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1.190.2 Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler

SPOILERS

Pages: 406

Time Read: 8 hours and 29 minutes

Overall Rating: 4.5★ Storyline: 4★ Dialogue: 4.5★ Characters: 4★

Genre: Adult Dystopian

TWs for the book: Ableism, addiction, adult/minor relationships, blood, child abuse, classism, colonization, confinement, death, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, fire, forced institutionalization, gaslighting, grief, gun violence, hate crimes, homophobia, injury, kidnapping, lesbophobia, mass shooting, mental illness, brain injury, miscarriage, misogyny/sexism, murder, outing, p*d*ph*l*a, physical abuse, police brutality, pregnancy, racism, r*pe, religious bigotry, mental breaks, self harm, SA, s*xual harassment, s*xual violence, slavery, su*c*dal thoughts/attempts, su*c*de, torture, trafficking, violence, abandonment, child death, chronic illness, cursing, death of parents, death of spouse, drug abuse, excrement, genocide, gore, medical content, panic attacks, war, vomit, abortion, alcohol, antisemitism, islamophobia, cannibalism, incest, infertility, infidelity, deportation, dysphoria, stalking, xenophobia

POV: First person

Time Period/Location: California, Oregon, and Washington from 2032-2090

First Line: They'll make a god of her.

The book opens with writings from Lauren's daughter, sometime in the future after Lauren's death. She doesn't feel fondly of her mother, and doesn't believe in Earthseed. She is going through her writings to try to understand her after her death, and also some of her father's writings. The next entry is some of Bankole's entries, and he talks briefly of "the Pox", short for the apocalyptic time of 2015-2030. Lauren's daughter (later revealed to be named Asha) remarks that her father seems to have wanted to protect her mother, but that Lauren was too focused on her goals and didn't want to be protected. September 26, 2032: Lauren and the rest of Earthseed celebrate Acorn's 5th year anniversary. She has had a dream in which she is back in a church service in her living room. Her father is preaching, and she is sitting between her brothers, Keith and Marcus, to keep them from fighting. Keith disappears, and is replaced by Lauren's mother, who died giving birth to her. She remains facing forward so Lauren can't fully see her face. She hears her father recite the parable of the talents from Matthew, and her mother disappears. Then everyone disappears until Lauren is left alone in the ashes of the burned down house. She wakes alone in her bed. The Dovetree farm, a family near them that grew weed and brewed alcohol, was attacked and everyone was killed except for two of the women and three of the children. Bankole is up treating them. Lauren wonders what and who caused the attack, as crime had been decreasing in recent years. Aubrey, one of the surviving women, had told Lauren that the men were like soldiers, attacking uniformly, killing and burning their things, and that they all wore black tunics with white crosses on their chests. Lauren suspects that this is the work of the most recent presidential nominee, Andrew Steele Jarret. He is a Texas Senator who started his own church called the Church of Christian America, and preaches that people committing what fits into his definitions of sin are at fault for the state of the country. His followers carry out burnings of "witches", which basically means anyone who isn't a part of the Christian American church. Asha's Notes: She lists all four children, four men, and five women who started Earthseed: Lauren and Bankole, Harry and Zahra, Travis, Natividad, and Dominic, Allie and Justin, and Grayson, Emery, Doe, and Tori. She talks about how they built the place up and learned trades, and Lauren taught those who didn't know how to read and write. Lauren also insisted on schooling for the children, and Bankole was gradually able to gain the trust of those in the surrounding area and treat those outside of the community as well. Asha never got to meet her father.

