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gramcracker's Reviews (205)
That Time She Got Her Hand Stuck in the Wall…
If you are a fan of action-packed science fiction blended with the mind-opening aspect of historical fiction, then Kindred is the book for you!
By following a woman of color, Dana, the reader gets to experience her going back in time to the 1800’s where slavery is very prominent in the south. She soon meets her ancestor as a young boy and must save him from a raging river, a dangerous fire (that could literally burn his entire house down), a fight that he should have died in, and more. It is really cool to be able to read about this boy growing up and how people in the south would change as they grew up during this time.
Octavia Butler writes this realism novel in a way that is very easy to understand. Well, some parts are difficult to wrap your brain around. Like the fact that Dana literally gets her hand STUCK IN A WALL!
Not only does she go back in time, but within each chapter, she also goes BACK AGAIN to her own time in the 1900’s. I know the 1800’s and 1900’s seem like a very similar time, but the way people act is extremely different.
I loved the mystery book, If We Were Villains, and while Kindred was not a mystery book, the aspect of going back and forth between time periods remains in both. Both of these had the time travel aspect written in a way that was easy to understand. It didn’t leave me wondering where they were in terms of the past and present.
I think Butler wrote Dana’s story in such a way that truly expresses the difficulty of life in the past, while still making it clear that people of color don’t have it perfect today. I think books that can open our eyes to the complex histories of different countries around the world as well as be interesting enough to hold a reader captive are important.
To me I really like this book because it was able to keep my interest. I am not a nonfiction or historical reader, but this book was enjoyable to read. So in my opinion, I would not limit this book to science fiction readers or nonfiction readers, I think just about anyone would like this book because of how fast paced it is. Butler will jump years in the span of one page. This being said, she understands that boring fiction is nothing that people want to read, so she leaves out all the boring parts.
If you are a fan of action-packed science fiction blended with the mind-opening aspect of historical fiction, then Kindred is the book for you!
By following a woman of color, Dana, the reader gets to experience her going back in time to the 1800’s where slavery is very prominent in the south. She soon meets her ancestor as a young boy and must save him from a raging river, a dangerous fire (that could literally burn his entire house down), a fight that he should have died in, and more. It is really cool to be able to read about this boy growing up and how people in the south would change as they grew up during this time.
Octavia Butler writes this realism novel in a way that is very easy to understand. Well, some parts are difficult to wrap your brain around. Like the fact that Dana literally gets her hand STUCK IN A WALL!
Not only does she go back in time, but within each chapter, she also goes BACK AGAIN to her own time in the 1900’s. I know the 1800’s and 1900’s seem like a very similar time, but the way people act is extremely different.
I loved the mystery book, If We Were Villains, and while Kindred was not a mystery book, the aspect of going back and forth between time periods remains in both. Both of these had the time travel aspect written in a way that was easy to understand. It didn’t leave me wondering where they were in terms of the past and present.
I think Butler wrote Dana’s story in such a way that truly expresses the difficulty of life in the past, while still making it clear that people of color don’t have it perfect today. I think books that can open our eyes to the complex histories of different countries around the world as well as be interesting enough to hold a reader captive are important.
To me I really like this book because it was able to keep my interest. I am not a nonfiction or historical reader, but this book was enjoyable to read. So in my opinion, I would not limit this book to science fiction readers or nonfiction readers, I think just about anyone would like this book because of how fast paced it is. Butler will jump years in the span of one page. This being said, she understands that boring fiction is nothing that people want to read, so she leaves out all the boring parts.
—— “we were young fools”
5/5 : i feel as though i act a lot like nora. i demand perfection with myself and get upset when the best isn’t reached. matt proved that no matter how many correct choices we make, the world will never be perfect and neither will we.
5/5 : i feel as though i act a lot like nora. i demand perfection with myself and get upset when the best isn’t reached. matt proved that no matter how many correct choices we make, the world will never be perfect and neither will we.
