Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

63 reviews

gabivitale's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: War

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

chaoticnostalgia's review

dark sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

eamador's review against another edition

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

stevia333k's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So I'm white, and I read this series because anti racist black tiktokers recommended this book series over the handmaid's tale. I took them up on their recommendations because I often cited THG for about a decade for similar purposes & yeah this series has a lot of overlap. So hence I read this 2nd book. I'm thankful for this series because for a while I was thinking of using religion preaching with uncommon canons as praxis, and this series has discouraged me from that in addition to hearing about the Jim Jones people's church, etc.

I came into this book wondering how to deal with a civil war situation & I came out wanting to get a good cry in about the social constructs of family. (Looking back I actually had a similar reaction with THG #1)  I came to this book to cry, yet that topic shift startled me.  While the plot does rely on certain technologies that don't exactly map onto our world it still has helpful info & strategies. For example the laying low & collecting info etc was inspiring & helpful in affirming lessons I had gotten.

I've also learned the teacher praxis was emphasized again. While I often hear this in reference to the GPCR & MLM (including Peru) it seems that Maoism's arena can be more generally described as "civil warfare" & political terror against people's war.

As a white disabled queer muslima feminist, this shit hits hard, especially considering that the 10 generations of enslaved people who were mentioned had muslims when they were kidnapped. Like holy shit this book touched on a mood. I read about half this book on a Friday, but it took nearly 2 weeks to read the first half. I've been busy but still.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

apollos_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

god damn. i have no other words. such a powerful series. and, unfortunately, as relevant as ever.

this book as all the content warnings though. like literally. read with care and caution

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, Stalking, Outing, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

So, I know I’ve said it before and I know I am far from the first person to say it, but Octavia Butler’s knack for seeing where we’re headed based on the events of her time is truly uncanny. 

“I have also read that the Pox was caused by accidentally coinciding climactic, economic, and social crises. It would be more honest to say that the Pox was caused by our own refusal to deal with obvious problems in these areas. We caused the problems: then we sat and watched as they grew into crises.”

Butler’s dystopia feels particularly American. It’s not so much the government seeking more and more power and control that occurs in a lot of dystopian fiction. Rather, Butler’s dystopian America really begins with the people. She explores how inflammatory rhetoric can combine with an increasingly desperate lower class to seed chaos as the downtrodden attempt to eke out a place in a new power structure by any means necessary. 

What feels particularly real about this world she’s created is that these things totally could happen. In fact, they have in the past: slavery, re-education camps, residential schools/forced assimilation, religious persecution, and subjugation of those who don’t conform. This book feels like a novelized version of the Stanford Prison Experiment: an investigation of how even a small amount of power over another person’s autonomy can be incredibly corrupting and lead to extreme abuse. It also explores the cognitive dissonance that allows people to justify their behavior: “People blame you for the things they do to you.”

Word to the wise: this book is BRUTAL. It’s excellent, but it’s so much darker than Parable of the Sower. Content warnings are below, but I may have missed some, so make sure you’re in a healthy place if you pick this one up. 

CW: rape, murder, suicide, physical abuse, kidnapping, slavery, home invasion, child abuse, child sexual abuse, incarceration, homophobia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

jojo_'s review against another edition

dark slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

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

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

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