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Despite the awful things that happen in it, this is an optimistic book. Or actually, it's the bad things that happen in it that make it optimistic. A book can't be optimistic if it doesn't have the horrible things that happen in life. That's fantasy (not in the speculative genre sense, though many fantasy novels also fit this definition.) Lauren Olamina shapes her life and guides others in shaping theirs no matter what happens to them.
Of course the book made me angry - or woke the anger in me - with all the abuse perpetrated under cover of righeousness and religion (not, notably, by Olamina or the converts to Earthseed); the way hurting people is lied about or dismissed as irrelevant because the teachings being glorified at the expense of others are, according to Marc and others like him, correct.
And I can see why Larkin/Asha has so much disdain for her mother and Earthseed while loving Marc and not condemning his religion. Or maybe 'see' isn't the right word. I can't see it so much as I know why, but I can't stop being angry with them and disliking them for their attitudes and relationship choices. Olamina receives disdain and condemnation because she's leading a new religion, because in Marc's case he wanted to be the important religious guide in her community and it was impossible, and in Asha's because she's been abused, partly thanks to Marc whether he knew it or not, and finds it easier to believe what she's been told and in the first man who loved her (thanks to him - he did her so much wrong - she would have been loved and happy and had a community if not for Marc's selfishness, self-importance and self-centeredness throughout the entire novel) than to question everything, see how Marc is just as seductive and 'dangerous' as Olamina, only doing more harm with more selfishness than she ever did. She defends Christian America by saying they've worked hard to do good things as well as bad things, but treats Earthseed as despicable and nonsense, as stealing money, right after writing about finding how much good it did for people. She defends Marc by citing his beliefs, but Olamina's beliefs and how they guided her decisions are reasons to despise her, to insult her, to blame her for Larkin/Asha not having a happy childhood. To blame her for not finding her, when she didn't have the connections Marc did. No, she did: Marc was her connection and he refused. If he hadn't been able to find her because some other person refused to let him know, would that have been his fault? If Marc prioritized his beliefs and his dreams over his family, which he did, that's forgivable; not so for Olamina even though she didn't do it all for herself. But no, Larkin/Asha blames Olamina and not Marc, for everything.
I hate that all so much even as I see it as realistic, and I feel so bad for Olamina that she lost her family so thoroughly, and not, I believe, through her own doing no matter what anyone said about how she should have been normal and joined Christian America and joined a different settlement. She did what she thought was right not for her ego, not to please the egos of others, but to make the world a better place and make people better people, so they could survive and thrive anywhere. In large part, she succeeded. People did listen, people survived and were happy, without hurting others unless they tried to hurt first, without seeing others as enemies who would hurt first just because they had different beliefs.
I buy her beliefs completely. Well, I'm not as sure that humanity needs to survive forever, but she was a great humanitarian. A truly great one. And I believe in that. I'm personally not comfortable with the fact that it was a religion, but with how many people there are saying they need their religion, and that they need their religious community, I can see why she made it a religion. She even admits it near the end of the book - it's a religion because it needs to be one to move people to practice these healthy beliefs. Earthseed is the strand of optimism in the Parable books. It is the name of the way of living and believing that keeps Olamina and the converts healthy and happy and purposeful, in a productive way that doesn't abuse or shame others, that is not built on abuse.
This book and its prequel are a look at disaster, a very realistic one that I believe is already happening in some ways at least. They're also a look at solutions, as the interview with the author says. What solutions people look for, what they prioritize to save themselves and they assume their country. They also presents one very positive solution: take care of each other, take care of your environment, shape your life instead of picking someone to tell you who will be punished to make your life better. Sure it has a religion, and it's got spaceship travel. I agree with the spaceship travel part, not necessarily because I think humanity should exist forever, but because I think we should try. Try to live, try to explore and be curious and interested in the universe. The religion I'm questioning, but there's a good argument for it's necessity mentioned in the book. Even if I didn't like either, I couldn't deny the rest: this is a healthy solution for humanity and the world.
Of course the book made me angry - or woke the anger in me - with all the abuse perpetrated under cover of righeousness and religion (not, notably, by Olamina or the converts to Earthseed); the way hurting people is lied about or dismissed as irrelevant because the teachings being glorified at the expense of others are, according to Marc and others like him, correct.
And I can see why Larkin/Asha has so much disdain for her mother and Earthseed while loving Marc and not condemning his religion. Or maybe 'see' isn't the right word. I can't see it so much as I know why, but I can't stop being angry with them and disliking them for their attitudes and relationship choices. Olamina receives disdain and condemnation because she's leading a new religion, because in Marc's case he wanted to be the important religious guide in her community and it was impossible, and in Asha's because she's been abused, partly thanks to Marc whether he knew it or not, and finds it easier to believe what she's been told and in the first man who loved her (thanks to him - he did her so much wrong - she would have been loved and happy and had a community if not for Marc's selfishness, self-importance and self-centeredness throughout the entire novel) than to question everything, see how Marc is just as seductive and 'dangerous' as Olamina, only doing more harm with more selfishness than she ever did. She defends Christian America by saying they've worked hard to do good things as well as bad things, but treats Earthseed as despicable and nonsense, as stealing money, right after writing about finding how much good it did for people. She defends Marc by citing his beliefs, but Olamina's beliefs and how they guided her decisions are reasons to despise her, to insult her, to blame her for Larkin/Asha not having a happy childhood. To blame her for not finding her, when she didn't have the connections Marc did. No, she did: Marc was her connection and he refused. If he hadn't been able to find her because some other person refused to let him know, would that have been his fault? If Marc prioritized his beliefs and his dreams over his family, which he did, that's forgivable; not so for Olamina even though she didn't do it all for herself. But no, Larkin/Asha blames Olamina and not Marc, for everything.
I hate that all so much even as I see it as realistic, and I feel so bad for Olamina that she lost her family so thoroughly, and not, I believe, through her own doing no matter what anyone said about how she should have been normal and joined Christian America and joined a different settlement. She did what she thought was right not for her ego, not to please the egos of others, but to make the world a better place and make people better people, so they could survive and thrive anywhere. In large part, she succeeded. People did listen, people survived and were happy, without hurting others unless they tried to hurt first, without seeing others as enemies who would hurt first just because they had different beliefs.
I buy her beliefs completely. Well, I'm not as sure that humanity needs to survive forever, but she was a great humanitarian. A truly great one. And I believe in that. I'm personally not comfortable with the fact that it was a religion, but with how many people there are saying they need their religion, and that they need their religious community, I can see why she made it a religion. She even admits it near the end of the book - it's a religion because it needs to be one to move people to practice these healthy beliefs. Earthseed is the strand of optimism in the Parable books. It is the name of the way of living and believing that keeps Olamina and the converts healthy and happy and purposeful, in a productive way that doesn't abuse or shame others, that is not built on abuse.
This book and its prequel are a look at disaster, a very realistic one that I believe is already happening in some ways at least. They're also a look at solutions, as the interview with the author says. What solutions people look for, what they prioritize to save themselves and they assume their country. They also presents one very positive solution: take care of each other, take care of your environment, shape your life instead of picking someone to tell you who will be punished to make your life better. Sure it has a religion, and it's got spaceship travel. I agree with the spaceship travel part, not necessarily because I think humanity should exist forever, but because I think we should try. Try to live, try to explore and be curious and interested in the universe. The religion I'm questioning, but there's a good argument for it's necessity mentioned in the book. Even if I didn't like either, I couldn't deny the rest: this is a healthy solution for humanity and the world.
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