Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

33 reviews

derik_rochlitzer's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

samanthamurk's review against another edition

emotional reflective

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely love this book. This sequel added so much depth to the characters. I love how lauryns daughter challenges the main character, it adds so much complexity to the story.

The social commentary is also spectacularly done and scarily relevant, I mean the evangelical politician who ppl thought would never win the election but did his slogan was literally make america great again. I mean if i didn’t know better i would never have guessed these books were written any time before 2016 at least.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

kurumipanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Islamophobia, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and War

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While I enjoyed Parable of the Sower more, I still found this dystopian novel to be reflective in many ways of our present day society. This book is difficult to read. It is interesting and important. It is a tale of selfishness and selflessness, love and hate, truth and lies. It is mortifying to imagine life like this, but also just barely outside the scope of what could happen, which makes it some of the best dystopian literature that exists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kemrick19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

therewillbenewsuns's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book took me a lot of time to get through, even more so than the first book of this duo. Octavia E. Butler was really a seer; although this is science fiction, she was writing about the 2020s and there are many parallels to how we are living/being governed today. I think it was very interesting to have the perspective of Lauren's daughter, someone who, as we discover on the second page (which is why i'm not saying it's a spoiler) very much disagrees with her biological mother's Earthseed teachings. Okay now i'm going to talk more in detail so, spoilers:

I want to read any interviews Ms. Butler did on this series, specifically on Lauren's character. I believe she was attracted to Bankole because he filled the void her father left when he disappeared/died, but the acceptance of the age difference made me so uncomfortable. I don't think Lauren/Olamina is meant to be a character who is "liked," but rather a character who is someone you might sit with over a meal to hear her perspective, which is what some people in the book actually do. I think the desire to go to space and have communities take root there also feels very akin to the 1% goals in present-day, and I questioned why she didn't want to use Earthseed as a way to improve the land she was currently on. It seemed like some societal changes were made once Christian America/Jarret semi-collapsed, but she didn't use her new power (which is exactly what she had: power) to enact change outside of the space mission. God is Change, right? I can see why Asha/Larkin had a distrust for her biological mother, and I also feel very sad for them both. Whether or not she realizes, Asha was indoctrinated and all that time had an impact on the way she viewed Olamina. Plus Marc's self-hatred/internalized homophobia and how it existed in opposition to his religion, the same one that enslaved his own sister, absolutely influenced his desire to make a family by keeping his niece away from her mother. No amount of sympathy for his situation will make me understand why, if he knew about Asha, he kept that away from Olamina.

It's a very disturbing, prophetic(?), insightful study of religion, power, community building, and the decay/rebuilding of society. Did I enjoy it? No, but it's a very good book. I don't think it's meant to be enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, and Classism

plainpaige's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I think I liked this book more than its predecessor, despite the often disturbing, challenging storyline. Butler again made predictions that seem to be coming true to some degree. I enjoyed this book's foray into the politics of a crumbling society, though I suspect it may be difficult for some people who endorse Christianity to swallow. I love a good cautionary tale, though, and if you can struggle through the hard concepts, you will be rewarded with a beautiful story of the human experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Excrement, Car accident, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

eamador's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lectrixnoctis's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Octavia E. Butler was the renowned author of the novel numerous groundbreaking novels like "Kindred", "Wild Seed" or "Parable of the Sower". She has won many awards for her works and is a pioneer in her genre exploring black injustice, women's rights, global warming and political disparity.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina endured the destruction of her home and family and realised her vision of a friendly community in northern California based on her recently founded a religion, Earthseed. The fledgling community supplies shelter for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again." In an increasingly separated and dangerous nation, Lauren's subversive territory minority religious coalition led by a young black woman--becomes a mark for President Jarret's rule of terror and oppression.

Years after, Asha Vere reads the diaries of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. She struggles to negotiate with her mother's estate as she searches for solutions to her past. She is caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to guide humanity into a better future.

This book is written as a diary and employs the identical style as the first in this duology, getting the same issues with it. The protagonist has the propensity to distance herself from what transpired to her through her diary documenting as a way of self-therapy. However, it does not necessarily ensure an engaging read because of how healing this factual representation of events can be. The lived experiences make for a fascinating story, but the tone is not there to empathise with the individual you are meant to be sympathising with.

There is a silver lining, yet Where the first piece of the series was a monologue by Lauren Olamina, new narrators are brought into this volume. Lauren's spouse gets a pair of pages, and so does one of her brothers, but these contributions are so small they are entirely meaningless in hindsight. The star narrator of this novel is Olamina's daughter. She delivers a new and fresh mindset, which is not an unexpected feeling she grew up without and far away from her mother. This voice offers the reader a break from Lauren's self-indulgent narrative and, for those like me who had hardships relating to the self-declared Messiah, a representative of reason one could connect to.  

I do not doubt that this book, like the first one, is an absolute classic and a dystopian masterpiece; however, I had The same problems with this book as the first one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alomie's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this book overall as part of a duology, an almost apocalyptic world bought on by climate change, flowing into a world that is recovering and building on the first book, but this book was a major change in pace, and a change to multiple POV's. 

I found the start of the book slow, and the middle glacial and uncomfortable the end was good, this is where it really picked up for me but I think this was only because at least something vaguely positive was happening. 

It was bleak, and it was slow, and for me it was quite hard to wade through the book. It was pretty harsh to read and I was finding it hard to pick up. 

I am glad the characters got a happier ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism