C
I understand what Parable of the Talents is doing. I think it offers good criticism of American (more specifically, white Christian American) culture, politics, and religion. I also despise this book.
Octavia Butler’s follow up to Parable of the Sower is pretty much exactly what I expected, and feared it would be: more Parable of the Sower. It’s more unnervingly accurate predictions about modern USA, more abhorrent violence (particularly against women), more side characters that have zero personality to them, and more pseudo-intellectual drivel that is supposed to be taken as some newfound enlightenment. But by far my biggest gripe is how repetitive it all is. The edition that I read had an interview with Octavia Butler at the end, in which she said she had rewritten the first 150 pages of this book multiple times because she struggled to figure out where the story needed to go. Boy it sure as hell shows. It is abysmally slow, and retreads plot points over and over again. There had to be five or six conversations between Lauren and Bankole about leaving their settlement for a safer community to raise their unborn child in, and each time it ended with the same conclusion that they will stay. It got to a point where I just started skipping paragraphs and eventually entire pages until I found something new or interesting to read. To make matters worse, this is an overly verbose novel that is structured like a diary. Almost every entry starts by telling what major story event is to happen, and then prattles on for pages with setup for the event that we already know is going to happen. If I were to reduce this book to the sentences that actually move the plot forward or provide the thematic material to ponder, I could probably get this book down to about 50% of its length or less.
I’m no stranger to brutal depictions of violence and hatred in my books, but this book crossed my line. It’s not so much the descriptions themselves about the rape, murder, and torture that happens to everyone in this book, it’s the sheer prevalence of it all. Before the big invasion of Acorn and creation of the concentration camp, I was already numb to overexposure of all of it and stopped caring to read about how so-and-so was raped by a group of bandits and their children were sold into sex slavery like the last three characters that were introduced.
Talents’ most prominent critique is the one on the nature of religion, and how it is used by the people in power to justify the worst, most inhuman acts imaginable. This is primarily done through the lens of Christianity. But I don’t see why Lauren’s new religion of Earthseed wouldn’t be susceptible to the same forces when it becomes such a popular movement by the end of this book. I also don’t think it’s remotely profound to catch on so quickly via the internet to the point where universities and politicians are supporting and following it. This shit sounds like what an 18 year old would find deep, because it was written by one in-universe.
I genuinely did not want to continue this book past the first 70 pages, and I don’t feel like my efforts to finish were worth it. Every single one of the characters suck. Lauren is an insufferable know-it-all, her brother Marc is a manipulative coward who is willingly blind to the atrocities his church committed, her daughter Larkin is an unfortunate product of her upbringing, but is still kind of a moron well into adulthood, and everyone else is nothing more than fodder for the story to happen. This is a thoroughly unenjoyable book to the point that I don’t care about its broader meaning.
I understand what Parable of the Talents is doing. I think it offers good criticism of American (more specifically, white Christian American) culture, politics, and religion. I also despise this book.
Octavia Butler’s follow up to Parable of the Sower is pretty much exactly what I expected, and feared it would be: more Parable of the Sower. It’s more unnervingly accurate predictions about modern USA, more abhorrent violence (particularly against women), more side characters that have zero personality to them, and more pseudo-intellectual drivel that is supposed to be taken as some newfound enlightenment. But by far my biggest gripe is how repetitive it all is. The edition that I read had an interview with Octavia Butler at the end, in which she said she had rewritten the first 150 pages of this book multiple times because she struggled to figure out where the story needed to go. Boy it sure as hell shows. It is abysmally slow, and retreads plot points over and over again. There had to be five or six conversations between Lauren and Bankole about leaving their settlement for a safer community to raise their unborn child in, and each time it ended with the same conclusion that they will stay. It got to a point where I just started skipping paragraphs and eventually entire pages until I found something new or interesting to read. To make matters worse, this is an overly verbose novel that is structured like a diary. Almost every entry starts by telling what major story event is to happen, and then prattles on for pages with setup for the event that we already know is going to happen. If I were to reduce this book to the sentences that actually move the plot forward or provide the thematic material to ponder, I could probably get this book down to about 50% of its length or less.
I’m no stranger to brutal depictions of violence and hatred in my books, but this book crossed my line. It’s not so much the descriptions themselves about the rape, murder, and torture that happens to everyone in this book, it’s the sheer prevalence of it all. Before the big invasion of Acorn and creation of the concentration camp, I was already numb to overexposure of all of it and stopped caring to read about how so-and-so was raped by a group of bandits and their children were sold into sex slavery like the last three characters that were introduced.
Talents’ most prominent critique is the one on the nature of religion, and how it is used by the people in power to justify the worst, most inhuman acts imaginable. This is primarily done through the lens of Christianity. But I don’t see why Lauren’s new religion of Earthseed wouldn’t be susceptible to the same forces when it becomes such a popular movement by the end of this book. I also don’t think it’s remotely profound to catch on so quickly via the internet to the point where universities and politicians are supporting and following it. This shit sounds like what an 18 year old would find deep, because it was written by one in-universe.
I genuinely did not want to continue this book past the first 70 pages, and I don’t feel like my efforts to finish were worth it. Every single one of the characters suck. Lauren is an insufferable know-it-all, her brother Marc is a manipulative coward who is willingly blind to the atrocities his church committed, her daughter Larkin is an unfortunate product of her upbringing, but is still kind of a moron well into adulthood, and everyone else is nothing more than fodder for the story to happen. This is a thoroughly unenjoyable book to the point that I don’t care about its broader meaning.