Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

133 reviews

hamstringy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

Octavia E. Butler has always been someone I said I should read, and boy is there a reason. This was a thoughtful and harrowing book all the way through. The characters have so much story to them, and the sci-fi/spec fic becomes more and more powerful as time passes.
I read Rick Riordan’s goodreads review and I think it sums the greatness of the book up: 

We may be lulled into the feeling that we have advanced, that we have made progress as a society. But at any moment, we may be yanked back into the past and reminded of where we came from. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Slavery, Physical abuse, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit

aksmith92's review against another edition

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

5.0

Wow, this book may be relatively on the short side but it packed a huge punch. Kindred is about Dana, a woman living in the "modern" 1970s who somehow travels through time in the 1800s to save a child called Rufus. We are introduced to the characters in this novel, knowing little about how this time-traveling works or why it is happening to Dana, although around page 20, we begin to gather some pieces. 

When all is said and done, this book may be sci-fi/fantasy (I believe Butler noted that she would call it "grim fantasy" in an interview since there was nothing scientific about it), but it's more real than we would like it to be. It's about race and an incredibly dark time in American history. Butler manages to intersect historical records and research with the time-traveling trope in a fascinating and beautiful (but, as most books about this time, horrible) way. It is incredibly well-written and emotional. It pained me to read this, but it was so important to read it at the same time. 

As a note, Butler has decided to forgo a lot of explanation around this somewhat science fiction novel and has instead relied on metaphor and allegory during the more "fantastical" times of the novel. We don't get intense descriptions of the time travel or the "science" behind it - we just know it happens and its impacts. This is no spoiler and won't take away from the story, but those who are itching for more detail may find themselves frustrated. But, for a book of this caliber, I don't think it was at all needed.

I loved it and yet hated it so much because America at this time was awful. I had all the feels reading this book, but I thought it was incredibly well done. I'm sure excited to read more of Octavia Butler's stuff in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Racial slurs, Gore, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

kirkspockreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Child abuse, Blood, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gore, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

hotkoolaidpotato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Cursing, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Blood, Grief, Sexual assault, Ableism, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Rape

kelseyr713's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Fantastic, haunting, thought-provoking. I appreciate the starkness of Octavia Butler's writing style. I interpret the time travel as a metaphor for generational trauma - no matter how far removed someone might be from their past, it's in their very essence and requires work to overcome. There is a lot to contemplate here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Blood, Racism, Child abuse, Medical content, Gore, Self harm, Racial slurs, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol

nialiversuch'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Gore, Abandonment, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

loesm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Self harm, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Child death, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

kaitoro_walker13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Wow. This was a fun read. I liked the characters, the overall plot and the

time manipulation stuff

. However, this book does not come without a flaw. I think that the

losing an arm

plot point was quite weak and was overall unnecessary. Overall though, I loved this book, and I would definitely recommend this to anyone

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Self harm, and Death of parent

ninamanon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A haunting read, but how could a book about slavery ever be anything but?

I was as naïve as Dana in the beginning , thinking she could make a difference, influence Rufus for the better. Of course she couldn’t. No one could have. I grew disgusted of him more and more, but it was really insightful to learn about his worldview. He didn’t understand love. Relationships were transactional to him, especially when it came to black people.

Only reason I didn’t give a higher score is that I didn’t like the writing style. It was just fine, but never beautiful or remarkable. And the ending felt a little disconnected and flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Classism, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, and Drug use