Parable of the Talents

Rating:
Summary: 4 and a half stars-ingenous!
Review: the only problem that I had with this book is that it started slow. I guess i was still working with the speed that the previous entry, "parable of the sower" had left off at. All and all, it is beautiful.


As with the last book, I was impressed with Butler's detail(the religon that Lauren created, the city that was built, the characters' beliefs). There was no disconnect between me and the characters that I was reading about, or the story. The struggle that lauren had endured to keep close to her faith was real. I rose and fell with her triumphs and loses.

A promising writer must put this selection in their studies.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The Parable of the Talents is the story of a woman attempting to maintain stability in a world of anarchy. I found it to be at first intriguing and promising, then it became absolutely unbearable, and then refreshing, surprising, and enlightening. Although Butler is a powerful storyteller, she lacks in several areas and this novel is significantly flawed.

My problem with Parable of the Talents wholeheartedly began and remained with the people of Acorn, and with Acorn itself. There were way too many characters and families that Butler threw in the story purely for exemplification-they offered absolutely nothing else. Instead of trying to unsuccessfully weave all of these characters into the story, it would have been better to read into a few more well developed characters, leaving the majority of the group nameless. I've noticed that Butler does this in her other work as well and can't understand why. The characters are neither allegorical nor satirical, just a jumble of names and brief physical descriptions that add absolutely nothing to the story.

The very long-winded narrative of the Acorn's daily activities served no other purpose than to show Acorn's philosophy and way of life, which could have been done in a few chapters. The endless chapters narrating the Acorn lifestyle certainly didn't broaden or flesh out any of the other characters, including Olamina. In addition, the never-ending focus on the doctrines of Earthseed for the first 200 hundred or so pages became very preachy and didatic. The excessive lyrics from 'Earthseed' were completely uneccessary. Butler even admits in her afterword that she had to keep "rewriting the first 150 pages or so of Talents and heading up one blind alley or another...I couldn't seem to tell Olamina's story no matter how hard I tried."

Olamina's need to always improve and change was an interesting one and was well manifested in her creation of Earthseed, but it her motives in general were never explained. It was obvious that she wanted to create a progressive group of people who were realistic about 'religion' and had a logical explanation for the ins and outs of life, which is and was appealing, but I kept searching for another reason for Olamina's obsession with her own controlling strength and independence, and never found one. After reading Octavia Butler's afterword, it became obvious to me that Olamina, Acorn, and Earthseed represented Octavia Butler's own values and motivations, which offered me a bit more insight into the character of Olamina. It would be interesting to research exactly how much of Butler's own personality is reflected in her female protagonists and other leading characters.

Despite my griping, I am still impressed with Octavia Butler's mastery of illustrating the follies of human nature and what it breeds. I somewhat enjoyed Bloodchild and the Lilith's Brood series, but I feel Butler has definitely faltered this one. Although this series doesn't have to be read in sequence, I would recommend that those new to Octavia Butler start with Bloodchild, which is a collection of short stories, Lilith's Brood, and then Parable of the Sower and Talents.

Rating:
Summary: Speeking of talents...
Review: This book hurts. It has the potential to do so, because the scenario presented is a very plausible one indeed. Butler describes no faraway utopia-like future with incredible adventures experienced on high-tech spaceships in a universe where the bad guys always loose in a happy ending.
What she describes is one possible scenario of a not-so-far-away future; one step from now, or - as she might say - an extrapolation of what you can see around you, here and now. An all to possible dystopia, that - given the choice - we hopefully choose to avoid.

But she also tells about persistence, trust and hope in a hopeless breakdown environment. Here no superheroes with super-natural abilities save the day or even the universe, but ordinary people following their own ideas of a world worth living in shape their future in spite of all obstacles.
No convenient pastel-coloured fast food, but therefore definitely more the worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: prophecy
Review: This book may be prophetic. It is the scarriest version of world social decay because I can see her trail to it. It should be required reading in all High Schools, so we never let it happen.

Rating:
Summary: Best yet?
Review: This is a book in a by now well-known format, with Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and Suzette Haden Elgin's Eartsong trilogy the parallels that come to mind immediately. The new Earthseed omits the aliens from Xenogenesis and the imaginative speculations into human nature of Earthsong. Earthseed is more down to earth than either and must have been more difficult to write, but comes off well.

Rating:
Summary: The Conclusion of Octavia Butler's Masterpiece
Review: This is one of the very best novels ever written; it ranks right alongside Edgar Pangborn's "Davy." The sequel to "Parable of the Sower," it is that rarity: a sequel even better than the book it is a sequel of. The America portrayed in the Earthseed novels is indeed horrible, but it is eminently believable as a possible result of the corruption and incompetence of the faux President and his evil cronies. Could Octavia Butler be a prophet as well as a brilliant writer?

Some have complained about the dark future envisioned in "Earthseed." But while it is entirely appropriate to be horrified and angered by the cruelty, oppression, and injustice of the future Butler presents, we should be inspired by Lauren's continuing hope and perseverence and determination and the eventual triumph of Earthseed. We should be doing everything we can to insure that the bleak future described in the "Earthseed" novels will NOT actually happen, because that future, frightening as it is to contemplate, is all too possible.

I read "Parable of the Talents" before I was able to get my hands on "Parable of the Sower." Both novels are so outstandingly excellent that little was lost by reading them in the wrong order, but it would be better to read "Parable of the Sower" first.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and Thought Provoking
Review: This story is for everyone. Ms. Butler writes like a true prophet. If you like the more social/cultural episodes of The Next Generation, you love any of Ms. Butler's stories. You may even begin to believe she's ghost-written a few of them.