Reviews

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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hippenreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I blasted through this book much faster than I thought I was going to. I really like this different sci-fi approach that is taken in kindred that you just don't see in other time travel novels I have read. I also like the historical background that is tied into this time travel book. This book is not for the light-hearted though since obviously it hits on 1800s slavery in the United States. Overall I thought the book was really well done and is a great book for people of all different types of genres whether it be sci-fi, historical fiction, or thriller if you will.

polly_ellen's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

a_love35's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It’s difficult to put into words my feelings about this book. It’s very well written. It’s very moving and also difficult to read at times. The depictions of slavery are accurate and harrowing. Definitely got deeply invested in the characters.
Only complaint is the lack of answers at the end of the novel it made it feel like an incomplete ending. Why was the time traveling happening? Why her? Obviously, there’s family tied to it but why? Just wish we had some more answers at the end.

mabelsyrup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

as a non-american i wasn’t taught abt slavery in the north but i. ate. this. upp

To talk about this book eloquently i'd have to sit here and break my brain trying to come up with words to explain the messages and narrative and its characters aaagghhhh it's too much for my little brain.

But tbh this book was harrowing, it makes you look at the things that were being done through a different perspective, we always see the historical movies or documentaries but here there's a person who is (sorta) contemporary with us experiencing these things and her responses to those things. I read an article that talked about how traumas of the past will always have an effect on the present and the future; no matter how small or big the scope is, and brother when i tell you that was like putting the last puzzle piece in place... Dana's experience in this book is the personification of generational trauma, she bears the scars of her ancestors.. literally.

There are many themes in this book, aside from the obvious slavery and trauma responses, like Unhealthy attachments, gender roles, contempt, violence, despondency and the numbness that people feel toward racism and slavery because "it was long ago", and every single topic was interesting and engaging honestly if i had half a brain i'd write an essay on this book.

The characters are also a vital part of this book, you care for them a lot. it becomes specially troublesome when it comes to Rufus, I felt the way Dana was feeling the entire time; because we meet him so young we think that there'll be a way to rub off some of the common decency onto him and guide him away from the man he would become under his dad's influence, then we realize that we can't and Rufus is a mean, abusive, controlling, obsessive, violent bitch who can't even apologize or attempt to be a good man if there isn't something in it for him. Dana is so much better than me bc i would've used that knife loong before but i get it, she's gotta keep the timeline safe.

The ending did feel a little underwhelming, like the last 10 pages of the last chapter didn't go all out, and it had the potential for an epic ending but idk maybe that wasn't the point of this. ALSO Her last trip and the one before were 3 months from each other in Rufus' timeline and 15 days in Dana's but the trip before those was 6 years for Rufus and 8 days for Dana... the math aint mathing me thinks

"You do me courtesy of calling me what I want to be called"
"The possibility of meeting a white adult here frightened me, more than the possibility of street violence ever had at home"
"I had seen people beaten on television and in the movies. I had seen the too-red blood substitute streaked across their backs and heard their well-rehearsed screams. But I hadn't lain nearby and smelled their sweat or heard them pleading and praying, shamed before their families and themselves"
"As a kind of castaway myself, I was happy to escape into the fictional world of someone else's trouble."
"You don't have to beat people to treat them brutally"
"I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery"
"even people who loved me could demand more of me than I could give-and expect their demands to be met simply because I owed them."
"That's history. It happened whether it offends you or not. Quite a bit of it offends me, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"What had I done wrong? Why was I still slave to a man who had repaid me for saving his life by nearly killing me."
"Rufus's time demanded things of me that had never been demanded before, and it could easily kill me if I did not meet its demands. That was a stark, powerful reality that the gentle conveniences and luxuries of this house, of now, could not touch"
"I realized how easy it would be for me to continue to be still and forgive him even this. So easy, in spite of all my talk. But it would be so hard to raise the knife, drive it into the flesh I had saved so many times."
"Rufus was Rufus-erratic, alternately generous and vicious. I could accept him as my ancestor, my younger brother, my friend, but not as my master, and not as my lover."

Content Warnings

laura_wska's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

mgondwe's review against another edition

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5.0

I can’t really put into words how good this book was. But I’m gonna try. Kindred is the first book I’ve read by Octavia Butler. And I’m glad to say to this book lives up to the hype. I’ve barely come across any negative reviews about her work, and just from this book alone, I can see why she’s so well-received as a science-fiction author.

I haven’t read a book in along time where I felt that I was invested in the storyline and the characters. And I really appreciate the way Ms Butler’s writing can easily make the readers feel like they’re in the mindset of her characters.

This book has an emotionally charged storyline and focuses on several key themes regarding race, slavery, colourism, nature vs nurture and the boundaries between a toxic and healthy relationship. And even though this book was written in 1979, I still feel likes the matters discussed in this novel are still relevant in today’s social climate and discussions of the past still needs to be revisted and continued often.

Now that I’ve finished reading this novel, I’m kind of feeling a little resentful, mostly because I wish I had been introduced to her work sooner. I think this book would’ve been so impactful for me to read back in college/secondary school. I had only come across one black author whose work I really liked back then, and most of the literature we were assigned to read in school was very euro-centric and not very diverse.

Also the ending…. the ending left me with so many unanswered questions and because of this I felt like the novel was incomplete in a way, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Because these open-ended questions leave it up to reader to explore the story further on their own, rather than let the author fill in the remaining blanks.

This is my favourite novel I’ve read so far this year!