A review by cozyhosie
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

 

“Repressive societies always seemed to understand the danger of ‘wrong’ ideas.”

“‘Better to stay alive,’ I said. ‘At least while there’s a chance to get free.’ I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.”

Dana is a black woman, a writer, living in the 1970s. Rufus is a white man, a plantation owner, living in the pre-Civil-War 1800s. Connected by blood, Dana is repeatedly pulled back in time to help Rufus when he is in trouble. In her present, Dana is an independent woman. In the past, she is assumed to be a slave. 

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is a life-changing read. Dana’s struggles to reconcile saving Rufus with the way slaves are treated on his plantation are fascinating to read. Octavia Butler’s prose reaches right into your heart and clenches its fist and makes you feel what Dana feels and hurt when Dana hurts. The juxtaposition of Dana’s strong relationship with her white husband Kevin vs. her fraught interactions with Rufus and his father show the glaring difference in how someone should be treated against the way racism teaches people how to treat others. This book should be required reading for every high school or college student. I highly recommend this book for every reader that wants to confront themselves and learn more about experiences outside their own.