Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

15 reviews

badbadwolf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Slavery, Abandonment, Classism, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Confinement, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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

5.0

Oooooooh I liked this one even more than Parable of the Sower. I loved the non-linear narrative and the multiple contrasting points of view. I loved how Lauren Olamina's daughter's experiences and viewpoints complicated the narrative from Olamina's journals. 

This book is just as dark as the first one. Many horrifying things happen. It is a true dystopian exploration of a possible future from an author who keenly understood the many horrors at play in the United States. Some of it is so on the nose that it was hard to read. Some, especially the technology stuff, felt unlikely at times, but much more grounded than in almost any other near-future dystopian or sci-fi books I've read. Octavia E. Butler was just that good.

Also, this book has multiple central queer characters, which I never see mentioned when people are discussing it. Don't expect happy queer stories--Butler is as realistic about violent homophobia as she is about all other aspects of this world--but it is very present in ways that felt good and right as well as being harrowing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Suicide, War, Blood, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Torture, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Racism, Death of parent, Gore, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Vomit, Medical content, and Drug abuse

Minor: Incest

mamaquiereleer's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Suicide

chubble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexual violence

Minor: War, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

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

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Abandonment, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Vomit, War, Deadnaming, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

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

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

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

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

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

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

alomie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

I enjoyed this book overall as part of a duology, an almost apocalyptic world bought on by climate change, flowing into a world that is recovering and building on the first book, but this book was a major change in pace, and a change to multiple POV's. 

I found the start of the book slow, and the middle glacial and uncomfortable the end was good, this is where it really picked up for me but I think this was only because at least something vaguely positive was happening. 

It was bleak, and it was slow, and for me it was quite hard to wade through the book. It was pretty harsh to read and I was finding it hard to pick up. 

I am glad the characters got a happier ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death, Classism, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Murder, Death of parent, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexism

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