Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
277 pages
Published 1988
Read from September 29 to October 2
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this middle entry in the Xenogenesis Trilogy is how alien yet natural the biology and the mental processes of the Oankali and their hybrid constructs feel. Butler makes the construction and depiction of an alien species seem effortless. As for the story itself, it was a neat little coming of age tale in the usual science fiction adventure style, and I find myself pleased with it for the most part, but have little to say about it that feels substantial.
Rites was written at a time when the cultural-scientific idea of nature vs. nurture had swung strongly back in the direction of nature, after the precocious peak of flower-child psychology in the '60s; much of the book is predicated upon the idea that humanity's doom, our primate heritage of "hierarchical behavior," is linked particularly and inextricably with biological maleness. Certainly male-dominated societies, historical as well as modern, don't have a positive record with this whole "treating human beings with dignity and respect" thing. But this "biology is destiny" approach to gender feels overly broad and clumsy now, through no fault of Butler's. It was just what people kind of accepted to be true at the time, I think, though it fit well with Butler's generally pessimistic view of human nature, her whole "We could achieve great things if we didn't kill each other over petty shit" message, best seen in Parable of the Sower.
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