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A review by gummifrog
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
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
5.0
This book was an excellent read - and for myself, as a white person, it was very challenging. In many places, it was difficult to stomach the violence and emotional pain and abuse slaves were subject to at the hands of their white subjugators.
Butler makes an effort to explore so many ideas in this - the intimacy of the relationship between these two groups, because there can be intimacy in hatred and distance. No amount of intimacy can close the gap, though, between the person who keeps you ground under your foot. Interracial relationships and the comparison and contrast between how they would have existed between both time periods was also a large theme.
I was most captured by the resilience, cunning, and analytical strength of the main character, Dana. She feels the guilt of having been born in a period where black people are no longer slaves in the US. Although she is no less consenting to the horrors she is subject to, she is entrapped in many ways and ultimately chooses to free herself physically - but always with the ramifications of what she went through mentally, leaving behind a piece of herself always in the past. There is a lot of emotional content and philosophy behind the action Dana takes at the end of the book, and I definitely need some time to sit with it and absorb it.
This is a powerful historical fiction / scifi novel, the precursor to Outlander, but so much more culturally relevant and an absolute must-read. While reading it, I was surprised about how many people hadn't even heard of it. This is absolutely a classic that cannot be missed.
Butler makes an effort to explore so many ideas in this - the intimacy of the relationship between these two groups, because there can be intimacy in hatred and distance. No amount of intimacy can close the gap, though, between the person who keeps you ground under your foot. Interracial relationships and the comparison and contrast between how they would have existed between both time periods was also a large theme.
I was most captured by the resilience, cunning, and analytical strength of the main character, Dana. She feels the guilt of having been born in a period where black people are no longer slaves in the US. Although she is no less consenting to the horrors she is subject to, she is entrapped in many ways and ultimately chooses to free herself physically - but always with the ramifications of what she went through mentally, leaving behind a piece of herself always in the past. There is a lot of emotional content and philosophy behind the action Dana takes at the end of the book, and I definitely need some time to sit with it and absorb it.
This is a powerful historical fiction / scifi novel, the precursor to Outlander, but so much more culturally relevant and an absolute must-read. While reading it, I was surprised about how many people hadn't even heard of it. This is absolutely a classic that cannot be missed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Racism, Vomit, Murder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Slavery, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Gun violence and Rape
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Terminal illness