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brianreadsbooks 's review for:
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
Queen Butler was extremely prescient. Sadly. This is the sequel to Parable of the Sower, and as a set, they paint a dystopian future of what could come of a disastrous cultural, political and ecological shift in America. It's eerily similar to today's reality and the potential outcomes are frightening.
For example, speaking of a populist "Christian" candidate for president, who shouts simplistic solutions on a platform of "cleaning up" America, she writes "Jarret's supporters are more than a little seduced by Jarret's talk of [holy shit] making America great again." and "Jarret insists on being a throwback to some earlier, 'simpler' time...There was never such a time in this country. But these days when more than half the people in the country can't read at all, history is just one more vast unknown to them. Jarret supporters have been known, now and then, to form mobs and burn people at the stake for being witches. Witches! In 2032! A witch, in their view tends to be a Moslem, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist..."
The Parable duo is about a woman defining her world, with layers of examination of community, race, gender family and love. I liked how in this sequel, she introduces a new narrator, the daughter of the protagonist from Parable of the Sower, and plays the two stories back and forth to build to the finale.
There are times when the pace was a little slow, and then the last quarter of the book flies by almost seeming like Butler herself got tired of the pace and wanted to wrap the story quickly. There were also new characters introduced partway through that served little purpose and never got fully developed. Still, this continuation of the Parable story compelling and worth reading.
For example, speaking of a populist "Christian" candidate for president, who shouts simplistic solutions on a platform of "cleaning up" America, she writes "Jarret's supporters are more than a little seduced by Jarret's talk of [holy shit] making America great again." and "Jarret insists on being a throwback to some earlier, 'simpler' time...There was never such a time in this country. But these days when more than half the people in the country can't read at all, history is just one more vast unknown to them. Jarret supporters have been known, now and then, to form mobs and burn people at the stake for being witches. Witches! In 2032! A witch, in their view tends to be a Moslem, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist..."
The Parable duo is about a woman defining her world, with layers of examination of community, race, gender family and love. I liked how in this sequel, she introduces a new narrator, the daughter of the protagonist from Parable of the Sower, and plays the two stories back and forth to build to the finale.
There are times when the pace was a little slow, and then the last quarter of the book flies by almost seeming like Butler herself got tired of the pace and wanted to wrap the story quickly. There were also new characters introduced partway through that served little purpose and never got fully developed. Still, this continuation of the Parable story compelling and worth reading.