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kylegarvey's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
It was announced in Mar 2021 that FX ordered a pilot of a TV adaptation of Butler's Kindred, so these types of stories are still somewhat en vogue, no? "Horror stories. / Except that they were true" Butler writes (117). A 1976 African American woman transported to a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation? That heroine, Dana, is the subject and protagonist; but in some ways the white husband, Kevin, gets an even more problematic fate: "if he survived here, it would be because he managed to tolerate the life here. He wouldn’t have to take part in it, but he would have to keep quiet about it. Free speech and press hadn’t done too well in the ante bellum South" (120). For all the white supremacist guilt stealing, there's as much blame stealing too?
Butler's original text seems good sometimes -- she describes the doctor with a quick "Just a stupid little man who may be one step up from spells and good luck charms" (216) -- but not so good other times -- "Wait. Let me tell it all to you at once. Then you can have all the time you need to digest it and ask questions" (213) (ok, ok, may be necessary practically, but we can skip it narratively?). But other times it's excellent and powerful, like when Dana has to tragically re-reveal the central tragedy to one of its sufferers:
"How could you not know what it’s like to be a slave. You are one" (247)…
"'I said am I a slave?' / 'Yes.' / 'She had risen half off the bench, her whole body demanding that I answer her. Now that I had, she sat down again heavily, her back and shoulders rounded, her arms crossed over her stomach hugging herself. 'But I’m supposed to be free. I was free. Born free!'" (249).
The central heroine's self-regard, even in spite of the epic brutality around her, is par for the course, one of the points of the whole story maybe: "But for drop-ins from another century, I thought we had had a remarkably easy time. And I was perverse enough to be bothered by the ease" (152); or "'You might be able to go through this whole experience as an observer,' I said. 'I can understand that because most of the time, I’m still an observer. It’s protection. It’s nineteen seventy-six shielding and cushioning eighteen nineteen for me'" (157).
Incisive as all get out still, though, too: "I had thought my feelings were complicated because he and I had such a strange relationship. But then, slavery of any kind fostered strange relationships" (365); and "my life was easier than hers. Maybe I tried to make up for that by taking her abuse. Everything had its limits, though" (375).
I trip up sometimes a little, though, on how un-PC we can be nevertheless. Weird for a 2021 white guy to bring up with a 1970s Black woman, but still: about a minor character, we hear bluntly "used to wonder whether she was a little retarded" (385).
Still, even though Kindred's wildly imperfect and Butler's never the ideal writer, it's a slim-enough book with a powerful-enough premise. Robert Crossley's critical essay about Kindred, included in my copy as an afterword, works as a nice way to enlarge that premise somewhat: Dana having to compromise feminist ideals (428) as well as Kindred as a whole being "no more rational, no more comfortably explicable than the history of slavery itself" (425).
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Self harm, Racial slurs, Murder, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Toxic friendship
kkulhannie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, and Colonisation
sjanke2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
laurenleigh's review against another edition
- 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
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