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Summary: It has finally arrived, and well worth the wait!
Review: After reading Butler's "Parable of the Sower" in 1995, I waited breathlessly for the release of this, the sequel to her stunning first success. Butler never disappoints. Unpredictable, edgy, and frighteningly relevant, "Parable of the Talents" continues the story into realms never thought possible.
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Summary: An empty "religion" for empty times?
Review: An interesting read, with the Earthseed concept ringing hollow - it offers a destiny that's ultimately spiritually unfulfilling. Earthseed seems like just another "what's good for me here and now" belief system with the angle of settling amongst the stars as anything of consequence to strive for. An empty "religion" during empty times - just what Butler may very well meant the book to be all about.
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Summary: The Parable of Religion
Review: At times one would think a person from the religious right participated in writing this book, however, after completing it, you understand the purpose; to show that humans can achieve the ultimate goal once a divine purpose is attached to it. At times the writing in this book is particularly gloomy, but realistically, it's not far from what some actually experience in their present day life. However, its the gloom and sorrow of the book that allows for the development of what the characters need, the "restoring hope" (that all-important human element).The parable of religion? Without hope, or what some may refer to as a vision, it's virtualy impossible for any people to move past their deteriorating conditions. It's this hope that Lauren Olamina solidly embeds within the doctrine of Earthseed, and that eventually allows for them to "reach for the stars." One can appreciate the perseverance of Olamina to see her vision through, while at the same time attempting to right the wrong that was done to her, and thousands of others, by the religious extremists. My only disappointment was that the book appeared to end so quickly; would love to see some sequel that centers around the development of her daughter.
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Summary: I loved this book. Butler gives hope in a dark time.
Review: Consistent with her other novels, Octavia Butler creates characters that you trust, understand, and love; characters who are up against substantial odds. Her vision of a dark future void of the securities that we all take for granted is a stark example of "divided we fall." Perhaps not all readers will be as enamored, as I am, with the truths and promises of the Earthseed Destiny but I think all can appreciate Butler's prediction of human misery when tolerance and democratic rights are trampled. Religion is a balm, an inspiration, a scourge, and a trap but it is a fundamentally human creation, sprung from our abstract vision. Butler explores our need to formalize these abstractions. When she redefines "God" in Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents she tries to avoid the pitfalls that are inevitable where religion is concerned. Butler provides many dissenting views of her protagonist, Olamina. Allowing your faith in the character to be tested. Olamina is not perfect but her recognition of the power of a belief system and her refusal to transform the core truths into something comforting or theistic makes her a trustworthy prophet. Read this novel and you will draw many conclusions about the state of the world today.
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Summary: Using one's talents
Review: Continuing from "Parable of the Sower", this book finds Lauren and her followers in Earthseed as they struggle to make their small community thrive in the time of chaos in what's left of the United States of America. Actually, this is all told through the eyes of Lauren's daughter Asha, who, through her mother's journals and teachings, tries to understand the mother she hardly knew. A religious zealot became President of the country, and Lauren's community was destroyed for its heathen views and all the children were placed with other families, so Asha grew up never knowing her mother. Asha weaves together her own story with that of Lauren's struggles to rebuild her Earthseed community, and she tells of how she finally met her birth mother with the unwitting assistance of Lauren's estranged gay brother. The first half of the book is a bleak report of the atrocities done by men to women and by zealous humans in the name of religious beliefs. It nearly overwhelms the story and detracts from what Butler is presenting, but eventually this improves and it becomes the compelling story that it ought to be, although overall it's not as potent as "Parable of the Sower". Like the first book (and books by Margaret Atwood, Sally Miller Gearhart, and Marge Piercy), Butler expresses a fascinating feminist view of the political, social, and personal turmoil our country faces, and the potential path that could be taken.
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Summary: Worth the Wait
Review: Finally she's come out with a new one and this 20th century griot has not let us down. Parable of the Talents is a compelling tell that is sure to keep you captivating well into the wee hours of the night. I couldn't put it down until I had completely finished it. Butler's vision of the future seems so accurate that it is literally terrifying. Her view on organized religion is also extremely thought provoking. Once again, Butler asks us to examine our hearts and souls as human beings, and through that examination to determine what our destiny will be. This novel is especially relevant to us as we approach the 21st century still harboring 17th century biases and hang-ups.
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Summary: Startling, disturbing, enthralling and yet hopeful
Review: I came to this book after reading the Parable of the Sowers 8 times and being disturbed and shaken. The writing, as in the previous one, is masterful and pacing, - you keep going and going, not like in a thriller where you want see what happens - but because you are drawn into the world. The characters mean so much to you. I could barely read the section on the imprisonment. I had to put it down several times, jump around, come back. It is a disturbing dystrophic world yet the characters are disturbingly real and close. I wish and hope that Olamina got some happiness. As a mother I ached for her child and her problems and was upset by her child's selfishness as well. Less brutal than the Handmaid's tale, it was nonetheless a tale that will stay with me a long time. As with all Butler's tales, I am glad I own it, so I can go back to it.
