Welcome to Litsy!

I really got into book 1, so I wanted to continue with what a thought was a trilogy but apparently is a duology. I enjoyed this one, though liked book 1 a bit more. I really got invested in these characters. Butler really understands the risks of the far right and shows it here in a frightening way. I‘m glad I read these two books.

Book #7 of 2024: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

This review deserves more energy than I‘ve got right now, but it‘s a really good book. It was emotionally harder to read than the first, though that could just be me. The ending was bittersweet and captured the price of the sacrifices Olamina made.

A very good, eerily prophetic duology.

A new classic post apocalyptic sci-fi, that is shocking in its similarities to issues today. This continues the story of one woman‘s journey to create a better world. I wish the story could have continued, but this does end in a satisfying say. I do recommend reading Parable of the Sower first. Also, though not graphic, there are difficult moments of violence and SA in this book. I still highly recommend. 5⭐️ #roll100 done #bookspinbingo bingo!

The pacing of both Sower & Talents is strange, Sower is almost a prequel & then whole parts of Talents seems fast forwarded through. I enjoyed this one more, the multiple perspectives & time jumps were well handled in the audio version. This also got more into the why & how of hyperempathy, the politics, etc that were only touched on previously.
#PopupWeekend #spookoween #31by31 #Scarathlon2023 #BlackCatCrew #OutstandingOctober

I am liking this duology much more than I enjoyed the Patternmaster series. Butler's writing is impeccable, the landscape is harsh, the story is dark and I still don't feel like there is enough hope - also less rape/violence on the page, there is still some. I liked the community aspect, even though it is surrounding a cult our main character is trying to create. Her determination, & belief in her religion is an interesting journey to follow.

Struggling to sleep so may as well get some reading done!

4.5/5⭐ Terrifyingly prescient, from the popularization of MAGA 18 years before Trump to a president who basically is Trump, including the weaponization of Christian extremists and a government that either condones or turns a blind eye to massive injustice, and the privatization of basically everything utterly destroying social structures, safety, the environment, etc. Lauren and these two books will stay with me forever, they're that unique.

Beware:
At war
Or at peace,
More people die
Of unenlightened self-interest
Than of any other disease.

To shape God
With wisdom and forethought,
To benefit your world,
Your people,
Your life,
Consider consequences,
Minimize harm
Ask questions,
Seek answers,
Learn,
Teach.

Fabulous story!!!

Parable of the Talents takes what Butler began with Sower and, I dare say, improves upon it. Talents is bleaker, the conflict is more frightening and the end had me tear up a bit. The final act felt a bit rushed, but I think that‘s because I was so invested in Lauren‘s journey that I wanted more. Really, though, Butler made the right choice; more would‘ve made it repetitive. I highly recommend both Sower and Talents. Really fantastic works.

Madame Butler once said that all she did for her books was take then-present-day problems and imagine how they'd look when left to fester for at least a few decades.
In another eerie prediction in this duology: an election between a radical wanting to "Make America Great Again" who's inspired disturbing violence, vs an older politician who DOESN'T want the radical to have his way.
Guess who won in the book? ?

Took a few days off from reading to focus on my own writing, but I‘m jumping back in it today by following up with the second Earthseed book, Parable of the Talents.

I thought it was interesting that this book was told from multiple perspectives, which gives the reader a chance to see Lauren as a complicated human being instead of some sort of all-knowing prophet.

This second book was more riveting than the first as the action REALLY ratcheted up, in my opinion. The book is set in a future where the world has been taken over by religious zealots (a la The Handmaid‘s Tale) who are actively trying to control the citizens through brute force. I did enjoy the plot lines and action, but never really bought into the motivation espoused by the character Lauren.

This sat on my in-progress shelf far too long. Thanks to the #bookspin kick in the pants, I finally finished it. Not sure if this book or the first one was more harrowing!

I enjoyed this more than the first book (which I still found compelling). Hearing the remainder of Lauren and the Acorn community story was still pretty dark but adding an extra narrator‘s voice was a positive and gave a better picture of Lauren who was a tough main character to really know on the first book.

Five years after the events of the previous novel Parable of the Sower, Lauren has founded a new community called Acorn centered around her religion, Earthseed, which is predicated around the belief that humanity's destiny is to travel beyond Earth and live on other planets in order for humanity to reach adulthood.

The concept of “Earthseed” intrigues me but I found this second book to move slowly and, maybe, be a little wordy.

Amazing follow up to Parable of the Sower. Butler predicted MAGA! The story of Lauren and Earthseed continues. Violence and upheaval almost destroy the community. Told by Lauren, her daughter and the views of a couple of other characters. https://cannonballread.com/2021/09/parable-of-the-talents-elcicco/

After finishing The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, I really want to start this one. But, I have to work tomorrow, SIGH.

Not my favorite read but felt like I needed to read it after reading the first one.

I really enjoyed this. The structure of the novel was interesting, with the main character's daughter's narration combined with diary entries from Lauren's journal. For some reason I had it in my head that this was a trilogy, so I was a bit disappointed to learn there's not a third book.

This sequel was interesting (especially the parallels between Jarret and Trump) and wonderfully written. The book follows the Earthseed community as they encounter a world overflowing with religious extremists, and the effects on Lauren and her daughter. It explores difficult topics including rape, murder, and trafficking. Overall, this book was less compelling than Sower and had too many religious undertones for me, yet still a recommended read.

I think one of Butler's many Talents was predicting the future. It was impossible not to think of Donald Trump when she was writing about demagogue and fascist President Jarrett. With that said, I found this less compelling than Sower, and at times a bit repetitive with not much happening. There is no doubt Butler was an extremely talented writer, and I did enjoy the story, just not as much as I was hoping.

I‘m pretty sure I said this about Parable of the Sower and didn‘t learn my lesson.... I don‘t know what took me so long to read this book. But holy cow this book was wonderful! It is so relevant and a quick, heartbreaking, read.

Great duology, Butler‘s prose is beautiful. But this book was more emotionally difficult to get through than Sower. I kept thinking how close we came to going down the path in this book. It felt like Trump read this book, especially since he had the same exact slogan as the ultra-right fictitious president, “make America great again”. So many times I had to take a break because it felt so close to home.

“(President)Jarret condemns the burnings, but does so in such mild language that his people are free to hear what they want to hear. As for the beatings, the tarring and feathering...he has a simple answer: “Join us! Our doors are open to every nationality, every race! Leave your sinful past behind, and become one of us. Help us to make America great again.”

Butler wrote this in 2001 about events in 2032, but apparently predicted Trump in 2021.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, and eerily prescient. What an incredible storyteller Butler was. I loved Parable of the Sower and this was a captivating and worthy sequel.

#Booked2021 #SFWrittenByAWoman #SciFi

This is the 2nd book in the series. It was good but I liked the first one better. The religious undertones became a bit much for my tastes. I did like how the author explored the idea that religion can be both good and bad depending on its use. Caution it does contain a lot of difficult topics, i.e. human trafficking, rape, murder, etc. Also the prose was outstanding. Butler is an awesome writer. 4⭐

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"They'll make a God of her."

1. I‘ve been struggling my way through the tagged book for...a while. I‘m determined to finish, even if it means that I‘ll have to wait on hold again after the current Libby loan expires. The writing is sooo good, but the story is sooo 😳😱
2. Regrets? I‘ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention. 🎶

#two4tuesday

I've posted this quote before, but it seemed particularly fitting today. I've already cast my vote for Biden/Harris, now all I can do is wait and hope 🤞🏼

The best kind of breakfast.

My current active reading pile 👌👌👌

Wow. I did not expect this to be so grim. What an amazing series, though. And what a terrifying peek at an almost believable future - the widespread terrible poverty and horrifying religious extremism - but never hopeless.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I've said it before, but Octavia Butler is one of the greatest authors I've ever read. She was a woman ahead of her time who was not afraid of writing about difficult subjects that would leave your mind spinning and your heart aching.

This was an emotional conclusion to the Earthseed story. It continues with the themes of religion from the first, but we see the story from a bit of a different point of view.

Even better than its predecessor, which I also gave 5 stars. A fascinating and heartbreaking dystopia about the ambitious (Black woman) leader of a new religion and her biological and found family. A terrifying science fiction imagining of what happens when a fundamentalist tyrant comes to take advantage of an apocalypse and his followers indulge in the worst abuses of power imaginable. A tough read (slavery, rape, poverty) but also hopeful.

Happy weekend! Peach beer not pictured as I couldn't hold it plus the book and my dog Whitey. Yesterday was her 17th (!!) birthday! #DogsOfLitsy

"Presidential candidate Texas Senator Andrew Steele Jarret ... : 'Help us to make America great again.' "

If this dystopian sci fi hadn't been published in 1998, I'd say this was a too obvious allusion to Trump. ?

https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/08/23/octavia-butler-parable-leaders/?utm_sou...

While most works of dystopia bear resemblance to the world today, the 2020s in Octavia Butler‘s Parables look uncannily similar to today. The books are written in the form of journal entries by Lauren Olamina (and later her daughter). In this duology, Butler creates a scary fictional world rooted in reality and explores many themes, including race, religion, ambition, familial tensions, class differences, violence, education and space travel.

Octavia Butler is some kind of a prophet. This book hit close to home in a number of ways. It‘s amazing that she wrote this book (the last of the Earthseed duology) in 1998. I loved it.
It‘s bittersweet, however, since I think that I‘ve now read all of her books 😢

Intense second book, with a fulfilling (if heartbreaking) ending. I had thought it meant to be a trilogy, but the two books were complete. Such an incredible story, if you can stomach some serious trauma.

Has anyone else read this? It's not what I normally read and is challenging and thought provoking.

Everything you‘ve heard about this book‘s uncanny resemblance to today is LEGIT. If The Handmaid‘s Tale showed us what a totalitarian Christian takeover of America would look like, The Parable of the Talents shows us what a populist one would look like. Brilliant, unnerving, and intense.

Since 2016, I‘ve heard people say Parable of the Talents, published in 1998, is eerily relevant to the America we live in today, and the resemblance is definitely more than the motto of the insidious President Jarret: “Make America Great Again.” This page contemplating why different groups of Americans, like evangelicals and poor whites, revere and support “Jarret” really puts that uncanny resemblance to our time on full display.

This book makes me want to weep.

Move over, Nostradamus. Ms.Butler foretold things the most accurately