September 27, 2032: Lauren and three others from the community go out to an abandoned house to scavenge some agave for the community's thorn wall. When they arrive, an armored housetruck opens fire on them, and later on some other people wandering by. They hide, and are about to escape, but they hear a child crying, and Lauren runs around the truck. She finds a man, woman, and teenage boy all badly beaten, shot, and unconscious, a sleeping little girl, and a crying little girl. They comfort the children and drive the housetruck back to Acorn. Bankole immediately begins to try and save the woman and the boy, but the man is already dead. September 29, 2032: Bankole is angry with Lauren for risking her life to get the housetruck. He wants them to move out of Acorn and into a proper town so they can be safe, but Lauren refuses to abandon Acorn or Earthseed. Bankole's Writings: Bankole doesn't believe in Earthseed himself, and he is worried by Lauren's determinedness to stick with it. Asha's Notes: Asha criticizes Earthseed and once again expresses her disbelief in any religion. She says that Lauren's middle name, Oya, was the Orisha of the Niger River, bringer of great change. October 4, 2032: Krista Noyer, the woman they found in the housetruck, died. Dan Noyer Jr., her son, will recover. October 17, 2032: They hold a funeral for Krista and Dan Sr. Noyer now that Dan Jr. is well enough to attend. Kassia and Mercy, the two little girls, are well enough. They are now a community of 67. The Noyer family was attempting to make the trip from Phoenix, Arizona up to Alaska, which seceded from the USA, in the housetruck. Krista, Dan Sr., Dan Jr., 15, Kassia, 7, Mercy, 8, Nina, 12, and Paula, 13, had parked their truck to let it charge in the sun. Dan Sr., Krista, and Dan Jr. were shot by a group of men. Kassia and Mercy hid in the truck, which was impossible to get into once locked. Nina and Paula were r*ped and abducted. Dan Jr., also shot, managed to drag his parents into the truck once Mercy and Kassia opened the doors, before succumbing to his injuries. They were like that for three days until Lauren and her little group found them. The group gets in touch with people they know to keep on the lookout for Nina and Paula. The children bury their parents' ashes with along with oak tree seedlings. Bankole's Writings: Bankole ponders about the redwood trees dying due to climate change. Asha's Notes: Asha describes her father as a loving pessimist, and her mother as a reluctant optimist. She says Lauren "worked hard at seducing people" and that if all she had done was start Acorn and not Earthseed, she would have been admirable. October 24, 2032: The community holds a Gathering to welcome Adela Ortiz's baby. Travis proposes using the housetruck to expand their businesses, and the community debates on it and ultimately votes to. Lauren discusses Earthseed with Dan, as he has a lot of questions about it, and she comforts him when he breaks down about his parents and sisters.

November 7, 2032: Despite their isolation, Lauren does her best to keep up with the events of the world. Alaska, now its own country, makes an alliance with Russia and Canada. Kenya and Tanzania are at war, Bolivia and Peru dispute their borders, Pakistan and Afghanistan start a religious war against India, Spain and China both are in civil war, Greece and Turkey are about to go to war, and Egypt and Libya are already at war. Three years prior, Iran and Iraq had launched nuclear missiles at each other, but that hadn't happened again. A rich boy in Texas ran away from home and ended up becoming a slave to a pimp, forced to do what he was told by wearing a slave collar that delivered pain without ever harming the body. The boy's father paid a lot of money to have him found, and that is the only reason this modern day slavery was even making it into the news. Life was found on Mars, further reaffirming Lauren's Destiny. The space program is almost completely privatized now thanks to President Donner. The first baby born of an artificial womb was born healthy in Australia. Jarret won the election. November 14, 2032: Lauren discovers she is pregnant after two years of trying. December 5, 3032: Christian America announces they will be opening homeless shelters and orphanages. December 17, 2032: Five of the group, Bankole, Lauren, Dan, Travis, and Natividad go to Eureka to get supplies. They then go to a squatter settlement called Georgetown to follow up on a lead about Nina Noyer. The George family owns and runs a complex of several businesses, and the matriarch, Dolores, called in the tip. Lauren brings fruit for her, and she points Lauren to a pimp named Cougar. He takes Lauren out to see the children for sale, and the girl that is supposed to be Nina. It isn't her, but Lauren is shocked to see her brother Marcus, alive and for sale. She buys him immediately, and they return back to Acorn. Marcus is submissive and quiet, seeming to not believe his circumstances. Bankole works on him and he had three infections and burn scars covering his body. Dan Noyer runs away on his own to try and find his sisters. Asha's Notes: Asha takes note how different Lauren and Marcus were. He hated the chaos and she embraced it. Asha says that they were both zealots in their own ways.

December 18, 2032: Dan hasn't come home, and they leave notes with people they know to keep an eye out for him as well as for Nina and Paula. Marcus slept through the night without making a run for it, and joins Lauren for breakfast. She tells him that Harry and Zahra are alive, and confirms that Marcus' former girlfriend when they lived in Robledo, Robin, is dead. Marcus confirms that Cory, Bennet, and Greg are dead for sure. Men from the town of Halstead come to ask Bankole to help them, as they experienced an earthquake that destroyed several homes and killed their doctor. He leaves to help them. Marcus tells Lauren what happened the night their neighborhood burned. Him, his brothers, and Cory were all gunned down by the arsonists. He was shot but not killed, but the rest of his family had bullets put through their heads. Then they were grabbed and tossed into a burning house. Marcus was burned and shot, but managed to escape, and lay out on the yard. He was rescued by a man and his wife, also with the last name Duran like his mother Cory. They nursed him back to health and squatted in Robledo for four years. Marcus used to preach to the other squatters, and they saw him as sort of a pastor. But with new government officials in place, they led a huge police raid to clear out the squatters and burn/knock down the homes and buildings they squatted in. The Durans went missing, and Marcus wasn't able to find them again. His first night walking north on the freeway he was jumped, r*ped, and then sold to a pimp, going through three of them and wearing a slave collar the whole time before Lauren bought his freedom. She tells him about Earthseed and how they came to be there, he accuses her of starting a cult, saying he had heard a local politician publicly denouncing them. After their conversation, she takes him to see Harry and Zahra. December 19, 2032: Lauren's brother requests to be called Marcos Duran instead of Marcus Olamina. He tells her he's not the same person he was. December 22, 2032: Bankole returns from Halstead and tries to convince Lauren to move there, as they've offered him a job and a house, and her a job as a teacher. She continues to refuse. January 16, 2033: Bankole and Lauren go to visit Halstead, staying with the family who's house they would be taking over if they decide to move there. The family there now is moving to Siberia to start a better life. Once their back home, Bankole and Lauren don't talk much. Marc tells her that she should go, and is a fool for not. Grayson, Zahra, Jorge, and Diamond all question Lauren about whether or not she is leaving, as Marcos told everyone that she was. January 20, 2033: Jarret was inaugurated, giving a fire and brimstone sermon as his speech. February 6, 2033: Marcos decides to give his own sermon at the Gathering, attempting to convince everyone that the real, Christian God never changes. Lauren warned him beforehand that the group would ask questions and debate, picking apart his sermon, but Marcos is confident in his abilities. This is exactly what the group does to him though, even those like Zahra who don't necessarily fully believe in Earthseed, and this breaks him down a bit. February 19, 2033: President Jarret means to start a war to get Alaska back in the union. February 28, 2033: Marcos tries to speak at the Gathering for the third time and continues to get picked apart, but he is gaining confidence, questioning the Earthseed Destiny and calling it nonsense. March 6, 2033: Marcos leaves Acorn, along with the Peralta family. The Peralta family agrees with President Jarret's idea for war and a draft, but Lauren suspects that they just want to disassociate themselves from the "cult" in case things get bad.

March 17, 2033: Dan Noyer came back with his sister Nina. Zahra spotted the two of them running up to the camp, seemingly being chased, and shortly the five pursuers with guns revealed themselves. She sends out a warning and Harry, Lauren, and Bankole take the housetruck to gun down the intruders. Zahra asks where the two others she saw went, and after a search, they find Dan and Nina. Both are injured, beaten, and had been r*ped. Nina says she got pregnant but had a miscarriage. March 18, 2033: Bankole tried his best to save Dan but he died. Nina says that her older sister Paula is dead. Asha's Notes: Asha writes that her Uncle Marc would have never made it at Acorn, and left due to his political and religious disagreements. She wonders to herself if her mother even really paid attention to being pregnant with her. During this time, the group acquired another housetruck and began to have flourishing business, which allowed Lauren to dream about starting more communities and naming them after plants. July 22, 2033: Two days prior on July 20, Lauren gave birth to her daughter Larkin Beryl Ife Olamina Bankole. She shares a birthday with both Lauren, and Lauren's father. Bankole is thrilled. July 24, 2033: Larkin is Welcomed into the community and Harry and Zahra are made her godparents.

July 30, 2033: Bankole and Lauren discuss moving again, and the purpose of Earthseed. Lauren finally convinces him to stay and Bankole finds the motivation to try to build up Acorn into a more modern and sustainable place for the sake of his daughter. September 26, 2033: The same people that raided the Dovetree farm, Jarret's Crusaders, raid Acorn with seven tanks known as maggots. Lauren sends out a signal for everyone to run, but they are surrounded, and all hit with a paralyzing gas. Men take Larkin away from Lauren and dump all of the women into a room at the school, and all of the men into a different one. While they're still paralyzed, the men put slave collars around their necks. Lauren learns later that Grayson Mora had refused to be a slave again, and used the housetruck to fire on the men and the maggots, damaging some. As they rained fire on him, he rammed the housetruck into one of the maggots, causing an explosion and killing him. Lauren checks in with the women of the group. Justin had been taken from Allie. Adela's baby, Emery's sons, and Noriko's children had also been taken. Tori and Doe Mora, now 14 and 15, were in the room with them. Nina Noyer was there but Mercy and Kassia were either taken by the men or ushered into hiding by the woman who was taking care of them, May, as she wasn't there either. Several other women all had their children taken. Catherine's husband Vincent hit his head on a rock as he fell from the gas, and she says he is dead. Teresa Lin decides to dive out the open window, but immediately begins screaming from the pain the slave collar is inflicting on her for leaving the boundaries of the room. No one came to get her, and she screamed and passed out repeatedly all night. Diamond discovers someone dead, and Lauren is horrified to realize it is Zahra, her best friend. Zahra was very small for a grown woman, and Lauren suspects the gas was too much and killed her. When they wake in the morning, they see their captors building a fence around the compound. Lauren instructs the women to go along with what they're told to do, and to gather as much information as they can. She tells them to be prepared for the inevitability of r*pe. In the afternoon, a man finally comes and tells Allie and Lauren to get Teresa's body. When Lauren mentions that Zahra is also dead, she is lashed with the collar. When Allie tries to help her up, she is also lashed. They carry the bodies out and are forced to dig graves for them in rocky soil. The other women and the men are brought out to watch, and Travis, Lucio, and Ted also began to dig graves. Before the bodies were fully buried, they made everyone parade by the open graves to see their dead. Harry learned of Zahra's death, and Lucio of Teresa's. On the men's side, Vincent, Grayson, and Bankole all died as well. Lauren is knocked unconscious by the slave collar for trying to kill one of the men with a pickaxe.

Asha's Notes: Asha writes that she misses Acorn, even though she has no memory of ever being there. She confirms that Zahra was killed by the gas, as it will harm anyone small who isn't given the antidote. Asha was given it along with the other children after they were taken from Acorn. November 24, 2033: It is Thanksgiving, which gives Lauren time to document what's been happening. The children are still missing, and they've been told by their captors that they've been given away to be raised in good Christian American homes. The group has been doing whatever is told of them, including praising God and testifying. Regardless of this, they are tortured and underfed. They are not allowed to mix between men and women, and they claim that none of them are properly married. This doesn't stop the men from r*ping the women, the first being Diamond. When Emery Mora was taken away to be r*ped, she killed the two men and then killed herself. Lauren suspects Emery would have killed more, but because of the collar, she couldn't leave the cabin, and the master control unit for all the collars was being kept in one of the maggots. All of the women were tortured for what Emery did. The Crusaders expanded the area, what they started calling Camp Christian, now bringing in people off the streets to be "reeducated". They are worked like slaves to expand the building they are held captive in, and are forced to burn all of their books, papers, and sentimental items. Thankfully, all of their legal documents and Lauren's writings are stashed away in hidden caches in the mountains. Lauren is able to have a whispered conversation with Harry out in the fields and he says that when they tried to lash Bankole to make an example of him, he had a seizure and died. Asha's Notes: Asha was taken to a reeducation camp where she was cared for in the nursery before being adopted out to Christian American parents. They renamed her from Larkin to Asha Vere, her namesake being a Christian Dreammask character who saved people from heathens. She became Asha Alexander after being taken in by Madison and Kayce, a couple who had been displaced from Seattle during the Al-Can war, the war Jarret started against Canada to get Alaska back in the union. They didn't love her, but took her in out of duty. December 4, 2033: The Crusaders mostly leave them all alone on Sundays, which is when Lauren writes. Mary Sullivan, a girl from one of the neighboring families that was also rounded up, starts sleeping with Allie. One woman that was a squatter has been enjoying tormenting the other women, but the Earthseed women held her captive for a night and used her own collar to torture her, and she leaves them alone now.

December 11, 2033: More strangers have been brought in. Some of them are sharers, but the Earthseed sharers have kept from revealing their weakness. One of the new people is a man named David, wanting to go by Day. He had been staying a homeless shelter run by Christian America, and when a few others robbed the place, him and all the other black men were accused based off race and snatched up. He was charged as a vagrant and was supposed to work for 30 days, but it had been two months and they had no intention to free him. He says that most people don't know about the camps. December 25, 2033: Lauren was r*ped twice. Because she is a sharer, she experienced not only her own pain, but also her r*pist's pleasure. She resolves to stop bathing and make herself as undesirable as possible to keep it from happening again. Asha's Notes: She writes that Lauren's entire record of 2034 was lost, and she only has the 2033 and 2035 writings. By speaking to people that were there at the camp during 2034, Asha learns that there was an escape attempt led by Day and that no one from Earthseed participated. Most of the rebels were killed, and Day was hung. Even though the people of Earthseed dropped to the ground the second everything started, everyone was punished by working 16 hours a day for three days straight doing intense physical labor. Tori and Doe Mora accidentally revealed themselves as sharers, and were r*ped more often than anyone after being discovered. During the time this all happened, it was illegal, but there were loopholes in the law and a general lack of awareness and attention that allowed it to happen anyways. The Al-Can war came to nothing, Alaska got to keep its independence and a bunch of people died for no reason, which killed Jarret's popularity. Asha's adopted parents still loved him, even though the bombings in Seattle had killer their daughter Kamaria, who Asha grew up being constantly compared to. Kayce always seemed bitter towards her, while Madison, her adopted father, took every chance he could since she was young to feel her up. February 25, 2035: Earthseed begins to plan a rebellion, even if it will cost them their lives. Allie is suffering from brain damage after a the Faircloth sisters outed her and Mary Sullivan for being gay at a church service. Mary died from the torture from the collar, and Allie is left not able to talk and being very slow. The Faircloth girls are given a room separate from the other women and are allowed to just work in the kitchen. They make the food worse for the other women. Cristina, Noriko, Tori, and Doe are made to often visit a cabin and they believe the master control unit for the collars is there, so they plan to destroy it if they can the next time they are forced there. February 28, 2035: A landslide happens during a storm, destroying the cabin that had the master control unit and a maggot. Everyone escapes and kills the Crusaders there, and the men and women from Earthseed reunite, grab what they can, and run after burning the place to the ground. Asha's Notes: The Crusaders divided up the siblings of Earthseed when they split everyone up. It worked for some but not for others. The Faircloth boys were split up; one became a Christian American preacher and the other rejected it. One of the Castro children committed su*c*de. Asha fully grew up with the Alexanders. They didn't love her, but they tried to turn her into a good Christian American, sending her to a CA school for her whole life. She learned to make herself quiet and unnoticeable and stay out of the way.

