A review by bougies_et_etoiles
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.5

So many moments made me question why Dana was sacrificing her body and her sanity to ensure her white ancestor Rufus survived. Octavia Butler masterfully found a way to teach her readers how slavery was more than the inhumane physical bondage and horrifying violence: it was also an enslavement of people’s minds to groom them into accepting their condition. The only true hope Dana held onto was that it could all be a fever dream and end anytime she was in danger enough to go back home to 1976. Packed with symbolism and harrowing prose that left you feeling numb with only a sliver of hope for our protagonist to finally come home, Kindred is a book where the story gains momentum slowly but surely and leaves you confused and unmoored when it ends.
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