Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

26 reviews

summerb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Colonisation, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide attempt, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Pregnancy, and Self harm

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol, Slavery, Torture, Racism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gore, Death, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

coe's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Suicide, Slavery, Torture, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, and Child death

Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

ekmook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Physical abuse, Vomit, Confinement, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Car accident, and Drug abuse

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Dana, a Black woman from 1975, is mysteriously and repeatedly transported to antebellum Maryland to save the life of a brutal ancestor. With plain, brutal prose and a gripping plot, Butler’s most famous work makes an uneasy home between science fiction, historical mystery and enduring political literature.

“There had to be some kind of reason for the link he and I seemed to have. Not that I really thought a blood relationship could explain the way I had twice been drawn to him…What we had was something new, something that didn’t even have a name. Some matching strangeness in us that may or may not have come from our being related” (29) 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Genocide, and Addiction

laurenleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve been meaning to read Octavia Butler for years now (hey fellow PCC Lancer!). This was a really spectacular novel. I truly think it’s a timeless text that will be relevant forever. I admire lots about Butler’s writing, especially how true her characters ring. They are so realistic in their contradictions and depth. It would have been easier to hate Rufus and Mr. Weylin if they were one-sided evil men, but just like Dana, the reader can’t pin them down fully, always kept guessing what they might do next. Unpredictable powerful white men can do a lot of good or a whole lot of damage. Butler writes dialogue so well; all the scenes played out effortlessly in my head. Reframing a first-person narration by an enslaved person into this time travel structure allows the reader to analyze the horrors and reality of slavery in a really unique and powerful manner, especially as it plays out in complicated relationships, both between enslaved people with their enslaver and amongst the enslaved people themselves.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, and Miscarriage