March 4, 2035: Earthseed escapes into the mountains and rests for the night in a cave where one of their caches was hidden. The hand and foot prints of Tori and Doe's brothers, Adela's baby, and Harry and Zahra's children were there as well. Harry and Lauren fell asleep sobbing with each other, as did Travis and Natividad and Tori and Doe. Lucio and Adela slept together, as did Jorge and Diamond, Michael and Noriko, and Aubrey and Nina. Lauren announces that the group must separate off into smaller groups and leave each other. There are protests to this, but it is ultimately agreed they have a worse chance of being spotted all together, and set up a rendezvous point in a redwood forest. Doe is pregnant, and Natividad and Travis agree to take her and Tori with them. Adela (who is also pregnant), Lucio, and Lucio's sister form a group. Nina, Allie, Harry, and Lauren join together. They gather the rest of their supplies from the other caches and hold one last gathering before splitting off. Lauren and her group decide to go to Georgetown, and Allie begins talking again. Asha's Notes: Asha writes that her first memory was of find a doll in her backyard when she was three. Kayce smacked her for touching it, and burned it in the backyard and made Asha watch. She still has panic attacks upon seeing dolls years later. March 28, 2035: Harry works for the George family, Allie cleans up around the George's businesses, and Lauren teaches children who to read and write and sketches portraits of people. While walking back to her hotel room one day, she is stopped by a beaten boy that turns out to be Allie's son Justin. He escaped his abusive Christian American home and had been trying to find his way back to Acorn. Lauren very lightly explains to Justin that Bankole is dead when he asks, and then gently tells him that Allie has some amnesia still. She remembers her son though, and they are reunited. The only information Justin is able to tell them about the other kids is that their names have been changed and that the siblings were split up. Lauren tried to go to the police about Larkin, but that was ultimately useless. Harry leaves and goes south alone on rumors of an orphanage where the kids might be being held. Allie plans on staying in Georgetown and Nina is in love with one of the George boys. April 8, 2035: Lauren departs from Georgetown, disguised as a man and on her own to try and find her daughter April 15, 2035: Lauren is in Eureka doing house and yard work for people in exchange for meals or a place to sleep. She ends up sleeping in the park some nights. May 13, 2035: Lauren made herself visit the Christian America shelter three times. The first time she is panicky and isn't able to pay any attention to anything. The second time she goes in, the man who comes to preach at them after their meal is her brother Marcos. He talks about his heathen sister without realizing she is in the crowd of men he's talking to. She leaves a note asking to speak with him. May 14, 2035: Lauren talks with her brother. She tells him what happened to Acorn and Larkin and begs him for help to find her. Marcos is in denial about Christian America doing this to children and hits Lauren before walking away. June 3, 2035: Lauren goes back to the CA center dressed as a woman this time, hoping to leave a message with Marcos. The woman informs him that he has moved to Portland, and a guard stops her to give her a letter addressed from him. He tells her that she should join the church to try and get her daughter back. On her way back from the CA center she is attacked by two men and stabs one of them, causing her to flee town and go back to Georgetown. Asha's Notes: Asha writes about her life as a teenager. She dealt with being groped by Madison, punished for writing out a simple Dreamask scenario that wasn't about God, and punched a girl in the jaw so hard she broke it. Kayce talked about her behind her back relentlessly.

June 10, 2035: Allie manages to convince Lauren to take a 19 year old girl named Len up to Portland with her. She was kidnapped and pimped out but when she escaped and tried to return to her rich parents, they had moved to Alaska without telling her. She is also a sharer, and although she is spooked when Lauren notices it about her, she ultimately agrees to go with her. Asha's Notes: Asha left the Alexander home when she was 19. She tried to stay in the CA church but everyone thought she was a prostitute, leaving home on he town without being married, so she left that too. She was living with a single mother and nannying her kids, and then decided to go and see Reverend Marcos Duran speak. While there, a woman comes to get her, and takes her to Marcos, who tells her that she is his niece and that her parents are dead. Marcos takes her in from then on. June 19, 2035: Lauren and Belen stop at a woman's house, located far off the road. It is a nice house with land and a garden that the older woman tends on her own. She is wary of Lauren and Belen at first, but ultimately agrees to let them do some work in her garden and around her place for a few days in exchange for food and a place to sleep. Lauren gradually works on converting her to Earthseed, and realizes that she is bisexual. She ultimately convinces the woman to look after any children that Lauren might bring her, and her and Len move on. Asha's Notes: Asha was able to go to school thanks to Marcos, and lived in upstate New York at one of his houses and worked to make Dreamask scenarios. Marcos was gay but couldn't have a relationship with a man due to his religion, so he never married or had kids. As Earthseed gained popularity as a cult, Asha asked Marcos about it, but he told her to stop looking into it. She didn't though, and did a lot of research, thinking that they were very selfish for wanting to go to space with everything going on on Earth. July 29, 2035: Lauren and Len stay in Portland, gathering followers and staying with nice people. Lauren speaks with Marcos again, but he is cruel and refuses to believe what she says about the church. Allie and Justin come up from Georgetown to live with them in Portland. September 30, 2035: Lauren sends for Natividad and Travis, having found people to house them. Her and Len are beginning to be invited to preach at people's homes, and also offered money and resources. November 13, 2035: Lauren convinces Harry to come north with the three orphans he has picked up on his travels. Earthseed: The First Book of the Living is made available online for people to read. December 30, 2035: Lauren has been invited to speak at conferences, being flown on planes and travelling around the country to do so.

