Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

103 reviews

literaryinkling's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Racial slurs, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Physical abuse, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

loesm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Self harm, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Child death, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

elliexreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book - it was fast-paced, tense, dramatic, upsetting, unsettling, poignant and really entertaining to read (in a dark, horrible way). As my parents pointed out, both Dana and Kevin, and the occupants of the 19th Century plantation,  accept the existence of time travel pretty quickly. Unbelievably quickly. But you know, there were more important things and I’m glad we just got on with the plot rather than agonising over the whys and wherefores. This is a science fiction and also a historical fiction, grappling with gender, race, sexuality and humanity. Really really good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Self harm, Pregnancy, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Racism, Torture, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Cursing, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

laurenlreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death, Rape, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexism, Torture, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Drug use

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

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: 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

pinkhyxteria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Suicide, Sexism, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Blood and Alcoholism

sarahreadsromance's review against another edition

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

I have no words.  This book does an incredible job at demonstrating the complexities of slavery in the US and the social and power dynamics along with it.  It’s easy to think of slavery as a distant issue, one that is so far from humanity today.  By humanizing Rufus and other white characters, Butler shows how society got to that place and how and why systems of oppression are maintained.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Pregnancy, Torture, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Medical content, Torture, Slavery, Incest, Sexual violence, Violence, Confinement, Rape, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Ableism, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Car accident, Dementia, and Drug abuse