Reviews

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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asolweb's review

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challenging informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

michrego's review

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dark emotional informative mysterious 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? No

5.0

alyssawagg's review

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book completely brought me into both worlds that the characters inhabit... Dana is a Black woman who lives in the late 1970s in California. She's a fiction writer and she's married to a white man who is also a fiction writer. When they move into their first house, Dana is abruptly pulled back into the past, 1815 on a Maryland slave plantation. She's apparently summoned to save the life of a five year old white boy who has fallen into the river. She rescues the boy and then disappears back into her own time. The entire book involves her going back and forth between her own time and this other one; and the most chilling sentence in the whole book is when Dana says she can't believe it is so easy to get used to living in slavery. The story is told in first person from Dana's point of view. Dana's voice is strong and authentic. This book really pulled me in. It's a powerful experience.

adamd's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

bookwormdystopian2's review

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challenging dark fast-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

4.5

Content Warnings

sammy_'s review

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5.0

The premise of this book grabbed me as soon as I read it: Dana, a Black woman in 1976, is pulled back in time to a slave plantation in antebellum Maryland. She begins to involuntarily hop between her time and the 19th century, discovering she is pulled back whenever the life of her ancestor - the white plantation owner's son - is at risk. To save both his and her life, Dana and Rufus must learn to work together against both of their innate instincts.

The execution of the premise lived up to its promise, both as a time travel story and an exploration of slavery: the risks faced by a Black time traveller in the pre-Civil War south make a brutally appropriate setting for exploring the barbarism of the antebellum south. The rationalist in me would have liked slightly more logic and rationale to the time travel - but the approach was more one of magical realism, and the book was so good I have to let it slide ;)