Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

61 reviews

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Racism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Slavery, Racial slurs, Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

candacem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Racism, Violence, Sexual violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Slavery

alexwuwho's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Self harm, Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

mandi4886's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, War, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Colonisation, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Stalking, and Antisemitism

sjanke2's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Dana, a Black woman from 1975, is mysteriously and repeatedly transported to antebellum Maryland to save the life of a brutal ancestor. With plain, brutal prose and a gripping plot, Butler’s most famous work makes an uneasy home between science fiction, historical mystery and enduring political literature.

“There had to be some kind of reason for the link he and I seemed to have. Not that I really thought a blood relationship could explain the way I had twice been drawn to him…What we had was something new, something that didn’t even have a name. Some matching strangeness in us that may or may not have come from our being related” (29) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Genocide, and Addiction

foreverbookwandering's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

areadingstan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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 found this book unlike any other I've read before. It was both a contemporary slavery narrative and a time travel tale, both science fiction and realism. Butler tears down the boundaries not only between genres but between time periods in Kindred, within which the protagonist Dana is pulled from her own time (1976) back into the 19th century, where she is assumed to be a slave in the antebellum South. 

It was really interesting and also heartbreaking to observe Dana's discovery of the time period she is stuck in, and the realisation that she cannot behave in ways she usually would, in ways she has taken for granted in her own time period, because of her race.

The fact that her husband, who is white, is also taken back with her, reveals the power dynamics that exist between them. His reactions to the cruelty and abuse that black people suffer are different to Dana's, more accepting even, which is revealing of the apathy people can have when they are not the one suffering.

 

The relationships Dana has with the people she is 'visiting' in the past and her husband from her own time are what makes the book as powerful as it is, and once again Butler builds characters that are multi faceted and flawed, good and bad - quite simply, real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Death

annietestin's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Medical content, and Death of parent