Parable of the Talents

, #2

by

Paperback, 464 pages

English language

Published Jan. 26, 2000 by Grand Central Publishing.

ISBN:
978-0-446-67578-9
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
42310018

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(1 review)

In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again." In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren's subversive colony–a minority religious faction led by a young black woman–becomes a target for President Jarret's reign of terror and oppression.

Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.

16 editions

reviewed Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #2)

Sometimes you have to bury your gifts to ensure survival

This book definitely felt like a bridge to what could have been the next in a whole series. In fact I wonder if what was put in the epilogue traces the overarching plot of what could have been. I really would have liked to see a conversation between Olamina's space colonization desires with her daughter's view of "let's make sure we've figured out how to live on Earth in peace before we head to the stars."

This book does seem to put a cap on the 'Pox that treats it as just a stumbling block in the world's progress, but I would like to have heard Butler's answer to the question of "now that we've overcome our greatest trials, how do we move forward?" I guess what I'm asking for is more spiritual and philosophical introspection, but the narrative stays pretty focused on events.

Subjects

  • Young women -- Fiction
  • Twenty-first century -- Fiction