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Parable of the Talents Paperback – January 1, 2000
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Lauren Olamina's love is divided among her young daughter, her community, and the revelation that led Lauren to found a new faith that teaches "God Is Change". But in the wake of environmental and economic chaos, the U.S. government turns a blind eye to violent bigots who consider the mere existence of a black female leader a threat. And soon Lauren must either sacrifice her child and her followers -- or forsake the religion that can transform human destiny.
- Print length424 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGrand Central Publishing
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2000
- Dimensions4.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100446675784
- ISBN-13978-0446675789
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- Publisher : Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (January 1, 2000)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 424 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0446675784
- ISBN-13 : 978-0446675789
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #181 in Black & African American Science Fiction (Books)
- #6,305 in Dystopian Fiction (Books)
- #47,392 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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About the author

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER (1947–2006) was the renowned author of numerous ground-breaking novels, including Kindred, Wild Seed, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of the Locus, Hugo and Nebula awards, and a PEN Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work, in 1995 she became the first science- fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship ‘Genius Grant’. A pioneer of her genre, Octavia’s dystopian novels explore myriad themes of Black injustice, women’s rights, global warming and political disparity, and her work is taught in over two hundred colleges and universities nationwide.
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"Earthseed" is a powerful story of a young woman coming into adulthood, with themes of religion, philosphy, race and womanhood. Olamina is of "mixed" parentage, with a black father and white mother. Her companions on the road are various shades of black, brown and white skin. They speak mostly English, but some also speak Spanish and other languages. In short, they are typical Americans.
The first novel follows the well-trodden path of the post-apocalyptic journey, with one important difference - the apocalypse is happening all around Olamina as she travels north. The further she gets from LA, the worse the disintegration of society. There is hope that a new President will help set things right, but the one who is elected is a hard right-wing Christian who promises to "Make America Great Again." (This novel was written in 1990's, long before Trump became President.) "The Parable of the Sower" ends with Olamina marrying a much older man and starting a community in the woods, far from any large cities or towns. There is a sense of sweetness and hope. It looks like Earthseed will flourish and grow in the Northern forest.
"Parable of the Talents" picks up where "Sower" left off, but the story is told partly from the point of view of Olamina's grown daughter, who sees her mother in a critical light. Olamina's community is invaded (again) by fanatic white Christians, who enslave the village, rape the women systematically and viciously beat and torture anyone who tries to fight back. The slaves are fitted with collars that can be used to deliver painful shocks, and which will kill the slaves if they try to escape. The villagers are forced to attend church services and memorize Bible passages. Some of the villagers eventually turn against the others. Olamina tries desperately to keep her community together, and with the help of the other women, plans their escape.
"Talents" is a much deeper and thougtful novel. Butler gives Olamina and her family a complex story and vibrant human characters. Although Olamina is seen by her followers as a kind of saint, to her daughter she is a selfish, deluded idealist who abandoned her daughter in search of fame. Olamina's brother, a former slave prostitute, grows into a conservative Christian patriot, who joins the church that destroyed the first Earthseed village and so terribly abused its people. Even when shown clear evidence of the evil done in the name of his religion, he refuses to give up the Church. He tracks down Olamina's daughter, who was stolen by the Church, and raises her to adulthood, keeping the girl apart from her mother, and lying to them both.
Both of these novels are terrific, and together they form one of the best science fiction stories I have ever read.
Parable of the Talents is a real page-turner, but excessive in its violence and oppression. It's also a lesson in the importance of perseverance.
And the current situation is the stuff of nightmares. Not only is America wracked by the effects of massive climate change, a badly frazzled economy, and a society turning inward upon itself, but anarchy, slavery, utter lawlessness have become rampant. In this world we have Acorn, the small community established by Olimina, who has a vision, a new religion, Earthseed, based on two items: God is Change, and the Destiny of Man is the stars. The depiction of this community's daily life, its struggles to establish stability and some form of security for its residents, is starkly realistic. Not all of its inhabitants totally buy Olimina's vision; there are doubters, slackers, whiners, those with different visions of how to proceed in the world. But all the plans go by the wayside when the community is not just attacked by members of the `fundamentalist' Christian America group, whose nominal leader has been elected as President of the US, but all its residents are forced into slavery, and their young children taken away for fostering in `Christian' homes.
This section of the book is highly depressing as the picture of humanity portrayed here is not only extremely ugly, it is all too believable. Fanatical beliefs in anything always seems to lead to behavior like this - after all, if you know that only your way is right, you can justify and rationalize almost any action against those who don't believe as you do. Butler's descriptions of the degrading conditions, the brutality Acorn's members experience, is horrifying (I just wish she'd had descriptions this powerful in her Kindred, as that was about the only flaw I could find in that excellent book). But this book is not just a screed against fundamentalist `Christianity', but against any belief system that calls for blind acceptance of its dogma. Butler presents not only Olimina's viewpoint, but also that of her husband, brother, and daughter (who was raised not even knowing that Olimina was her mother), and these viewpoints show that even Olimina's own vision, her religion of `Earthseed', is not without flaws of its own, and Olimina's obsession with spreading her word sometimes leads to decisions that are not in the best interests of all involved.
Each of these characters comes to life in this book. These are some very different people from one another, and their different viewpoints adds tremendously to the believability in the events portrayed.
The poems Butler presents as part of the `Word' of Earthseed are finely crafted and have enough power to make you, the reader, believe in their being a part of a new religion. Their message of strength to manage a world of constant change is, perhaps, the best part of Butler's themes, showing that there is hope for a better future, if only man will actually use all of his abilities to manage both himself and the world around him.
A finely crafted work, rife with emotional power, horrifying in its believability, with a message that cannot be ignored.
---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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Es ist die Geschichte von zwei Überlebenden einer Familie, die ihren neuen Platz in einer Welt suchen, die von religiösen Fanatikern voll ist. Ich will hier auch nicht zu viel verraten, aber es ist mehr als nur Unterhaltung.
Die Hauptperson, die man aus dem ersten Teil kennt, gründet endlich ihre erste Erdensaat-Gemeinschaft, eine Religion, die sei selbst erfunden hat, um zu überleben, sie findet einen Mann und bekommt ein Kind. Sie findet auch ihren tot geglaubten Bruder wieder. Doch der hält es dort nicht aus. Dann wird die Gemeinschaft überfallen, was häufiger vorkommt. Nur diesmal ist es schlimmer. Wird sie auch diesmal überleben?










