Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

75 reviews

bookishkellyn's review against another edition

dark sad

• 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

4.0

This sequel was filled with heartbreak and despair. Previous reviews warned me but I still wasn’t prepared. You have to really be in the right mindset to read this, because it’s so depressing. The ending was bittersweet for such an emotionally exhaustive book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Violence, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Minor: War

barnaclethereal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

3.75

Heavier and more heartbreaking than the previous book. Painfully prophetic. Octavia E. Butler saw our future so clearly. It's a pity we haven't listened to her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, War, and Racism

sweaterdad's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

Such an important and timely book despite the fact it’s 25 years old. I literally cannot believe Butler predicted the campaign slogan used by Trump. That’s just one of many things she predicted, though. Such a genius!

Although I really appreciated it, I often found myself having to put it down—primarily due to the copious mention of sexual abuse, physical and emotional abuse. 

I think the social upheaval, economic disparities, and climate disasters also hit super close to home and would sometimes cause me to panic or feel worried about our current world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, War, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Death, Murder, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Trafficking

This book deserves almost every kind of content warning, so please beware! It’s incredibly brutal, so please make sure to take breaks and check in with someone as needed.

sarahheartsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Slavery

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicide and Child abuse

random19379's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Genocide, Child death, Slavery, Rape, Sexism, War, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

moonlitmeda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Infidelity, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lunaliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: War, Racism, Vomit, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Suicide

atalea's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Parable of the Talents is a strong sequel to a great book. However, the series didn't fully work for me because of Lauren and her Earthseed preachings. Lauren can be a very strong and intelligent character who I admire at one point, but then the story drifts back to focus on her Earthseed mission and I am just not that interested in it. What I really like about this book however, is that a lot of the side characters voice my opinions on Lauren's character and her tunnel vision and she in turn makes valid criticisms of others. The characters therefore felt very real to me. I just didn't feel connected to the main character and her mission unfortunately, which weakened my reading experience.

As an apocalyptic book, it is one of the strongest I have ever read. Events and motivations felt real and possible, which made the book even more scary. The main portion of the book felt like a true apocalyptic survival story á la The Walking Dead and I could totally see this as a movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Rape

Moderate: Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Deportation, Sexism, Death, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Blood, Sexual violence, Murder, Child abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide

bugle's review against another edition

reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Torture, Rape, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: War, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and Suicide

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