Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

50 reviews

bass_clarinet's review

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-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

Beautiful and spiritual. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Genocide, Kidnapping, Death, Police brutality, Violence, Torture, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Misogyny, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Gun violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Cursing, War, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Classism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Confinement, Pregnancy, Death, and Sexual violence

saintswitchblade's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Classism, Religious bigotry, War, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Child abuse, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Slavery

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

shancakess's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape

courtsport's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Chilling, evocative, thrilling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, and Torture

bootrat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

A reasonable sequel, but didn't quite live up to my expectations after the original. Plus having the added perspective of Olamina's daughter made me dislike her a lot more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Rape, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Murder

Minor: War

troyb3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

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

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

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