Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

28 reviews

geometryprime's review

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Racial slurs, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Torture, Slavery, Colonisation, Abandonment, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Misogyny, and Hate crime

sannesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is an amazing read, but this is definitely not a light read! It basically contains all the trigger warnings you can think of, so be aware of that starting this book.

Amazing writing, and a difficult, dark, thought-provoking story to read. This story is about a black woman with modern values and norms time travelling to a time of slavery in the South of America. Even though this has the sci-fi/fantasy element of time tracelling, I wouldn't consider this much as a sci-fi book. This book leans more towards historical/literary fiction. A book exploring history, humanity, society, intereacial realationships, power dynamics, racsim, sexism and trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Torture, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abandonment, Racism, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, Slavery, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Murder

jkreads's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

4.5⭐️

Kindred is a sci-fi/historical fiction/speculative fiction mashup and those genres blended together aren’t something I would normally choose, but I’m glad I picked this book up! It’s a classic for a reason. The time jumps between 1976 and the early 1800s were well-executed, they felt jarring and I as the reader felt a sense of dread and panic for Dana each time she was pulled back to the “antebellum South”.

This book deals with some heavy themes given the setting - racism, slavery and rape just to name a few. Kindred unpacks some big issues but what struck me was the idea of what it means to be a ‘good person’ and how this has evolved over the years. Actions that were considered kind or good in the flashback portions of this book are now (rightfully) understood as cruel and heinous by most. 

Kindred is such a well-crafted book that even though it was set in the mid-70s and this was mentioned frequently throughout the story, I kept forgetting that Dana wasn’t living in 2024. Nothing about the writing or the references felt dated, which is no mean feat for a book written almost 40 years ago! This book encompasses so many different genres, I honestly think just about anyone could read and enjoy it (and by enjoy I mean scream into your pillow every two seconds).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Hate crime, Slavery, Drug use, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, and Blood

charliebites's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Death, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Police brutality, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Slavery, Physical abuse, Self harm, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Torture

Moderate: Chronic illness, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Classism, Child death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Pregnancy, Vomit, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Blood, and Drug abuse

laurenreads100's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I cannot explain how much I love and equally hate this book. I read it for cjtalksbooks bookclub this month. I stand by my original comments that I'd never normally choose to read books about slavery, fiction or otherwise, I've had enough of that but I still love what this book represents even if I can't stomach the history it came from. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape

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.

erikwmj's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Suicide, Slavery, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

martinza's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

It is about usa southern states slavery, it is hard to read, it is very good. The time travel element brought it emotionally much closer to me in contrast to a „it was a long time ago - it was very bad“ story. The only well used time travel in any story I can remember at the moment. A focus is on different kinds of human relations in the context of slavery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Body horror, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Torture, and Suicide

moonlitemuseum's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Phenomenal. Brutal. Precise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Blood, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Deportation, Hate crime, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Self harm, Child death, Grief, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse