Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

55 reviews

lilcoppertop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Trafficking

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. It was scary how accurate Butler’s interpretation of the future is and makes me worry for what comes next in this country. It’s intense & I highly recommend looking for trigger warnings before reading because some of the events that take place are extremely traumatic. If you want a sci-fi that will make you think deeply about the state of the world, you should read this book. But start with Parable of the Sower!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, and Child abuse

Moderate: War, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

elderlingfool's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

4.5

This is the second book in the Earthseed duology and it’s as good as the first one and well worth reading. Even though the third book was never completed, these two stand on their own and the ending is good enough even if it is a bit open. In the case of this book, Asha Vere’s arc feels a bit incomplete, but the character work is good enough for the reader to imagine with some level of accuracy what happens to her after there are no more pages left to read.

The first book is about Lauren Olamina that invented a new religion. In this one we follow her daughter as she reads her mother’s journal entries about the events that happened after the first book. So, this book has two narrators, but we mainly continue Lauren’s story.

Like in the first book, there are many clever observations about society, politics and religion. This book feels so real that I hesitate to call it a dystopia. It addresses homophobia, children being taken from their parents in order to be educated as christian, rape, the hypocrisy of the church and other such topics. It’s an heavy read, but a necessary one.

The only complain I have about this book is that there is a lot of telling instead of showing. This is an issue I have with the second half of the first book too, but it’s even more noticeable here. Due to this, a lot of the secondary characters were forgetable even though there are some really complex and strong ones in this text.

Overall, the good outweights the bad by a lot so this is still an excellent book that more people should read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Child abuse

haileybones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, War, and Xenophobia

persilou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

At first I was not a fan of the format of multiple authors, but I appreciated it by the end. I would recommend this novel after the first, but to not expect the same experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Homophobia

Minor: War

astridrv's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

I almost gave up halfway through because of how horrific and depressing it got - much more so than the first book, which is really saying something. But I loved the complexity of that too, where I am used to saga's going "upwards", Butler made the brave choice of having someone who's arc is to build see everything destroyed and go through worse than ever before. I'm not sold on the second perspective we get in the book, and I would have loved the last chapters to last way longer (there is a slight pacing problem between micro and macro story there) but otherwise this is definitely the most remarkable work of fiction I read this year. I will never forget Earthseed, and the claustrophobic,terrifying, hopeful, strong, heart wrenching, generous, crushing journey it was to share this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, and Homophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Misogyny

scoledie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Child abuse

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 Rating: A

The continuation of Olamina's story is equally brutal and emotional. With dual perspectives of both Asha and Olamina (through diary entries), we can see how the idea of Earthseed grew and changed. This story just didn't stop with the emotional scenes and the terror and dread. I felt the absolute despair when the group were facing down Christian America. I saw shades of history and the present America throughout this book. Radical Christians kidnapping heathen children to brainwash them into being good Christians, yet their own religion is rife with corruption and sin.

I really empathise with Olamina's desire to grow Earthseed and how she is surrounded by doubt and question. She anticipates that and so runs gatherings to encourage discourse. The concept of God representing Change really makes sense in their world as a religion to follow due to the unexpected outcomes and danger - normal people can't travel anywhere without being attacked.

I also liked the story coming together at the end and we see how despite the circumstances, the viewers may not get the ending they want.

Tragic all around and very human.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Slavery, Rape, Pedophilia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

Minor: Abortion, Suicide, Self harm, and Miscarriage

Which content warnings does this book not have?

andhe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Homophobia

stephr's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence