Thoughtcrimes with Alice

It is no surprise that the ending of the book leaves many things unanswered. The Parable books were supposed to be a series but ultimately were unfinished by the time of Octavia Butler's death. Luckily, some drafts and notes that were held in a private library have been read and posted about on the internet! Here are some questions that I will attempt to answer. What happens in the second book? Basically, Lauren's daughter (living in the Earthseed community) reads her mother's journals. And by the way (SPOILER!!), a ship to "Mars" is actually launched at the end. What was the third book going to be about? Butler apparently wrote many beginnings to this book staring a new female main character living on the new planet (called Bow). It's also pretty grim. In fact: Butler had plans to write three MORE books in this series . You can read more about this in an article here (fair warning, it is a decently long post). What was the point of hyperempathy syndrome?  I...

Lauren and Bankole's relationship makes me very uncomfortable. Not only because of the age gap, but because of the very bizarre power dynamics between them. Bankole seems shocked at first by Lauren's age, but they still continue the relationship and he even proposes to her. He is older, has been lying to her (and might still be), and clearly sees Earthseed as no more than an amusing ideology. He has money, land, and far more experience/knowledge. He has the upperhand in about every category, and yet he is willing to support and accept her. I cannot for the life of me understand why he would be so obsessed with Lauren. Books this reminds me of: 1) Jane Eyre : could not stand this book. Rochester has all of the money and status, plus he is much older than Jane. Also, why did Brontë pull such a deus ex machina at the end?? Justification for Rochester's obsession: Jane's smart and cool and not scared away by how ugly he is 2) Twilight : Edward is literally hundreds of years...