Genre: Science Fiction
Published: June 1, 1979
Pages: 287
Synopsis
The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.
Review
“I closed my eyes and saw the children playing their game again. 'The ease seemed so frightening.' I said. 'Now I see why.'
'What?'
'The ease. Us, the children ... I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Kindred
I grabbed this book and the audio version from Amazon when it was on sale last month, getting both of them for less than $5. Plus, it came highly recommended from an author I follow, Harper Miller.
Because I am who I am as a person, I absolutely grabbed this book without even reading the synopsis. I knew it had to do with the 1800s, based on the cover photo, and I did catch a glimpse of the words “science fiction”… but I really didn’t give it much thought.
When I started it I was surprised to find the main character was in the 70s… and then out of no where – BAM – time travel to the 1800s. I’m going to have to say that going into this book almost entirely blind made it that much more interesting to me.
I really enjoyed how the author used time travel as a way to show slavery more openly. Many people can think back and say, “If I was a slave I’d have done [insert random things]”. But she was there. She knew how it worked. And yet she couldn’t do much to change things. I think that helped make this story feel so much more realistic.
There’s a lot of questions I had after finishing the book, and I was a bit frustrated when it ended. Although I do have to say that I was quite intrigued by it and I am interested in reading more books by this author.
4 Platypires - Joood-Hooligan
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About the Author
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.
Such review. Much wow.
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