r/octaviabutler

She hit the nail in the head. This is her. https://youtu.be/e0UgiE8vYuI?is=1bv3RBVTVD9swlN9

The contradiction .It's not "are humans smart?" We are. It's: can we ever use our intelligence to control our need to dominate, instead of using our intelligence to serve our need to dominate?

I am mainly seeking a response from those who have read more than just her most popular books, like the Parable series and Kindred.

I have now read through almost all of her books: Kindred, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, Dawn, Imago, Adulthood Rites, Wild Seed, Mind of my Mind.

I recently had to stop about 1/3 of the way through Clay’s Ark because I am so sick and tired and unsettled by the persistence of certain themes in her works. In almost all of her works you will find lots of: pedophilia and grooming, age-gap relationships, rape, incest, and human breeding.

WHY??? Especially in the Lilith’s Brood and Patternist series, why are the books so focused on these disgusting sexual themes? And the worst part is that I can’t seem to tell if she is making a critique/argument against these things or if she’s just normalizing them. The main characters you’re supposed to like end up buying into and often enjoying these dynamics of rape and forced breeding and incest. These books would seem to be a wet dream for a sexual predator. What am I missing?

I thought Clay’s Ark was finally going to be different until the family arrived to the secluded village with the mysterious alien illness and the two 16 year old daughters get gifted to older men to be bred. I stopped reading the book once the daughters started to like and crave the idea of their captors.

Help me understand!

hello fellow octavia butler readers! i’ve been racking my brain trying to remember what this book could be. It is not an Octavia Butler book but was a recommendation for people who liked Parable of The Sower. It has a red cover and it seems to be about a boy and there seems to be an element of jungle to it. does anyone know the book i’m trying to think of?

I really didnt like patternmaster. I think my expectations were too high. Ive already read the Parable duology, Lilith’s Brood, Kindred and Fledgling. I love them a lot! My faves are Fledgling and Lilith’s Brood. I looooooove Dawn, but Patternmaster was a slough for me. I did not care about any character and thought the pacing was odd. Is the series worth continuing?

I'm re-reading the parabole of the sower and the parabole of talents and I really feel more than ever all the wiseness of the wonderful Octavia... I think some movement like Earthseed is even necessary in these crazy times... What do you think? Probably this topic was talking in other publications but I want to ask anyway.