A review by laurenleigh
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

I’ve been meaning to read Octavia Butler for years now (hey fellow PCC Lancer!). This was a really spectacular novel. I truly think it’s a timeless text that will be relevant forever. I admire lots about Butler’s writing, especially how true her characters ring. They are so realistic in their contradictions and depth. It would have been easier to hate Rufus and Mr. Weylin if they were one-sided evil men, but just like Dana, the reader can’t pin them down fully, always kept guessing what they might do next. Unpredictable powerful white men can do a lot of good or a whole lot of damage. Butler writes dialogue so well; all the scenes played out effortlessly in my head. Reframing a first-person narration by an enslaved person into this time travel structure allows the reader to analyze the horrors and reality of slavery in a really unique and powerful manner, especially as it plays out in complicated relationships, both between enslaved people with their enslaver and amongst the enslaved people themselves.

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