Parable of the Talents
Author: Octavia E. Butler
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
American release date: August 20, 2019
Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Dystopian Fiction/448 pages
Overall Personal
Rating: ★★★★
Five years have passed since the
establishment of the Earthseed community known as Acorn. Although off the
beaten path, the residents are still unhappily aware of what is happening in
the rest of the world, including the Dovetree massacre which took place too
close to home for comfort. A disturbing new player on the political scene is
the senator from Texas, Andrew Jarret, who is a throwback to an earlier time
and does not like current times or religious tolerance Olamina knows this man
will be a nightmare if he ever steps into the national political arena.
Despite everything, Acorn is
thriving, and the community is becoming stronger, acquiring new vital
equipment, such as a truck, as well as new members, their numbers swelling.
Olamina’s husband, Bankole, who is 57 to her 18, is a physician, a skill much
in demand. He wants to move to a larger, more established town where they will
be safer, especially once Olamina learns she is with child. But she refuses to
leave Acorn, and he won’t go without her.
Olamina is shocked to learn one of
her brothers is alive and begins to search for him. She is able to find him,
and he is not doing well. She buys him from the slaver who has him and takes
him back to Acorn. Eventually she learns the story of what happened the day
their lives fell apart. But he has changed—he doesn’t care for Earthseed… and
he has his own Destiny.
Things go from bad to worse when
Jarrett is elected President. What was once a bad dream becomes a true
nightmare in every sense of the word. Jarrett’s Crusaders are fanatics who are
determined to stamp out the unholy – aka those who don’t agree with Jarrett’s
vision. Olamina knows of the collars, and how people are controlled through
their use. But she learns firsthand how they work when Acorn is raided by those
who stand for Christian America, and the people of Acorn are sent to a
re-education camp. But it’s really a prison, and they are all cruelly collared,
a distinct form of torture. The children are separated from the adults and sent
to places unknown, including Olamina’s baby Larkin. Some people die. And life
just got incredibly difficult.
Parable of the Talents is the
sequel to Parable of the Sower, in which Olamina’s tale continues. In this
book, for the first time we get to hear other voices, including those of
Larkin, Bankole, and Marcos. It is an eerily timed vision of some of the things
that are happening in America today. I’ll be honest and say I almost gave up
reading halfway through the book. I felt triggered for reasons I won’t go into.
I think it’s safe to say this is not an easy read. And honestly, the more I
read, the more I came to dislike Olamina and Earthseed. There are no heroes
here, I think everyone sucks.
