I'm still not exactly sure about my feelings on Fledgling. When I first started reading the book, I had a difficult time stomaching Shori's feeding and her sexual engagement with Wright and then the other "Syms." While I think it is important for girls to explore their sexuality, I feel that's something to explore when going through puberty. Shori's body was that of a 10 or 11 year old prepubescent girl and even though we find out later that she is actually 53 years old, I still found it disturbing.
I liked that Shori's character was so strong and was able to grow throughout the book, and that we were also able to see her weak and what her weaknesses were. I would definitely consider her to be a dynamic character. She was able to overcome her memory loss and not let it her deter her. She's a girl with the ability to kick butt in order to protect the one's she loves, and herself. She knew what was right and fought to show that to the council members.
I found it really cool that the Ina society was so matriarchal, but on the other hand, the author made me really hate the elders like Milo Silk that were so prejudiced, set in their ways, and weren't open to the new and the different, especially since what they were so against was something that could help protect them. Octavia Butler's voice was definitely came through her text.
Fledgling was definitely a completely different story from Twilight and the rest of the modern vampire novels I have read. I always have liked to learn about different people and their cultures so I really liked how Butler introduced us to the Ina, even though they are a fictional culture. The storyline was very intricate in details.
I also found it difficult to read the story due to Shori having the body of a 9 or 10 year old. Also, I think Butlers development of the mythology of the Ina and there culture was cool. I enjoyed the detail and care Butler put into describing the Ina as a species.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy to read diffenert cultures too. The Ina's culture is well introduced. Also, the close-mind elders is like a reflection of some people in the real world. The are doing negative affects on the secioty.
ReplyDeleteI too loved that the Ina's were matriarchal. The book is very empowering to women. The book really pushed that the women were at times more superior than the men. I mean, the female Ina's venom was more powerful than the male venom and so on and so forth. Also, although Shori looks very young, she's a very powerful/sexual being. And yes, the sex scenes were disturbing at times, but I still found them highly empowering. Shori proved to be a very strong woman who knew what she wanted.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I was so ready for Milo to die too. I couldn't stand that character, but that's also the point of the book. I touched upon this in class, but I really think the book is just a major social commentary on race/legal system/sex/power. I didn't like the book at first, but after digging around in it, and accepting the sometimes graphic story Octavia Butler told, I truly fell in love with it.
Here's the link to that MTV Truelife
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mtv.com/videos/true-life-im-polyamorous/1631509/playlist.jhtml