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A review by nelsonminar
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
Wow, that was a hell of a book. I just finished it and am kind of overwhelmed. I won't be trying to write any thoughtful analysis, there's far smarter people than me who've done that. Just some personal reactions.
Painful, gutting book. Butler's trademark uncomfortable writing but applied to real history, American slavery, the damage of which is still one of our most pressing problems today. I loved the Xenogenesis series but those books were "safe", clearly science fiction. Nothing safe about this book, it's a compelling narrative of a real historical scenario.
Originally I was trying to sound smart and categorize this book as "not really science fiction / fantasy". But it absolutely is, and the best kind. The fantastical conceit of the time travel enables Butler to write a first person slave narrative in the 1970s. But from a modern perspective, a modern free Black woman, which makes it relatable and intimate for modern readers even as she describes a historical past that's hard for us to understand or imagine. It's like someone mixed A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It works astonishingly well.
I also love all the ambiguity in the story. Dana is clearly the hero and fundamentally blameless, a victim both of the time travel and the slave owners. But in her moments she has to make hard moral decisions, sometimes with no good choices. And the pain of those choices which she bears, both in her mind and literally her body. The ending where she loses her arm was absolutely chilling.
I also appreciated how well written the supporting characters were. The slave population is full of actual people I care about and understand. I'd read a whole book about Alice, or Sarah. The white characters are well written too: Rufus in particular, but also Kevin. They aren't portrayed sympathetically, particularly not Rufus of course. But they are understandable and complex.
One other thing I appreciated was how well researched the book was. It felt absolutely true and real, the kind of verisimilitude you only get from fiction where the author has meticulously studied the subject.
They're making a TV show of this book, or at least a pilot. It's hard for me to imagine how that will work. The book is so brutal. Also full of racist language. Deftly applied by Butler, it's not there to titillate, the awfulness is the point of the narrative. But how do you film that? Will it be even marginally entertaining to watch or just relentlessly miserable?
Thanks to Robert Crossley for the observation about first person slave narratives, in the Reader's Guide that was in my Kindle edition.
Painful, gutting book. Butler's trademark uncomfortable writing but applied to real history, American slavery, the damage of which is still one of our most pressing problems today. I loved the Xenogenesis series but those books were "safe", clearly science fiction. Nothing safe about this book, it's a compelling narrative of a real historical scenario.
Originally I was trying to sound smart and categorize this book as "not really science fiction / fantasy". But it absolutely is, and the best kind. The fantastical conceit of the time travel enables Butler to write a first person slave narrative in the 1970s. But from a modern perspective, a modern free Black woman, which makes it relatable and intimate for modern readers even as she describes a historical past that's hard for us to understand or imagine. It's like someone mixed A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It works astonishingly well.
I also love all the ambiguity in the story. Dana is clearly the hero and fundamentally blameless, a victim both of the time travel and the slave owners. But in her moments she has to make hard moral decisions, sometimes with no good choices. And the pain of those choices which she bears, both in her mind and literally her body. The ending where she loses her arm was absolutely chilling.
I also appreciated how well written the supporting characters were. The slave population is full of actual people I care about and understand. I'd read a whole book about Alice, or Sarah. The white characters are well written too: Rufus in particular, but also Kevin. They aren't portrayed sympathetically, particularly not Rufus of course. But they are understandable and complex.
One other thing I appreciated was how well researched the book was. It felt absolutely true and real, the kind of verisimilitude you only get from fiction where the author has meticulously studied the subject.
They're making a TV show of this book, or at least a pilot. It's hard for me to imagine how that will work. The book is so brutal. Also full of racist language. Deftly applied by Butler, it's not there to titillate, the awfulness is the point of the narrative. But how do you film that? Will it be even marginally entertaining to watch or just relentlessly miserable?
Thanks to Robert Crossley for the observation about first person slave narratives, in the Reader's Guide that was in my Kindle edition.