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Clay's Ark (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The wind had begun to blow before Blake Maslin left Needles on his way west toward Palos Verdes Enclave and home..." (more)
Key Phrases: Clay's Ark, Stephen Kaneshiro, Tien Shan (more...)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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  Hardcover, May 31, 1984 -- $174.52 $3.83
  Paperback, May 31, 1985 -- $78.76 $1.28
  Mass Market Paperback, November 30, 1996 $14.52 $14.43 $2.98

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so destructive that they exile themselves to the desert to avoid contaminating others, but their compulsion to infect others is overwhelming and, in a desperate plea for help, kidnap a doctor and his two daughters. Reprint. PW.


About the Author

Octavia E. Butler was the first black woman to come to international prominence as a science fiction writer. Incorporating powerful, spare language and rich, well-developed characters, her work tackled race, gender, religion, poverty, power, politics, and science in a way that touched readers of all backgrounds. Butler was a towering figure in life and in her art and the world noticed; highly acclaimed by reviewers, she received numerous awards, including a MacArthur "genius" grant, both the Hugo and Nebula awards, the Langston Hughes Medal, as well as a PEN Lifetime Achievement award.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Aspect (December 1, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0446603708
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446603706
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #480,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #24 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > African American > Butler, Octavia E.
    #24 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Butler, Octavia E.

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Octavia E. Butler
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The wind had begun to blow before Blake Maslin left Needles on his way west toward Palos Verdes Enclave and home. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Clay's Ark, Stephen Kaneshiro, Tien Shan, Gabriel Boyd, Clay Dana, Proxi Two, Thank God
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Clay's Ark
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Clay's Ark 3.8 out of 5 stars (18)
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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Change happens, August 21, 2002
The last novel in her Patternist series to be published, it shares a lot more in common with her Xenogenesis trilogy in tone and subject material. Of the Patternist novels that I have read, that group seems more oriented towards questions of power and dominance--basically, who is stronger, and what are the responsibilities of that role. The series actually begins with Wild Seed, which explains the character of Doro, who then sees a success in his human breeding program in Mind of My Mind. Clay's Ark is next in the timeline, but it only refers obliquely to the existence of a psionic pattern (late in the novel, it explains the macguffin for the faster than light drive used by the spaceship that returns to Earth), but it mainly concerns the alien organism that creates the Clayarks. The next book, Patternmaster, shows these two groups--the Patternists and the Clayarks--millennia later, both almost unrecognizable as human.

It is this evolution away from humanity that becomes the main theme of Xenogenesis, but it is in the forefront of Clay's Ark. The difference, however, is that this evolution is almost entirely negative here, whereas in Xenogenesis there's an ambiguity to it that makes it much more complex than just a good/bad issue. Change happens (to quote Butler's more recent work). Why is it negative here in Clay's Ark? Because of the mindlessness of the extraterrestrial interaction. As humans, thinking and feeling humans, we see ourselves as ratiocentric--that is, we value the power of logic and rational thought and discount the so-called "animal" urges of instinct and biological compulsion. This dichotomy makes up the conflict between the two groups in Patternmaster: the Patternists are pure thought, ruled by the power of the mind, whereas the Clayarks are all biological urges, roaming free, living life in the here and now. The human race has bifurcated, and although a "mute" semblance remains, humans are portrayed as beings where both mind and body are weak and dull. In Xenogenesis, Butler changes this, and the organism that is entirely mutable is portrayed as the strongest.

Because it contains a lot of adventure--there's kidnapping and close escapes and gunfire and more violence than a Fox Saturday night-- Clay's Ark hides a lot of this underlying thought. Only the struggle that Eli continues to endure breaks this action-orientation; the rest of the characters are driven either by the disease or their human nature to respond to the events. While not as hopeful or thoughtful as her later work, I liked this one tremendously.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an exceptional story by an exceptional writer., October 27, 1998
By A Customer
Clay's Ark is a wonderful taut, gripping and suspenseful tale. Butler really forces the reader to analyze his or her perceptions of what it really means to be human by delving deeply in to human behavior and ethical issues. Ethical issues such as: gang violence, racism, suicide, artificial insemination, AIDS, etc. I highly recommend the text. It should be required reading in literature classes for students to discuss and write about "big questions" and problems that affect our world. Further, Ms. Butler's use of metaphor, simile and foreshadowing is outstanding. The images she creates with words are vivid and concise. Any reader can visualize this story.

I wish that whoever wrote the synopsis of the book for the web page knew that Asa Elias Doyle is a male, not a female!

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A missing link revealed, January 31, 1997
By A Customer
If you've read her excellent _Mind of My Mind_ and _Patternmaster_, you might wonder about how the world changed so much between these two novels and what exactly these Clayarks are. Well, this book clarifies much of this. While it's probably a notch below the other two in the series, it's well worth reading and essential if you want a complete understanding of the Patternmaster series
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler
If you have come across this book, it probably means that you are a fan of Octavia Butler's. This book is good and its worth reading. Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. Cunningham

4.0 out of 5 stars a fitting conclusion to the Patternist sequence
Clay's Ark is fittingly the final volume in Octavia Butler's Patternist series. While in the chronological order Clay's Ark would be third, its proper place in the reading order... Read more
Published on July 28, 2007 by Joe Sherry

4.0 out of 5 stars Host to Millions
This might be the most suspenseful of the several novels I've read from Octavia Butler, but it comes up a little short on some of her key strengths. Read more
Published on January 22, 2006 by doomsdayer520

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Butler's Best
I was so enthralled by "Dawn" and the subsequent books in that trilogy that I set out to read everything I could by Butler. Read more
Published on November 18, 2003 by Dr. DR

3.0 out of 5 stars A great book, unless compared with Butler's others
Compared to most other SF novels, Clay's Ark could be considered a great book. However, compared to other books by Butler, it falls short. Not because of craft. Read more
Published on June 6, 2003 by D. Chaponda

5.0 out of 5 stars Clay's Ark: A Very Engrossing Read
This is a real page-turner, and thought-provoking, but after finishing it I don't feel it left me with as much as I have come to expect from Octavia Butler. Read more
Published on May 24, 2002 by watzizname

3.0 out of 5 stars Bleak Doomsday Tale
Having read several of Butler's books, I must say that I found this one far less readable than Dawn or the Patternist novels. Read more
Published on December 28, 2001 by bgreenburg2

3.0 out of 5 stars again, a slow start
Perhaps Butler must establish a concept before she really gets going with it in sequels. It is another mark of the great depth of her imaginative powers, which surpass any scifi... Read more
Published on April 17, 2001 by Robert J. Crawford

4.0 out of 5 stars Can it really happen?
Being the Octavia Butler fan I am, I must say (without bias) that I found this book interesting. When I read any of her books, I don't do so with any preconceived notions or... Read more
Published on March 18, 2001 by R. Anthony Mills

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much pain, not enough gain
I have read everything Octavia Butler has in print. I adore her depth of emotion and insight that goes into every story she writes.

CLAY'S ARK is the exception. Read more

Published on February 10, 2001 by Jeff Harmon

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