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Summary: Switch U.S. with Middle East and you've got something
Review: I can see why a black female author can have it in for the white, right, Christian fundamentalist movement. This movement doesn't seem to have the patience for those that don't fit it with their white bread view of the United States. It doesn't help their cause when they hint that Aids and the 9/11 tragedy are punishment from God. However, while she gets to release something she's holding in by describing what our country would be if they took over, it's definately fiction. First, there are too many educated, somewhat spoiled Americans who have tasted the good life this country offers, and don't find the more plain lifestyle these folks want as very attractive. Also, we're proving time after time that our country is too strong, with too much left-wing balance to ever crumble and resort to these people to run our country. Now take out the U.S. and plug in the Middle East, and you've got a more accurate novel. The type of government she describes in her book gets to assume power when there is so much turmoil in the country that the people will turn to the strongest power for stability. It also helps to control the media. It won't happen in the U.S., where too many people have Internet access, but for a country like Afganistan, which has been bombed into the Stone Age, and never made it back beyond the Middle Ages, this becomes a lot easier. So let's not build up Jerry Falwell as being more powerful than he is. On the other hand, the abuses fostered upon the citizens in this story are frighteningly close to what the Taliban inflicted upon their country just a few short months ago. This is the only beef I have in what otherwise is a very fine novel. As you've determined, the novel takes place in the not so distant future of the U.S., which has gone through enough turmoil that they've looked to an extremely right-wing government. The story is narrated by three different people: a man, woman, and their child. We get to hear their viewpoints on the world they try to build, how it is taken away from them, and how they reassemble their lives. It's debateable who is the main character (mother or daughter?), but I'd lean slightly towards the daughter. We are introduced to her early in her adult life, speaking of her parents, and not always glowingly. You see, part of the tragedy is that they were separated early in her life. Most of her knowledge of her mother is from the mother's writings. The mother started a kind of nature/religious movement, had somewhat of a following, and was known by a lot of people by these writings. So while you get the daughter in present tense describing what happened in her own past, you here the mother's writings as the parent's life happened. This structure works very well, and you get more and more into the characters as the story progresses. I liked the story very much, and it looks like this tale is headed for another version. It'll be interesting where the author takes it from there, but I'll look forward to it when it comes.
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Summary: Uneven but solid critique on Religious Fundamentalism
Review: I can't say that I found Parable of the Talents as thrilling as Wild Seed, but Butler's vision of an America that so easily slides into facism is especially chilling in light of the lout-in-chief currently in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and recent political events. Reading this passage by Parable's President Jarret was especially eerie: "We are God's people or we are filth! We are God's people or we are nothing! We are God's people! God's people!" If that's not a portent of "You're either for us or for the terrorists," I'll eat my bathrobe. Lauren Oya Olamina is a prophet who dreams of building a network of communities bound together by Earthseed, a belief system of her own creation (largely culled from Buddhist, pagan, and other nature-based religions with a little bit of Christianity thrown in). Ultimately these seed communities will work toward building communities in outer space, what Olamina calls "the Destiny". Among the ruins of a post-apocalyptic America, Olamina and her multi-ethnic band of believers live relatively quiet lives while working to spread the "truth" of Earthseed. Olamina and her band of followers are captured by rogue practicioners of "Christian America" (CA), the political/religious sect led by President Jarret. The Earthseed settlement is repurposed as an internment camp for vagrants, thieves, drug dealers, and anyone who isn't a CA follower. Olamina and her followers are separated by gender and enslaved for a period of seventeen months, and their children are taken away from them under the guise of saving them from an un-Christian life. After an (unlikely) landslide frees the captives, the Earthseed settlement fragments, and Olamina rededicates herself to advancing spreading the teachings of Earthseed around the world while searching for her daughter, Larkin. I found the novel's structure a bit distracting. While we're mostly reading Olamina's words, they're viewed through the eyes of her daughter Larkin, now called Asha Vere. Because the story is revealed through the eyes of a skeptical daughter who feels she was sacrificed at the expense of her mother's beliefs, it is difficult to trust Olamina's narrative. We admire her drive and dedication, but we can't help wondering whether she could have done more to find her daughter. I've been drawn to Octavia E. Butler's work lately, largely because her novels center around Black women who find themselves in unusual or extraordinary circumstances. While I'm no prophet, I can certainly relate to being uprooted and placed in a wholly unfamiliar situation. From what I understand, Butler's work is noteworthy because of the rarity of character-driven narratives told from a woman's point of view within the genre. Despite the upheaval her multi-ethnic casts must endure, it's comforting to know that we exist in future worlds, where we have heretofore been relatively invisible. Parable of the Talents offers no answers for how we might divert the uncertain political future that could become our reality if we're not careful. However, after reading it, we are left with a feeling of hope, that even though things may indeed become quite bleak, we don't have to accept being passive participants in our own undoing.
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Summary: Completely believable!
Review: I enjoyed this book largely because the characters, circumstances and plot were totally believable to me, even though they occur in a "near future" world. Is it still definable as science fiction when it seems like in ten years people might believe that it's fact? If you like post-holocaust, WWIII, survival, etc, you'll like this book. This book, and it's prequel (Parable of the Sower) are powerful, and are on the short list of books that have impacted me in a long-term memorable way. Read it. Read anything by Octavia Butler. I've never been disappointed by her, and this book is a fine way to understand how I can say that.
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