Scan barcode
A review by shiradest
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
This is my second time reading Kindred, and I appreciated it so much more than the first time around that I am rating it a full 5, which I reserve only for books I would purchase as reference books to keep with me (and that is literally only a handfull, as I am a minimalist).
I'm sure that others have summarised the book, so I will only add that I found her writing clear, not at all heavy-handed, and that she gets multiple points across in ways that I found both surprising and gratifying.
I was a bit surprised that she left Harriet Jacobs off of her list of famous escaped MD slaves, but then [b:Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl|152519|Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl |Harriet Jacobs|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1418788224s/152519.jpg|330710] was not taken seriously, apparently, until recently with the release of [b:Harriet Jacobs: A Life|66429|Harriet Jacobs A Life|Jean Fagan Yellin|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388268295s/66429.jpg|64414]. I was also a bit surprised not to see her mention the use of quilts as markers for escaping slaves, well documented in [b:Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad|625491|Hidden in Plain View A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad|Jacqueline L. Tobin|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320485626s/625491.jpg|835670] and other works. But that might also have distracted from her purpose, so it is yet another lesson of the craft of writing that I will gratefully hope to learn from this wonderful writer of blessed memory.
Read, Write, Dream, Teach !
ShiraDest
August 29th, 12016 HE
I'm sure that others have summarised the book, so I will only add that I found her writing clear, not at all heavy-handed, and that she gets multiple points across in ways that I found both surprising and gratifying.
I was a bit surprised that she left Harriet Jacobs off of her list of famous escaped MD slaves, but then [b:Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl|152519|Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl |Harriet Jacobs|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1418788224s/152519.jpg|330710] was not taken seriously, apparently, until recently with the release of [b:Harriet Jacobs: A Life|66429|Harriet Jacobs A Life|Jean Fagan Yellin|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388268295s/66429.jpg|64414]. I was also a bit surprised not to see her mention the use of quilts as markers for escaping slaves, well documented in [b:Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad|625491|Hidden in Plain View A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad|Jacqueline L. Tobin|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320485626s/625491.jpg|835670] and other works. But that might also have distracted from her purpose, so it is yet another lesson of the craft of writing that I will gratefully hope to learn from this wonderful writer of blessed memory.
Read, Write, Dream, Teach !
ShiraDest
August 29th, 12016 HE