304 pages
English language
Published March 12, 2018 by Headline Publishing Group.
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Important book which takes you on a wild journey on a plantation. Great reminder that knowing something and feeling it are two very different things.
For much of the time I spent reading Kindred, I completely forgot that this novel was written in the 1970s - some 45 years ago now. Octavia Butler's ideas and prose style still feel fresh and I was glad that this important novel hasn't suffered from being 'of its time'. Other 1970s novels I've read have seemed dated but, in fact, Kindred came across as just as relevant now as it must have been to its first readers. On a personal level that was a good thing because it meant I could fully appreciate the story and everything it wanted to impart to me. I was also very aware though that this also illustrates how little progress has been achieved in terms of racial and gender equality over the past four decades. Slavery such as Dana experiences on the plantation may no longer be legal, but the attitudes it fostered …
For much of the time I spent reading Kindred, I completely forgot that this novel was written in the 1970s - some 45 years ago now. Octavia Butler's ideas and prose style still feel fresh and I was glad that this important novel hasn't suffered from being 'of its time'. Other 1970s novels I've read have seemed dated but, in fact, Kindred came across as just as relevant now as it must have been to its first readers. On a personal level that was a good thing because it meant I could fully appreciate the story and everything it wanted to impart to me. I was also very aware though that this also illustrates how little progress has been achieved in terms of racial and gender equality over the past four decades. Slavery such as Dana experiences on the plantation may no longer be legal, but the attitudes it fostered are still very much with us as can be seen by the necessity for movements such as BLM.
Dana and Rufus are complicated, nuanced characters who find themselves tethered to each other by an inexplicable bond. I was surprised at how easily I could accept and believe in the time travel premise and think that this was achieved due to the authenticity of the main characters. I often felt that Dana could do more to help the slaves with whom she lived, but she isn't a 'superhero' movie character, rather a confused and frightened woman who struggles to adapt to the cold callousness of the Weylin family. To realise that she shares ancestry from both Rufus and Alice must have been so difficult to come to terms with, yet I loved seeing how Butler gives Dana hints of each of those characters within her own makeup.
Other than its scenes of extreme violence, Kindred was an easier read than I had expected. I think I was influenced by its reputation to expect a philosophical literary novel, but it is actually a compelling story that keeps up an exciting pace throughout. Butler was an accomplished storyteller who manages to impart what she wants to say without breaking the stride of her tale so, while I was left with plenty to think about after finishing Kindred, I never felt hectored or lectured whilst reading. A deserved classic.
Content warning Minor plot information
Octavia E Butler published Kindred in 1978, but started writing it a couple of years earlier. So it's coming up for its 50th anniversary, but it honestly doesn't feel like it.
By using the device of (inadvertent) time travel to send an intelligent, educated middle-class 20th century Black American woman into the Southern USA before the Civil War, Butler tries to bring the horrors and cruelties of slavery to the attention of readers who might not otherwise go near a history book.
Obviously everyone knows that slavery was terrible, but the book really focuses your mind on how arbitrary decisions made by a slave owner, almost on a whim, could rip families apart and result in brutal punishment for minor offences or even none at all.
Rather than being a more Hollywood-esque "triumph of good over evil" story, it actually shows the main character becoming more and more accepting of her fate as time goes on, as she realises that any attempt to beat the system is futile. But at the same time, by bringing her 20th-century sensibilities to people who might at times be cruel but are (for the most part) not intentionally sadistic, Dana also manages to slightly improve her lot as well as those of the other enslaved people in the household.
I'd definitely recommend the book. The prose is easy to read but never superficial, and the plot moves along at a fair old pace. My only real criticism is that there is no satisfactory explanation for why the two main characters' lives suddenly become intertwined across 150 years of separation. It's really just a plot device to bring in the main story and as such, although this is often classed as a science fiction novel, I don't think it really fits into that category.
What a book. I was drawn in by the horrifying scenario that Dana found herself trapped in, but the examination of how slavery was so normalized, and how evil the institution of chattel slavery was.
I happened to have been in the middle of this book when a conspiracy theorist, racist member of my extended family brought up how whites are unfairly blamed for slavery. It made me realize that while the practice of owning people as slaves is gone, the same anti-black philosophy is still thriving among white men.
The idea that my family member or his ilk would tacitly endorse the return of slavery is slim, but, in finding themselves in Kevin's shoes might think similarly that "Hey, this isn't as bad as I thought it would be..."
I keep trying to read books by Octavia Butler, and yet somehow never manage to find one that really captivates me. This in parts dark and brutal story of a WoC from 1976 traveling back in time to live on the antebellum estate of her ancestor just didn't grab me.
Dana somehow has a connection to a boy called Rufus who turns out to be her ancestor. Whenever his life is in danger, she is transported to his time, to witness how brutally slaves were treated at the time. As she is black, she is also considered a slave. She keeps traveling back repeatedly, and things get worse each trip. Only when her own life is in danger as well, does she get back to her own time.
I can acknowledge that it's a masterpiece for its time, published in 1979, and I am glad to have read it, but …
I keep trying to read books by Octavia Butler, and yet somehow never manage to find one that really captivates me. This in parts dark and brutal story of a WoC from 1976 traveling back in time to live on the antebellum estate of her ancestor just didn't grab me.
Dana somehow has a connection to a boy called Rufus who turns out to be her ancestor. Whenever his life is in danger, she is transported to his time, to witness how brutally slaves were treated at the time. As she is black, she is also considered a slave. She keeps traveling back repeatedly, and things get worse each trip. Only when her own life is in danger as well, does she get back to her own time.
I can acknowledge that it's a masterpiece for its time, published in 1979, and I am glad to have read it, but at the same time I can say it was not my cup of tea.
I liked this A Lot. Got through it in a couple of days because I really empathized with the characters and was keen to see what happened to them. I think the book is based on a very interesting idea. The horror of slavery is described very clearly and I have the impression that I somewhat understood it.
Reread this one after a long time. Just as good as ever. Great characters.