Asha's Notes: Earthseed spread across the globe, and Lauren spent her whole life travelling across to all of the different communities. When Asha was 34, she decided she wanted to meet her and began to do more research. She discovers that Lauren spoke out about what happened to Larkin. CA sued her, and she countersued, and they ended up paying her off, but she hadn't been able to find her because CA had destroyed all of the records to cover their own asses. Asha puts the pieces together and realizes that she is probably Lauren's daughter and calls Marcos. He asks her to wait till she gets home, but she goes to Red Spruce, the community Lauren was resting at to meet her. Everyone refuses to let her see Lauren at first, claiming she's resting, but Asha finally gets ahold of her aide, Harry's adopted son, Edison Balter. He brings her to Lauren and they do a DNA test to confirm that she is her daughter. They talked, and Lauren is enraged to learn that Marcos had been hiding Asha from her this entire time. This makes Asha upset because she loves her Uncle Marc. They exchange life stories, and Asha feels as though Lauren didn't try hard enough to find her. She lets slip that Marcos had found her when she was two years old but had left her alone until she was older and this enrages Lauren all over again. Asha decides she wants to leave and Lauren begs her to keep in touch. She goes home and talks to Marcos and he says he felt alone and didn't want to share her with Lauren. Lauren never saw or spoke to him again. Lauren lived to be 81, just in time to see the first shuttles leaving earth. Justin was on the ship, as well as one of the Faircloth boys, the Mora girls and their children, and the living remainder of Travis and Natividad's family. July 20, 2090: Lauren describes seeing the shuttle leave with Harry and the children of her friends. Her and Harry's bodies will be buried on whatever new planet her followers discover. Asha doesn't come to the launch because she's caring for Marcos after another heart transplant. Lauren says she'll never forgive him for stealing her daughter from her.

Storyline: This book was really hard to get through. While there aren't very many graphic, on page descriptions of violence, the psychological aspect of it all is hard to grapple with. It was definitely interesting going from Parable of the Sower and only getting Lauren's perspective to suddenly having her daughter's view of her as a manipulative cult leader who abandoned her and sacrificed her family for Earthseed. It definitely made you ponder whether or not Lauren was a good person, and there was no clear answer at the end, leaving you to draw your own conclusions about her.

Representation: Lauren is bisexual, Allie is a lesbian, and Marcos is gay. There are many characters ranging across all races and with numerous disabilities.

Summary: While the first book was important and relevant to our time, Parable of the Talents was even more terrifying with its social commentary and the light it shines on zealous Christianity. A hard read, but definitely worth it.

Quotes: -"We caused the problems: then we sat and watched as they turned into crises." (p.4) -"It seems inevitable that people who can't read are going to lean more toward judging candidates on the way they look and sound than on what they claim they stand for. Even people who can read and are educated are apt to pay more attention to good looks and seductive lies than they should." (p.16) -"Interesting that they fear Edward Jay Smith's supposed incompetence more than they fear Jarret's obvious tyranny." (p.22) -"Beware: At war or at peace, more people die of unenlightened self-interest than of any other disease." (p.77)

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