Parable of the Talents
In Parable of the Talents, the sequel to Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler continues her dystopian society, managing to make it both more horrifying and more optimistic than in the first book.
The key to this optimism is the idea that God is Change. So long as people continuously work towards a better world, and setbacks can only be temporary. The collective goal of a more communal world, one that values education and kindness, brings out the best in the people Olamina recruits to her cause.
Of course, her intensity and single-mindenedness also alienates some, most notably her own daughter and brother. The contradictory viewpoints are the main reason I enjoyed this book so much more than the first one. It's still largely a collection of Olamin'as journal entries, but this time it's been collected by her daughter, who provides her own commentary and also includes journals from Olamina's brother, Marc, and husband, Bankole.
Olamina's words of unity and hope are contradicted by her more cynical daughter and mainstream brother. Its hard to choose a side in the lifelong war, which makes it all the more interesting. Olamina provides hope and a sense of purpose, but the beliefs she advocates are hard for a lot of people to accept. I'm not sure I'd be on board with her, and when you get out of her head it's easy to view her as the fringe cult leader that other people in the book see her as.
The hope that she represents is very seductive, though. Especially since the dystopia that Butler paints isn't too far off from our own current reality. The main politician in the book resembles Donald Trump so closely, and his followers aren't too far off from some of Trump's more vocal adherents, that I kep thaving to double-check when the book was written. Things get very bad in the book, but it's ultimately presented as temporary, something society can recover from. As bleak as the book gets, it was ultimately heartening. Which is something I needed, looking at the current political landscape.
The key to this optimism is the idea that God is Change. So long as people continuously work towards a better world, and setbacks can only be temporary. The collective goal of a more communal world, one that values education and kindness, brings out the best in the people Olamina recruits to her cause.
Of course, her intensity and single-mindenedness also alienates some, most notably her own daughter and brother. The contradictory viewpoints are the main reason I enjoyed this book so much more than the first one. It's still largely a collection of Olamin'as journal entries, but this time it's been collected by her daughter, who provides her own commentary and also includes journals from Olamina's brother, Marc, and husband, Bankole.
Olamina's words of unity and hope are contradicted by her more cynical daughter and mainstream brother. Its hard to choose a side in the lifelong war, which makes it all the more interesting. Olamina provides hope and a sense of purpose, but the beliefs she advocates are hard for a lot of people to accept. I'm not sure I'd be on board with her, and when you get out of her head it's easy to view her as the fringe cult leader that other people in the book see her as.
The hope that she represents is very seductive, though. Especially since the dystopia that Butler paints isn't too far off from our own current reality. The main politician in the book resembles Donald Trump so closely, and his followers aren't too far off from some of Trump's more vocal adherents, that I kep thaving to double-check when the book was written. Things get very bad in the book, but it's ultimately presented as temporary, something society can recover from. As bleak as the book gets, it was ultimately heartening. Which is something I needed, looking at the current political landscape.
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