Reviews tagging Sexism

Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler

34 reviews

uyeb's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

this book is such a complicated thing to give a rating to, especially since i read it for school, but i will say what i do know: this is amazing. it’s powerful, and painful, and disturbing in the very specific way of knowing that this is effectively a true story (just with a little time travel). it’s also written incredibly- i annotated it for ‘powerful language’ in pink for school because we’re supposed to and every page has at least one underline or highlight or comment in pink if not five of them. basically i mean octavia butler has a very amazing writing style. there were a lot of times i just had to put the book down and sit there. the time travel is also great (? that word doesn’t really apply here ever but i just mean it’s cool as a concept and how it’s used) but my favorite thing is the codependent and complicated nature of dana and rufus’s relationship. i neither have good words to describe it nor do i want to add spoilers but i think that dynamic morbidly fascinating and brilliantly written. i don’t really have a lot of coherent thoughts about everything else but just know it’s perfectly done. i don’t think i would’ve read this book if not for school but i really am glad i did. if this is any indicator of how ap lit is gonna be then i’m excited. top tier of school books if not the best one so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Suicide

yeah that’s probably not even all; this book is Intense

booksandchocaholic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

 I want to start out by saying that Octavia E Butler is a phenomenal author and is generally underappreciated in terms of both her incredible books and her contributions to the genre as a whole. This book is a literary science fiction novel and it fully embraces both genres excellently. We are following Dana, a Black author in the 1970's as she is repeatedly taken back in time to save the life of her ancestor, a white slaver in the 1800's. This book tackles of course race, morality, gender roles and everything I have come to expect from Butler and in her usual style it does so in a way that allows the reader to think and feel. Butler does not tell you what to think, there is no lecture in her stories, she allows you to draw your own conclusions which I think is an excellent way to convey a message. I also found her characters to be very believable and nuanced which in a story depicting such harrowing times in history it was quintessential to my investment in the novel. Overall, I have nothing but praise for this author and fully intend to read through her bibliography. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Slavery, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

marthadude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage , Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

whitenoiz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Rape, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Ableism, and Pregnancy

chicowriter's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Suicide attempt, Rape, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism

ninabina's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Cursing

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Stalking

taylortut's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Medical content, and Rape

soderick's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Abandonment

miayukino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It’s always interesting to confront a time travel story from further in time. It tends to feel like a youtube comment section where everyone’s saying “10 years later and I’m still watching.” Specifically, there was a part where Dana says she can’t imagine what she would think if a person from 2019 came to visit her. As a person who’s lived through 2019, that gave me a little chuckle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Slavery

Moderate: Ableism

occasional ableist language

jellolord's review

dark medium-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? No

5.0

The plot of this book was incredibly captivating (far more than I would have expected from the first chapter or two) which always left me wanting more. (perhaps not surprisingly) the commentary in this book is still incredibly relevant today--it does a wonderful job of conflating the racism of early 19th century America with late 20th century America. Dark book, but what I would call pretty essential reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Sexism