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4.5 

Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents

By Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Now more relevant than ever, don’t miss this special collection from the New York Times bestselling author Octavia E. Butler!
 
Parable of the Sower:

When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions.

Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.

Parable of the Talents:

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.

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20 Reviews

4.5
Surprised Face with Open Mouth“I read this in 2020 and it was unforgettable. If I could convince everyone to read this book I think it could be world changing. I adore Octavia, she was so gifted and so brutal. The parallels between our current world and the world she has written are insane. Can I give it 20 stars? Parable Of The Talents: What can I say? This book is incredible, gut wrenching, traumatic. And yet I think I'll read/listen to Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents every election year for the rest of my life. You get multiple perspectives in this one. I read this for the first time in fall/winter of 2020 and re-listened to the audiobooks this fall/winter 2024 and it's just an incredible story. I have to keep reminding myself that it's fiction!! The ending is so satisfying. So good. I could almost cry.”
Surprised Face with Open Mouth“It makes you wonder, are we going in a direction that is similar to what Octavia E. Butler has described in her stories???”

About Octavia E. Butler

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER was a renowned writer who received a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future. Sales of her books have increased enormously since her death as the issues she addressed in her Afrofuturistic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant. She passed away on February 24, 2006.

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