So, I'm about 1/3 of the way through Fledgling, and

[snarp]

and Octavia Butler was completely insane.

I mean, the Xenogenesis series made this fairly clear, but this book contains every questionable decision Xenogenesis made multiplied by a factor of eight.

Comments

[holyschist]

I am...kind of glad it's not just me? I read Dawn and then Fledgling and then went "Do I really want to read more?" There's so much fascinating about her writing, and so much really, really disturbing upon closer thought. IDK.

[snarp]

There is all this rape in here! Which I don't think can be rationalized away! And then she tries to rationalize it away! With long, long conversations that go into a great deal of detail!

[holyschist]

The consent issues in Fledgling were egregious, and I don't feel like they were ever dealt with as These Are Problematic! just rationalized as okay because Shori is so awesome.

IDK, I could deal with all the rape and dubcon in her books if I felt like the narrative acknowledged it as such and dealt with thorny issues instead of making excuses/justifications for me.

[annotated_em]

*pops out of lurking*

Oh my goodness, I'm glad it wasn't just me. Haven't read Fledgling, though I've talked with people who have, and I have read Lilith's Brood. Which. Aliens. With the doing this for humanity's own good. And. And. Yeah.

[holyschist]

I could have, if the book had been written different, read it as some kind of commentary on colonialism, but if it was, her conclusions really bothered me.

[annotated_em]

Yeah, that. Very much that. I was mostly okay with things till I got to the end of the first book and it was all surprise!pregnancy because hey, that's what you need when you've just lost your partner, and let us not forget what was essentially tentacle rape.

...and the next two books didn't improve. Argh argh argh.

[holyschist]

And just about everyone else seems to think Butler was amazing and brilliant (and she was brilliant, no argument there), so then I kind of wonder if I'm just not smart enough and I'm missing the real commentary, which is less hinky than what I see. IDK.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Is that the little-girl vampire one? If so, you can probably guess what scene I stopped at.

[snarp]

I PROBABLY CAN

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

"Did she just say owed...OH MY SWEET MERCY!"

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

I read it a long time ago and have somewhat incoherent thoughts on it!

She wasn't insane, you know. She was fucking with you.

[snarp]

SHE DID A REALLY GOOD JOB OF IT, THEN

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

That's the magic of Octavia Butler!