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erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
This is a book that I read as part of the 52 Book Challenge 2023. I had heard the name Octavia E. Butler before but had never bothered looking into it because I thought the name sounded like an airport novel writer or cozy-mystery-old-lady read.. I was so wrong. So silly of me. This book is a nuanced piece of science fiction that explores life and slavery in Antebellum USA, through the eyes of an interracial couple from 1976.
This is a tale of survival. Dana finds herself dislocated from her time and place and landing in the early 1800s in the middle of emergency. At first she saves a small boy from drowning, and then later she stops a fire. As she follows the pattern she realises that she has a connection to a young man who has very bad luck and who she continually has to save from his misadventures.
First hand, she finds out how Black and White people are divided in status and role, and how those divisions are brutally enforced. She hopes that by befriending this small child she may be able to stop him from developing into the same sort of man as his brutal, plantation-owner father.
In the same vein as Time Traveler's Wife (a book published 24 years after it)... hmm, ok I'm going there. *Incredible Tangent Person! go!* Time Traveler's Wife was interpreted for screen 6 years after its publication and Kindred, a book that also deals with slipping through time involuntarily, was adapted for screen 43 years after its publication in 1979. OK, one of those books was about a man who met the woman he eventually married when she was a child and who develops a relationship with her in chronologically asynchronous order, and the other was about a Black woman coming to understand her family's history, slavery and the brutality of oppression, by rescuing her White, several times great grandfather from death.. so I guess it's more about whether or not people want to discuss Grooming, or Inter-Racial marriage and the brutality of slavery... but why did we have to wait so long before that was a thing?
Kindred is a thoroughly compelling read and I seriously raced through the book, not wanting to put it down. The relationships are rich and messy, and offer a convincing look at what happens when we care about people despite their faults. It is a story of survival, and through Dana we are allowed a glimpse of the real life, love, fear, and survival that was endured by those living and working plantations.
This is a tale of survival. Dana finds herself dislocated from her time and place and landing in the early 1800s in the middle of emergency. At first she saves a small boy from drowning, and then later she stops a fire. As she follows the pattern she realises that she has a connection to a young man who has very bad luck and who she continually has to save from his misadventures.
First hand, she finds out how Black and White people are divided in status and role, and how those divisions are brutally enforced. She hopes that by befriending this small child she may be able to stop him from developing into the same sort of man as his brutal, plantation-owner father.
In the same vein as Time Traveler's Wife (a book published 24 years after it)... hmm, ok I'm going there. *Incredible Tangent Person! go!* Time Traveler's Wife was interpreted for screen 6 years after its publication and Kindred, a book that also deals with slipping through time involuntarily, was adapted for screen 43 years after its publication in 1979. OK, one of those books was about a man who met the woman he eventually married when she was a child and who develops a relationship with her in chronologically asynchronous order, and the other was about a Black woman coming to understand her family's history, slavery and the brutality of oppression, by rescuing her White, several times great grandfather from death.. so I guess it's more about whether or not people want to discuss Grooming, or Inter-Racial marriage and the brutality of slavery... but why did we have to wait so long before that was a thing?
Kindred is a thoroughly compelling read and I seriously raced through the book, not wanting to put it down. The relationships are rich and messy, and offer a convincing look at what happens when we care about people despite their faults. It is a story of survival, and through Dana we are allowed a glimpse of the real life, love, fear, and survival that was endured by those living and working plantations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Racism, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Classism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death
blackcatkai's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
CW: violence, death (animal & human), self-harm, suicide, slavery, racism, ableism (casual & use of the r-slur), blood, sexual assault
this was an absolute ride of a book. amazing, upsetting, and just all around fascinating. the characters were well fleshed out, and you feel just about every emotion under the sun for all of them in some capacity. it mostly doesn't even read like a book written in the 70s outside of a couple uses of the r-slur as a reminder. there's a reason Octavia E Butler was an absolute icon of an author and I can't wait to read her other work.
this was an absolute ride of a book. amazing, upsetting, and just all around fascinating. the characters were well fleshed out, and you feel just about every emotion under the sun for all of them in some capacity. it mostly doesn't even read like a book written in the 70s outside of a couple uses of the r-slur as a reminder. there's a reason Octavia E Butler was an absolute icon of an author and I can't wait to read her other work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Racial slurs, Self harm, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Gun violence, Death, and Racism
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, and Ableism
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
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