Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

6 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Misogyny, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Suicide, Child abuse, Self harm, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Cancer, Car accident, Colonisation, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Confinement, Genocide, and Incest

Mention of r slur, dismemberment.

deanchaudhri's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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? N/A

3.0

a very visceral portrayal of slavery in the Antebellum South viewed from the perspective of someone living in modern times. the sci-fi aspects were cool to begin with but the book got a bit repetitive and the plot flatlined towards the end. had lots of potential but still a very eye-opening look into the reality of this portion of black american history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Death, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Minor: Self harm, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

gummifrog's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was an excellent read - and for myself, as a white person, it was very challenging.  In many places, it was difficult to stomach the violence and emotional pain and abuse slaves were subject to at the hands of their white subjugators.  

Butler makes an effort to explore so many ideas in this - the intimacy of the relationship between these two groups, because there can be intimacy in hatred and distance.  No amount of intimacy can close the gap, though, between the person who keeps you ground under your foot.  Interracial relationships and the comparison and contrast between how they would have existed between both time periods was also a large theme.  

I was most captured by the resilience, cunning, and analytical strength of the main character, Dana.  She feels the guilt of having been born in a period where black people are no longer slaves in the US.  Although she is no less consenting to the horrors she is subject to, she is entrapped in many ways and ultimately chooses to free herself physically - but always with the ramifications of what she went through mentally, leaving behind a piece of herself always in the past.  There is a lot of emotional content and philosophy behind the action Dana takes at the end of the book, and I definitely need some time to sit with it and absorb it.

This is a powerful historical fiction / scifi novel, the precursor to Outlander, but so much more culturally relevant and an absolute must-read.  While reading it, I was surprised about how many people hadn't even heard of it.  This is absolutely a classic that cannot be missed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Racism, Vomit, Murder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Slavery, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Terminal illness

theimposter's review

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Death, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

haylzno's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Octavia Butler can do no wrong. I'll die on this hill

This was a quick, but tense read. 
Uncontrollable time travel, slavery, family? 

Every time I thought I knew where the story was going, Butler said "ha" and flipped one on me. 

I can see why Kindred is one of her most popular books 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Classism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical trauma, Infertility, and Miscarriage

areadingstan's review against another edition

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

I found this book unlike any other I've read before. It was both a contemporary slavery narrative and a time travel tale, both science fiction and realism. Butler tears down the boundaries not only between genres but between time periods in Kindred, within which the protagonist Dana is pulled from her own time (1976) back into the 19th century, where she is assumed to be a slave in the antebellum South. 

It was really interesting and also heartbreaking to observe Dana's discovery of the time period she is stuck in, and the realisation that she cannot behave in ways she usually would, in ways she has taken for granted in her own time period, because of her race.

The fact that her husband, who is white, is also taken back with her, reveals the power dynamics that exist between them. His reactions to the cruelty and abuse that black people suffer are different to Dana's, more accepting even, which is revealing of the apathy people can have when they are not the one suffering.

 

The relationships Dana has with the people she is 'visiting' in the past and her husband from her own time are what makes the book as powerful as it is, and once again Butler builds characters that are multi faceted and flawed, good and bad - quite simply, real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Death