Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler

51 reviews

caitlin_lore's review

dark informative sad 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

5.0

A fabulous adaptation of a beloved science-fiction story. This is a hard read, but a must read as it explores the intersection of power, grief, gender, and race issues. It's eye-opening, truthful, and a powerful representation of the past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Murder

gemstonejasper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a great adaptation of the original book. It's been years since I read the original, so I thought I'd pick this up to scratch that itch without having to read all of Kindred again (I'm in the middle of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, so I didn't want to get her writing confused). At first, the art seemed jarring. But the more I read, the more I realized that the art is a perfect fit for the story. 

It's a heartbreaking story that explores Dana's perspective as she is repeatedly pulled into the past to save the life of Rufus, her distant white ancestor. The first time she is pulled back, he is just a child and she saves his life. Each time she goes, he has aged up anywhere from months to years. To keep her family line going, and ensure her own existence, Dana has to keep Rufus alive long enough for his child to be born. But that's not easy. The story gives you no other choice but to watch as a child, innocent as any other, is corrupted by his family, culture, time, experiences, etc., and becomes a disgusting plantation owner.

Don't expect to read this in one sitting. Some books can be read that fast, and some people may be able to do that here. But the horror of the subject matter makes it very hard to read in one sitting. I had to take frequent breaks to process what had happened. But I really loved the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Ableism, Gaslighting, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Slavery

nick_thebucket's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

This book is incredible but the art is so poor that it actually detracts from the story. The way the expressions are drawn is so cheesy and it just doesn't read as authentic at all. Like they drew her looking more emotional eating shrimp than when she returned after time traveling for the first time. It doesn't look like the characters are feeling the emotions, they look like they're acting, if that makes sense. The anatomy was.... there were so many mistakes and they were very beginner level mistakes. The characters didn't even look like themselves half the time because the artists couldn't draw them consistently. Also the layout/composition of panels was so hard to read at times that they literally added in white border to try to make some sense of what's going on and I thought the white linework was distracting and unappealing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Hate crime, Trafficking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Self harm, Sexual violence, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Emotional abuse

emmaloren's review

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

canascorner's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Blood, Classism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Confinement, Murder, Body horror, Slavery, Death of parent, Gore, and Racism

emrockwell14's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

I haven’t read the original book, but feel like if I had there would have been just enough more detail to make this a 5 star read. Even seeing what was cut from the prologue (as shown at the end in the “process of making this adaptation” section) due to space constraints made me wonder what was else was missing from the original. Otherwise, this story was gripping and the illustrations made it come to life in ways that haunt me still after reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Pregnancy, Torture, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Blood

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent

ashenblood's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Couple panels didn't make complete sense like it skipped one or two but otherwise it was a tense story. Went into this blind so had no knowledge of what I was about to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

rcarri264's review

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

Dark graphic novel. Not exactly a fun read but I think an important one. The graphic novel format made it a faced paced book for me. It might be worth reading the full text as well. Good book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

hmetwade's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical trauma, Racism, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

moon_dude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Gorgeous illustration. Nothing new: Octavia E. Butler is a genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Racism