Parable of the Talents

Back during the election, I think I remember Octavia Butler and this book specifically being referenced as eerily prescient. I don't think I clued in to how specifically prescient it was in that the nation would elect a reactionary demagogue working from a elitist form of Christian values who literally uses “make America great again” as his tag line. Guys, we weren't even recovering from an Apocalypse when it happened...

But unsettlingly accurate future visions aside, this is an unsurprisingly amazing book. It is vast, encompassing both Olamina's story after founding Acorn and her daughter's story and opinions as a frame. It speaks a lot towards the imperfections that come with being human, the betrayals which can so quickly escalate to horrific, as the traitors and bystanders repeatedly justify their actions and move along. It forces us to look at even what the protagonist justifies, and then what excuses we ourselves make, what moral compromises would we rather just not think about.

Butler pulls no punches, and I often struggled to get through because I couldn't handle that much vicarious suffering. Her prose makes Sharers of us all. She was a master, fully deserving of her acclaim and reputation, and this duology in particular are necessary reading in America's current climate.

Talents is a direct continuation of Sower, so much so I almost wish they were published together as one book. Some of the problems I had with Sower are answered here along with further, overall improvements. Gone are the paragraph long monologues of Lauren preaching. An inclusion of additional pov's serves to provide a different, more critical lens of her character. This was necessary as Lauren strayed a little to much into a masonic savior at times. She's a remarkable person no doubt, mighty goals and the remarkable force of will to make them manifest. To the point of zealotry. Butler has managed to make me both fear and dislike Lauren but also rally for her and I now find her as one of the most fascinating characters put to paper. I also have to marvel at Butler's discipline and restraint. This world has so much narrative potential, leaving so much room for additional stories and yet, in this dualogy of less than 700 pages, we're still provided with a focused lush portrait. Finishing this has been bittersweet. This series is extraordinary and it's a tragedy that it was cut short. If it were to continue, I have no doubt that this could've been Butler's magnum-opus in an already unbelievable bibliography.

I tore through this one pretty quickly, compelled by the story. I was interested in the complex relationships between Lauren, her daughter, and her brother, and interested in the world building (or rather world-rebuilding) honestly as a model and thought exercise for survival and rebuilding and challenges to contend with in what I see as a possibly very similar descent in the real world. I appreciated the thoughts and questions on building community and cultivating resilience. But I also appreciated the new narrators interrupting Lauren's meditations, which are (intentionally) the work of a self interested philosopher. I was really interested in the people throughout the novel who kept insinuating that Lauren was manipulative and didn't actually care about people, or that if she did it was secondary to her purpose as cult leader and religion founder. Eg: Can you “shape” people and communities intentionally, for your own purposes, and yet also be a person who cares about others and wants a greater good? Questions of power, movements, demagogues. Lauren is a magnetic cult leader just like Jarret - the difference, supposedly, is the end goal and the collateral (or lack thereof) along the way.

It was of course a story in some ways brutal, in some ways beautiful, in some ways warm and others cold. Whether or not you agree with Lauren Olamina's religion, the duology ends with her goal accomplished, and after all the events of two books and several fictional decades, that conclusion feels satisfying. But with the losses along the way, it doesn't feel too perfect.