Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

27 reviews

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

this book was so heartbreaking and painful. very terrifying how realistic this feels for the beginning of 2024, octavia butler is a genius. 
i very painfully related to asha and understood her complex feelings with her mother and the ways she prioritized earthseed, even if i wanted to fucking kill marc.
i think i would have be an earthseed hater but also i would absolutely join. community is everything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, War, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Slavery, Misogyny, Murder, Incest, Pedophilia, Torture, Ableism, Child death, Death, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

eve81's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Death, Medical content, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Racism, Rape, Torture, Infertility, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, War, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Classism, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

redheadorganist's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Confinement, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Classism

hayleemarie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Rape, Kidnapping, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

derik_rochlitzer's review against another edition

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

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Self harm

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

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

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

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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

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, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Child death, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, and Rape

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

therewillbenewsuns's review against another edition

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

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