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jeaniegreenie 's review for:
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
I think I felt similarly to this one as I did the first one, where I enjoyed it at the level of 2ish stars but objectively find it to be 4 stars for the depth and topics it covers and demands its readers to think about, making it very important literature.
I read this quickly as I had a busy week of work that I could pop on an audiobook for. I'm glad I did. The trauma and triggers and intensity of this book was even heavier and harder to get through than the first one and I feel like I would have come to dread it if it had been dragged out too much. So please be wary of content and trigger warnings. If you struggled a lot with the first book, this one may be too much and I found it to be too much myself a lot... I ended up playing Stardew Valley while listening to this to try to balance out how heavy it made me feel. 🫣
Things I docked points off my rating: I yet again did not feel I related to heavily to the characters, but definitely got sad when some died, so there is some variation in that. Things wrapped up way to quickly in the end. There were some parts I was really confused about and things felt rushed in other parts. Also the way in which some characters kept thinking about how hot their family member was constantly really gave me the ick. I don't know why there was such a focus on that, especially with such a traumatized and abused character. 🥴
Butler has some scary accuracy for her predictions in this dystopian war. Some of her predictions have come true, some are well on their way. If you read to take a break from the realities of our crumbling world, this is likely not the book for you... but it is a great teacher of where things go wrong and things to come and ways to survive! They are amazing books, it teaches quite a bit, and I think everyone should read them if they have the stomach for them. They'll likely be a one and done read for me, because they are so hard for some of my particular triggers, but I'm glad I got through them and I can't wait to read more Butler in the future.... but I need a bit of a break first 😉
I read this quickly as I had a busy week of work that I could pop on an audiobook for. I'm glad I did. The trauma and triggers and intensity of this book was even heavier and harder to get through than the first one and I feel like I would have come to dread it if it had been dragged out too much. So please be wary of content and trigger warnings. If you struggled a lot with the first book, this one may be too much and I found it to be too much myself a lot... I ended up playing Stardew Valley while listening to this to try to balance out how heavy it made me feel. 🫣
Things I docked points off my rating: I yet again did not feel I related to heavily to the characters, but definitely got sad when some died, so there is some variation in that. Things wrapped up way to quickly in the end. There were some parts I was really confused about and things felt rushed in other parts. Also the way in which some characters kept thinking about how hot their family member was constantly really gave me the ick. I don't know why there was such a focus on that, especially with such a traumatized and abused character. 🥴
Butler has some scary accuracy for her predictions in this dystopian war. Some of her predictions have come true, some are well on their way. If you read to take a break from the realities of our crumbling world, this is likely not the book for you... but it is a great teacher of where things go wrong and things to come and ways to survive! They are amazing books, it teaches quite a bit, and I think everyone should read them if they have the stomach for them. They'll likely be a one and done read for me, because they are so hard for some of my particular triggers, but I'm glad I got through them and I can't wait to read more Butler in the future.... but I need a bit of a break first 😉