as the premise itself. Nonetheless, there were a a handful of interesting lines that were worth posting about. Long to short, I don’t recommend the book, unless you’re after a depressing, soulless, dystopian novel. Equally depressing is the number of people who rated it highly in GoodReads. You can see some of those in GoodReads. I guess I prefer hope and faith.
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