Who Would Like This Book:
This is a powerful, unforgettable novel that grabs you from the start and never lets go. Octavia Butler uses time travel as a lens to explore the brutal reality and complex relationships of slavery from the unique perspective of a modern Black woman. The writing is direct and immersive, making history feel personal and shockingly present. Readers who love smart historical fiction, thought-provoking sci-fi/fantasy, character-driven stories with moral complexity, or works that challenge assumptions about race and power will be hooked. It's a favorite among both school reading lists and book clubs for good reason.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers felt the time travel element was underexplained and wanted more 'science' in the science fiction. The unflinching portrayal of violence, abuse, and hard choices in slavery can be emotionally tough or triggering. Others found the writing style a bit spare or wished for more depth in secondary characters. If you prefer escapist stories or neatly tied-up endings, this one might feel especially heavy or unresolved.
About:
Octavia Butler's 'Kindred' follows the story of Dana, a black woman living in 1976 who unexpectedly travels back in time to the 1800s. She finds herself on a plantation in the antebellum South, witnessing firsthand the inhumane treatment of slaves. The book explores themes of racism, slavery, and survival as Dana navigates between her present life in the 1970s and the harsh realities of the past. The writing style is described as engaging, emotionally intense, and expertly crafted, offering a unique perspective on the complexities of race relations and identity.
'Kindred' is a time travel tale that delves into the psychology and sociology of slavery in America, challenging traditional narratives and exploring the effects of time travel on the characters. The protagonist, Dana, is portrayed as a complex and relatable character who grapples with the moral and ethical dilemmas of her time-traveling experiences. The novel deftly balances a swift narrative style with profound philosophical considerations, inviting readers to reflect on the themes of privilege, history, and relationships across power differentials.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for Kindred include depictions of slavery, violence, racial and sexual violence, trauma, abuse, and suicide.
From The Publisher:
A Good Morning America 2021 Top Summer Read Pick
The visionary author's masterpiece pulls us-along with her Black female hero-through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.
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.
Ratings (197)
Incredible (60) | |
Loved It (80) | |
Liked It (38) | |
It Was OK (13) | |
Did Not Like (4) | |
Hated It (2) |
Reader Stats (467):
Read It (200) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (182) | |
Did Not Finish (7) | |
Not Interested (77) |
10 comment(s)
wow i just…devoured this. felt like i’d been subsisting off scraps for weeks (half a year of ao3 here and there) and finally got to eat a hot, home-cooked full meal. i need to keep a list of things i can read as sedatives after i finish something at 4am, eyes swollen and splitting migraine.
I was recommended this book by multiple people and now I see why. It holds up so well to the test of time and gives such an interesting perspective. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own but I'm so glad I took the suggestions, even though it was a pretty heart wrenching book.
Best of the year so far. Feeling like I'm 8 again, staying up late to read another page, another chapter.
God, this book was so mindbending that I have no idea how to review it. I can’t say anything about it besides what has already been written.
The prose was some of the best I’ve ever read and Kim Staunton was expressive and solid as the voice of Dana, so much so that I believed in Dana fully. The relationship between Dana and Rufus is... twisted, codependent, downright abusive. In her shoes I would be less patient. The relationship is downright suspenseful. Rufus’ volatility, his treachery and disregard for others, his obsession and his love of power are sketched beautifully in several short scenes, so that by the end of the book, the reader has a clear picture of his mental state.
The treatment of Dana is fascinating to unpick. She’s a non-slave in a slave society, technically free but treated as a slave because of her colour. She’s privileged among the Waylon household due to her education in pre-Civil War times, but by our standards she’s treated brutally, whipped and bashed, treated as property because of her colour. As she says, a slave is a slave - and yet, we come to see distinctions between slaves, too.
What is the child of a slave and a free man? How much abuse is ‘enough’? What is owed for saving someone’s life? These are all questions that seem obvious to us, but they are made murkier in this book.
Dana’s in the strange in-between position of being (in the words of one of the characters) ‘too white to be black’ but also ‘too black - the kind that causes trouble’. She is the observer, but she is also the prisoner trapped in a twilight between one time and another. She is the protagonist, the stand-in for the reader, recounting terrible anecdotes she’s read about and comparing her situation to other slaves’. But also, unerringly, she is a victim.
Been wanting to read this book for years and finely found it. I found this to be hard to get through, not because I didn't enjoy it but the way people where treated because the color of their skin. Found my self having to choose the right time to listen to but I liked it a lot. It had many important things to say and the way it was told it was gritty yet powerful at times. I want to read much more by Octavia E Butler but I have a problem finding her books.
Surprisingly good. I don't care for this kind of novel but I had to read it for my lit course and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't read it more than once though.
When people say that science fiction is an escapist genre, this is the book you hand them. A Goodreads review can't do this book justice; it needs scholarship.
Dana, a black woman living in 1976 California with her white husband Kevin, begins to be transported to another time and place. She quickly figures out that she is in Maryland in the early 19th century; each time she appears there, she finds a white boy in danger. She saves him, and soon learns that Rufus is one of her ancestors. Dana must keep Rufus alive so he can have a child with Alice, a free black woman, in order to preserve her own family tree.
As the introductory essay notes, the mechanism of time travel is not important here.
Kindred uses time travel as a platform for a story that intertwines a modern American's sensibilities and knowledge of history with history itself. As Dana spends more and more time in the south, her story becomes a slave narrative. Rufus is the son of a slave-owner, and when Dana is with him she must play the part of a slave. Slowly, over the course of months, the mechanisms of slavery exert themselves over Dana and she finds herself succumbing to passivity, obedience, and submission. It is truly terrifying.
Kindred is remarkable in its breadth. Clocking in at only 264 pages, it manages to explore how slavery effects both black and white people, both men and women, people as individuals as well as in families; how social forces and cultural norms are nearly inescapable. Octavia Butler isn't saying "if we forget our history we are doomed to repeat it," or something similarly trite. She reminds us that history is always with us, that the past is constantly informing the present in ways we may not even be aware of. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Just finished this for the Goodreads Discord book club!
Got really into it at about the half way mark. It started off a bit hard for me to get into the story. Glad to have added it to me reads!
Also found out there's a Tv series based off of it, it doesn't have the greatest reviews but intrigued to try and watch it
This book really surprised me. I mean, I heard it's really good, but I didn't expect to like it that much.
I had serious doubts if this would be a book for me. First of all, I've never liked the time travel theme. I don't know why, but it just never worked for me. Still, I can't say that this was my favorite part of the book either, but at least I didn't mind it. I'm not a huge fan of historical novels either, they just aren't for me. The general idea of this book is definitely beyond what I usually read. And while I really enjoyed this book, I doubt I'll be reaching for more of this type of story in the future.
I was surprised how suitable and multi-dimensional this story was, especially considering the fact that it was written in the late 1970s. In my opinion, the author managed to capture all the shades of gray in the world she created very well. The world the main character ends up in is neither easy nor black and white. The views and values presented by the author in this book are truly timeless. That's why I don't think this book has lost its relevance. And that is why it has an impact on the modern reader as well.
I am very happy that I read this book and I believe that it rightly deserves all the good words that are being said about it.
It's heartbreaking and ingenious.
What can you read after
Kindred?
About the Author:
Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) was the author of many novels, including Dawn, Wild Seed, andParable of the Sower. She was the recipient of a MacArthur Award and a Nebula Award, and she twice won the Hugo Award.
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