Fledgling: A NovelFledgling, Octavia Butler’s last novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted—and still wants—to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human. |
Contents
Section 14 | 213 |
Section 15 | 223 |
Section 16 | 237 |
Section 17 | 247 |
Section 18 | 257 |
Section 19 | 269 |
Section 20 | 277 |
Section 21 | 287 |
Section 9 | 157 |
Section 10 | 173 |
Section 11 | 183 |
Section 12 | 193 |
Section 13 | 203 |
Section 22 | 297 |
Section 23 | 305 |
Section 24 | 313 |
Section 25 | 317 |
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Common terms and phrases
able accept already answer asked believe better bite blood body Brook brothers called Celia closed comfortable Council course Daniel dead didn’t don’t know door eyes face father feel felt female Finally fire give gone Gordons hand happened Hayden head heal hear heard human hurt Iosif Joel Katharine keep kill kind knew least leave live looked mate mean memory mothers moved never night once pain perhaps Preston probably pulled questions reached realized remember rest Russell said.“I scent seemed seen shook Shori side Silks sisters sleep smelled someone sons stand stay stood stopped sure symbionts talk tell Theodora things thought told took touched tried turned understand vampires wait walked watched wondered Wright young
Popular passages
Page 17 - What are you doing?" he demanded, watching me, not pulling away at all now, but looking as though he wanted to—or as though he thought he should -want to. I didn't answer. I -wasn't getting enough blood from his hand. I -wanted to bite him again, but I didn't -want him afraid or angry. I didn't know why I cared about that, but it seemed important. Also, I knew hands weren't as good for getting blood as wrists and throats were. I looked at him and saw that he was looking intently at me. "It doesn't...
Page 28 - You know damn well it doesn't." He drank a couple of swallows more, then stood up, took my hand, and led me to his bed. I sat on the bed, and he started to pull the T-shirt over my head. "No," I said, and he stopped and stood looking at me, waiting.
Page 19 - I don't think I'm supposed to be alone," I said. "I don't know who I should be with, though, because I can't remember ever having been with anyone.
Page 14 - I'm going home."Then I wondered why I had lied.Was it important for this stranger to think that I had a home and was going there? Or was it only that I didn't want him to realize how little I knew about myself, about anything? "I'll take you home,
Page 25 - I looked up at him, saw that I had scared him, and took one of his huge hands between mine. "I don't know what I am. I don't know why I remembered just now about flesh and blood. But you helped me do it. You asked me questions and you made me look into the mirror. Maybe now, \vith you to help me, I'll remember more and more." "If you're right about what you've remembered so far, you're not human,
Page 27 - I \vas naked. Yet when Wright had taken my shirts, I hadn't minded. And I hadn't minded taking off the jeans when he asked me to. It had felt like what I should do. "I don't think I'm as young as you believe,
Page 18 - I'd done it before, even though I couldn't remember. "Keep me with you," I said, and I knew I meant it the moment I said it. He would have a place to live. If I could go there with him, maybe the things I saw there would help me begin to get my memory back—and I would have a home. "Do you really not have anywhere to go or anyone looking for you?
Page 18 - I don't know." "You're a vampire, you know." I thought about that.The word stirred no memories. "What's a vampire?" He laughed. "You.You bite.You drink blood. He grimaced and shook his head. "My God, you drink blood.
Page 13 - I hadn't yet seen either.The road I was on led to a metal gate, which I climbed over, then to another, slightly wider road, and I had to choose a direction. I chose the downslope direction and walked along for a while in contentment until I came to a third still wider road. Again, I chose to go downhill. It was easier...
Page 17 - If I do, what will you let me do?" I heard consent in his voice, and I hauled myself up and kissed the side of his neck, searching with my tongue and my nose for the largest blood source there. A moment later, I bit hard into the side of his neck. He convulsed and I held on to him.