Wednesday, August 26, 2020

IMAGO

 


 

Imago, Octavia E Butler, Warner Books, 1989, 225 pp

 

After finishing Adulthood Rites, I went right on to the final book in Butler's Lilith's Brood series because there was nothing else I wanted to read right then. I had to know how the story ended.

Lilith increases her brood with Jodahs, the first construct ooloi. The alien Oankali comprise three sexes: male, female and ooloi (non-sexed or combined or androgynous, referred to as "it.") How ahead of her time Butler was, though in fact she was preceded by Ursula LeGuin in some ways.

A construct ooloi then is non-sexed Oankali plus part human. The ooloi are genetic manipulators. They can cure genetic diseases, the kind that are passed on hereditarily, with just a touch of a tentacle.

Jodahs is looked upon as a dangerous new sort by both Oankali and humans. It has equal ability to cure and deform or even create plagues. What will it do when reaching maturity?

In Dawn, the first book, Lilith became the first construct female. Adulthood Rites featured a construct male. Now in Imago, the first construct ooloi emerges. Though all three books contain much emotion, Imago is the most emotional yet. Written in first person, the reader gets to feel the androgynous point of view which can be strange for a male or female individual. Yet not so strange after all once one has read the book.

I was deeply moved by this one. Jodahs's quest is to create a new state of affairs on Earth by merging and modifying both Oankali and human. It felt hopeful to me. Not that I would necessarily want to become part alien but that by weaving and blending sexual orientation, race, genetics and customs, a "construct" society might be able to live in some kind of peace.

I have been coming to the idea, for some time now, that human beings are all on a spectrum, sexually, emotionally, mentally and racially. We could create a better sort of life by recognizing that in each other instead of violently rejecting differences.

More Octavia Butler, please.

16 comments:

  1. This sounds very interesting. It also sounds like it is in some way relevant to many of the topics that are being discussed and debated in our current day. I suspect that I would have a lot to say about about this series and its ideas. It has been awhile since I read Butler, maybe I will give this a try.

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    1. I would enjoy reading what you had to say about this series, Brian!

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  2. I like how you are continuing with the series! The covers are quite dramatic. This one sounds more emotional as you say and interesting to today's world. Happy reading.

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    1. I just ordered her first series. Looking forward to it.

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  3. nice thought, the spectrum idea... tolerance has always been in short supply, tho...

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    1. Glad you grokked my spectrum idea. You are right about tolerance but I can dream.

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  4. I'm looking forward to reading the last two books of this series.

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    1. I am looking forward to your reviews.

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  5. I really need to start this series. It sounds so good.

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  6. I would've loved for all world leaders to share your opinion on differences, sadly we're not there yet and I have a feeling it's going to take a lot of work and a long time for the whole world to get there...

    I always like how you review books in series at the same time, maybe I'll do something like that one day..

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    1. It was kind of cool for me to review these two back to back. I did it that way because I read them one right after the other. It was a good way to read because I had everything fresh in my mind from the previous book.
      As far as world leaders getting on board about differences, I personally think that is something individual people need to do because I have never seen it work to try to legislate a solution to a problem. A law can set an example but it is still the people who have to make the change.

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    2. I totally agree, it's what I try to do as a teacher; set an example, but I do feel that some leaders don't set a good example.

      We have some politicians in The Netherlands for example that say the worst thing about females!

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  7. This sounds an interesting series, I’ve never read any of her books.

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  8. This sounds an interesting series, I’ve never read any of her books.

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