Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

62 reviews

deanchaudhri's review against another edition

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

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

Minor: Miscarriage, Self harm, and Terminal illness

dee_hzz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ruthhelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I feel like this is a book I should read at least every few years for the rest of my life. Deeply challenging, immersive and deliberate, this book is up there with some of the most life changing I've ever read. The depths of what it has to say means I think it needs more than one journey through for a reader, so I think I will be back here for a second review not so far in the future. A true modern classic, and one I think which should be studied as standard in school.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Pregnancy

Minor: Incest, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

icapturethecastle's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

The past isn’t so far away… This book is a must read.  Every word is gripping and visceral. Butler transports the reader through time and space. Truly this story stands alone because of how clearly it speaks about the horrors of slavery, the tangled web of complicity, suffering, and shame the accompanied it and the time, and how clear it is that hate and prejudice remain with us today, and still need to be battled with in all its forms. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

nick13's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I have never read any of Octavia Butler's work before but now I need to check some more out because this read was astounding, emotional, but astounding. Every single character in this was incredibly well written and well thought out, making every one of them believable, even if some are VERY unlikable.

All I wish more for in this story was for the time the characters spent in their present to be more fleshed out along with Edana and Kevin's relationship to be a bit more expounded upon instead of just presumed throughout the book.

But really, if all I'm wishing for in a story is more of it, it clearly did something very well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

kmccann98's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.25

This is my first Octavia E. Butler's work and I am so excited to explore more of her writing. I really enjoyed reading Kindred and thought it offered a really challenging and tense environment throughout the whole book. There is absolutely no messing around, and you are taken immediately into the time-travelling realm. I have no experience with time travel with my previous books, but I did agree with the foreword, in that Butler has such a seemingly effortless way to bring in time travel to the scenes. 

One message of the novel that was very reflective, which is noted by the characters themselves, is how quickly people can adapt to societal attitudes. Transporting back to the slave trade in 1815 meant that Dana had to adapt to living as an enslaved woman and one message that is really dominant is the idea that it is easy to slip into those societal norms, especially in a life-or-death situation. The dialogue was written so honestly here, and I felt that frustration alongside Dana.

This book does have some hard-hitting and raw descriptions of slavery, so please read the trigger warnings. However, if you can stomach gore/slavery etc., then this is an essential read. I think Butler's prose is blunt and honest which alludes to just some of the horror of the time. It is purposefully uncomfortable to read but Butler creates such a strong and absorbing atmosphere. 

One criticism I do have is mainly about the structure of the book, although I can absolutely see why it has been written this way. The chapters were very long, and split into smaller parts. Each chapter reflects a specific part of Dana's time travel and so it is understandable that the structure follows closely to Dana's experience. I did find it harder to keep going at times because of this, but the story was so engaging it didn't put me off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

jesticulate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail