Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Ritos de Passagem by Octavia E. Butler

17 reviews

isojem's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Really liked this, though it was fast in the beginning and fast at the end, and kind of sagged in the middle. No idea how to describe this. Had a lot to say about the humanity. Very peculiar in some ways.
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katrinarose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Another banger. I wish I had a book club to discuss this one with because there are so many layers of meaning and themes to discuss (what it means to be human and the nature of humanity, the value of purpose, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, biracial experience and what it means to be between two different worlds, the merit of saving people who don’t deserve compassion, free will, reproductive rights, belonging, family, and more). I enjoyed Akin’s perspective a lot too!
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drips's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this took way longer to get through than i anticipated. there were some interesting aspects but overall it was kind of a drag. very bleak view of humanity. i'm still looking forward to reading imago bc that's the book i originally picked up thinking it was a standalone 
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karenschlesser's review against another edition

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challenging reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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kenrya's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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linblythe_pub22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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peachmoni's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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gemstonejasper's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Octavia E Butler doesn't write books that should be read all at once. In my experience, they're much better when you take time to digest each section. This is to her credit because she has this unique way of mirroring humanity back to the reader. This book follows Akin, the first human-born male construct (human/alien hybrid). It follows him as he grows up in this role. How do others treat him because of these things he has no control over? How can he find his place in the world while facing this contradiction within him? It also has an interesting commentary on consent vs coercion and is allowing people to live always a mercy, or can it be a cruelty. There are so many themes that are explored and I love it. I would recommend all of her books that I've read, this one included.

I just want to talk about how horrible all parties are to Akin. The resister humans kidnap him and are often very abusive towards him. But it's revealed that the aliens left him with the humans for a prolonged period on purpose. This caused great pain for both him and his sibling. This thing that is so crucial to his development and life as an alien was stolen from him by both parties. I would even argue that the aliens are more to blame because they fully understood what they were doing to him and how it would affect him, whereas the humans couldn't fully understand. They used him as an experimental rat without a care for his well-being. I think all of it was cruel. That's one thing that irks me about the aliens. They are so calculated, clinical and logical. Sure, they can feel emotions. But they lean much farther towards the calculated, logical side than humans normally would. This comes with positives, like being about to do things with their bodies and advance themselves. But it also comes with the negatives of being unable to really relate to the other species they encounter (such as humans). Maybe the third book will introduce the aliens as having their own contradiction.


After I finished, there was a passage I kept coming back to read. Akin is advocating for the humans to have Mars. An older alien (I forget what it was called) basically told him that they would let him do what he believes is right, but that it is a cruelty. Akin protests, but is forced to acknowledge that it likely is a cruelty. Yet he still holds out hope for the possibility that the humans will be able to overcome their contradiction.
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itsnicholaslashay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mar's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ever read something so exceptionally well crafted and nuanced it makes everything you've ever read before worse in retrospect? that's what reading octavia butler feels like to me
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