Kindred

This book was an intense read, genuinely making me feel stressed sometimes. I'm mostly left speechless. I don't even know how to describe the wide array of feelings this book made me go through. A must read, in my opinion.

It should be on the top 10 list of Science Fiction for all time. This book does what all great sci-fi does it bends your world and makes you look at it in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise have need to and in the end, you’re better off for it.

This book packs a punch. It really drives home that the past can be very dangerous and how it continues to influence the present. Probably one of the best time travel tales. Despite the heavy themes I found it very gripping and hard to put down. And it's so well written. We see everything through Dana's eyes and only learn what she learns when she learns it. It all feels very organic. The characterisations are well done, too, e.g. I guessed that Dana's husband is white before it's mentioned just by the way he is well-meaning but doesn't quite get it. The book explores the system of slavery, how "slaves are made" and the violence inherent in the system even when no overt violence is occurring. Even if you already know a lot about slavery, it really adds another dimension to it. I highly recommend reading it.

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.

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 at the same time I can say it was not my cup of tea.

3.5 stars? The book may have suffered from being read so shortly after the amazing Homegoing. Everything felt flat in comparison to those lush descriptions - a schematic illustration to Gyesi's masterful painting. It's not a fair comparison - different genres, at the very least. But then the use of the genre seems... not exactly cliche, but certainly wasted, pedantic rather than narrative.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the book, or that it's not a good book - only that it could've been much better.