Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

30 reviews

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Sexism, and Slavery

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Police brutality, Self harm, War, and Kidnapping

erikwmj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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 death, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Racism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Addiction and Blood

Minor: War, Drug abuse, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

katrinarose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

This book was absolutely traumatizing but incredible at the same time. I couldn’t put it down. The character of Lauren continued to fascinate me and despite the bare writing style of the author (and the somewhat-detached voice of Lauren’s journal writing) I felt connected with Lauren and the people in this book. Some people complain that the Earthseed religious parts are annoying or repetitive but I disagree. As an agnostic, I thought the ideas were logical and compelling, especially in the world they found themselves in. I even think there’s value in some of the teachings in our world. The only negative thing I can think of to say is that there’s a section of the book that is extremely difficult to read due to the violence (of all kinds), and even though there’s a year of journal missing for that time, that much felt overwhelming. However, the book overall was so good and I finished it feeling hopeful. I’d recommend this to any adult who feels like they could stomach a difficult read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexism, Confinement, Death of parent, Rape, Slavery, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: War and Alcohol

samdalefox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

Just as exceptional as the first book.

Although the series works as a duology, I was surprised Butler didn't write more so I looked it up. Apparently she envisioned a seven part series! That's how long Earthseed was imagined to fully resolve. Source: https://electricliterature.com/now-more-than-ever-we-wish-we-had-these-lost-octavia-butler-novels/ I feel sad we will never get to hear the rest of the Earthseed story, but I'm also glad to have the existing series to the highest standard.

The Parable of the Talents reads just as well as the first one and predominently focuses on the difficulty of maintaining their community and advancing Earthseed. There are very clear historical references to the injustices suffered by Black and Indigenous people, which should also set alarm bells ringing in contemporary readers as we start to see the same signs of Christo-facism in the West now. Without ruining the plot, I appreciated the 'positive' ending as it felt realistic. It was at once hopeful, aspirational, yet also sombre. Butler hinted at the sacrifices and consequences of attaining such the achievement.

I enjoyed gaining the perspective of Lauren's daughter, I think that was a clever move and showed how others' perceived Lauren besides those that directly support or oppose her theology. I do understand the symbolism of the Christian 'parable of the talents' (The Bible, Matthew 25:14–30) but I was surprised that the book ended with that verse, mirroring the choice to end with the respective verse in Parable of the Sower. To me, it felt like it was saying the ultimate motivation behind Lauren was still her Christian beliefs, not Earthseed at all, which felt wrong to me. Perhaps this choice would have evolved as the series did, we will never know. In summary, I loved it, definitely read it.

I will add all my favourite quotes from the book here at a later date (there are so many of them!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Torture, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Grief, Medical trauma, Sexism, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Confinement, Murder, and Religious bigotry

corriejn's review against another edition

dark sad

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

Enjoyed this one a bit less than the first book (Parable of the Sower).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Medical content and Pregnancy

Minor: War

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

risaleel's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, 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

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Child death, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment