Parable of the Talents

Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents have been on my must-read list for years, and finally found time to read both over the summer. Both fantastic stories in their own right and well worth reading for anyone engaged and interested in the many issues we currently face as a society. Phenomenally well-written by Octavia Butler, a renowned science fiction writer with the most amazing instinct for addressing (almost 30 years ago!) issues that we are now facing with climate change, uber-rich/poverty wealth inequality, white supremacy/fascism, and use of MAGA Christianity to “Make America Great Again”. Incredible that Butler could have foreseen the MAGA threat decades ago, citing the slogan in the novel. Butler was a brilliant writer and these novels do not disappoint. Just wish she had completed Parable of the Trickster, her planned third installment! The two novels stand strongly together, but I could easily have read another in the series. She’s just that good.

Butler's pair of Earthseed novels (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents) are pure genius. In "Sower," Butler introduces us to Lauren Olamina, a teenage girl with a crippling sense of "hyperempathy" coming of age in a crime-ridden, economically depressed suburb of Los Angeles. She believes she has discovered a way for humanity to lift itself out of madness and travel to the stars. Indeed, she believes that this is humanity's destiny and only hope. She calls this path to salvation "Earthseed." When Olamina's cul-de-sac neighborhood is invaded and destroyed by a drug-crazed mob, Olamina finds herself on the road to the North. Along the way she gathers followers and allies, and begins to teach others her creed."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.

The Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents are without a doubt the finest examples of framed narrative I have read, period. I name them both in this review because they are essentially the same book broke up into two parts. The nebula award wouldn't have been awarded to Talents as a stand-alone book so be certain read the Parable of the Sower first.In a nation recovering from vast economic, environmental, and social upheavals the main-character's life is presented via her daughter who has obtained copies of her mother's personal journals. It chronicles the creation of "Earthseed" a religious movement (cult) whose beginnings originate from the mother's childhood musings from within the walled community of her home presented in the Parable of the Sower. The musings can most easily be summarized by the oft repeated phrase "God is Change". From the mother's perspective Butler makes a variety of cultural and political statements denouncing the dangers of religious fundamentalism, laissez faire economic policies, and the sort of intentional ignorance humanity uses to protect itself from unsettling truths (poverty, slavery, war, etc.). She also promotes amongst other things universal education (no school vouchers for her) and a world-view completely devoid of faith in the supernatural and centered around the need for humanity to colonize space, this being the only real "heaven". My favorite quote from the second book comes from Lauren (the mother) in chapter twenty: "The truth is, preparing for interstellar travel and then sending out ships filled with colonists is bound to be a job so long, thankless, expensive and difficult that I suspect that only a religion could do it."The views presented by Butler from Lauren's perspective are quite extreme and would probably have turned even myself away from this book had not both her daughter (the narrator) and Marc (Lauren's brother and only other surviving relative) been written in such sharp contrast to the Lauren. These two contrasting points of view save the book from degenerating into a long attack on Christian Fundamentalist values and Republican environmental and economic policy. Instead I was able to better appreciate the depth of Octavia Butler's characters and the passion with which they acted out their parts in her story. This story is in my opinion a much more valuable novel than The Handmaid's Tale which it has been compared to, but failed to draw me into it to the extent that George Orwell's masterpiece 1984 did. (4.5/5 stars)