Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

195 reviews

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

ninamanon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

A haunting read, but how could a book about slavery ever be anything but?

I was as naïve as Dana in the beginning , thinking she could make a difference, influence Rufus for the better. Of course she couldn’t. No one could have. I grew disgusted of him more and more, but it was really insightful to learn about his worldview. He didn’t understand love. Relationships were transactional to him, especially when it came to black people.

Only reason I didn’t give a higher score is that I didn’t like the writing style. It was just fine, but never beautiful or remarkable. And the ending felt a little disconnected and flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, 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: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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: 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

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

Moderate: Alcoholism and Blood

cassmills's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit

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

sandralaurentino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt