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Amazon.co.uk Review
Octavia Butler tackles the creation of a new religion, the making of a god, and the ultimate fate of humanity in her Earthseed series, which began with Parable of the Sower, and now continues with Parable of the Talents. The saga began with the near-future dystopian tale of Sower, in which young Lauren Olamina began to realize her destiny as a leader of people dispossessed and destroyed by the crumbling of society. The basic principles of Lauren's faith, Earthseed, were contained in a collection of deceptively simple proverbs that Lauren used to recruit followers. She teaches that "God is change" and that humanity's ultimate destiny is among the stars.
In Parable of the Talents, the seeds of change that Lauren planted begin to bear fruit, but in unpredictable and brutal ways. Her small community is destroyed, her child is kidnapped, and she is imprisoned by sadistic zealots. She must find a way to escape and begin again, without family or friends. Her single-mindedness in teaching Earthseed may be her only chance to survive, but paradoxically, may cause the ultimate estrangement of her beloved daughter. Parable of the Talents is told from both mother's and daughter's perspectives, but it is the narrative of Lauren's grown daughter, who has seen her mother made into a deity of sorts, that is the most compelling. Butler's writing is simple and elegant, and her storytelling skills are superb, as usual. Fans will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment in what promises to be a moving and adventurous saga. --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
It is 2032 and Lauren Olamina's daughter Larkin narrates the story of her mother's life as she spreads the word of her Earthseed philosophy. As Larkin describes how they attain their goal of reaching the stars, she denounces her mother.
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I have read that the period of upheaval that journalists have begun to refer to as "the Apocalypse" or more commonly, more bitterly, "the Pox" lasted from 2015 through 2030-a decade and a half of chaos. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I have read that the period of upheaval that journalists have begun to refer to as "the Apocalypse" or more commonly, more bitterly, "the Pox" lasted from 2015 through 2030-a decade and a half of chaos. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent stuff, not a cop-out in sight!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Parable of the Talents (Paperback)
This sequel to Parable of the Sower is fantastic, but do not expect the going to be easy. Butler again challenges what people think. Leave all your assumptions behind you. Well worth reading, never disappointing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startling, disturbing, enthralling and yet hopeful,
By A Customer
This review is from: Parable of the Talents (Hardcover)
I came to this book after reading the Parable of the Sowers 8 times and being disturbed and shaken. The writing, as in the previous one, is masterful and pacing, - you keep going and going, not like in a thriller where you want see what happens - but because you are drawn into the world. The characters mean so much to you. I could barely read the section on the imprisonment. I had to put it down several times, jump around, come back. It is a disturbing dystrophic world yet the characters are disturbingly real and close. I wish and hope that Olamina got some happiness. As a mother I ached for her child and her problems and was upset by her child's selfishness as well. Less brutal than the Handmaid's tale, it was nonetheless a tale that will stay with me a long time. As with all Butler's tales, I am glad I own it, so I can go back to it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
On the Dregs of Human Behavior,
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This review is from: Parable of the Talents (Earthseed) (Paperback)
Butler, in her afterword to this book, indicates that Parable of the Sower and this book where conceived and partially written as one book. It's therefore somewhat surprising that not only do you not absolutely have to read Parable of the Sower first (though I highly recommend you do so), but that Talents is, perhaps, the `better' half. Butler includes enough background information on the happenings of Sower that the current situation is fully understandable.
And the current situation is the stuff of nightmares. Not only is America wracked by the effects of massive climate change, a badly frazzled economy, and a society turning inward upon itself, but anarchy, slavery, utter lawlessness have become rampant. In this world we have Acorn, the small community established by Olimina, who has a vision, a new religion, Earthseed, based on two items: God is Change, and the Destiny of Man is the stars. The depiction of this community's daily life, its struggles to establish stability and some form of security for its residents, is starkly realistic. Not all of its inhabitants totally buy Olimina's vision; there are doubters, slackers, whiners, those with different visions of how to proceed in the world. But all the plans go by the wayside when the community is not just attacked by members of the `fundamentalist' Christian America group, whose nominal leader has been elected as President of the US, but all its residents are forced into slavery, and their young children taken away for fostering in `Christian' homes. This section of the book is highly depressing as the picture of humanity portrayed here is not only extremely ugly, it is all too believable. Fanatical beliefs in anything always seems to lead to behavior like this - after all, if you know that only your way is right, you can justify and rationalize almost any action against those who don't believe as you do. Butler's descriptions of the degrading conditions, the brutality Acorn's members experience, is horrifying (I just wish she'd had descriptions this powerful in her Kindred, as that was about the only flaw I could find in that excellent book). But this book is not just a screed against fundamentalist `Christianity', but against any belief system that calls for blind acceptance of its dogma. Butler presents not only Olimina's viewpoint, but also that of her husband, brother, and daughter (who was raised not even knowing that Olimina was her mother), and these viewpoints show that even Olimina's own vision, her religion of `Earthseed', is not without flaws of its own, and Olimina's obsession with spreading her word sometimes leads to decisions that are not in the best interests of all involved. Each of these characters comes to life in this book. These are some very different people from one another, and their different viewpoints adds tremendously to the believability in the events portrayed. The poems Butler presents as part of the `Word' of Earthseed are finely crafted and have enough power to make you, the reader, believe in their being a part of a new religion. Their message of strength to manage a world of constant change is, perhaps, the best part of Butler's themes, showing that there is hope for a better future, if only man will actually use all of his abilities to manage both himself and the world around him. A finely crafted work, rife with emotional power, horrifying in its believability, with a message that cannot be ignored. ---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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