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.