Kindred

by Butler, Octavia E.
ISBN: 9780807083697
4.7 (9)
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780807083697

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Overview

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.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Butler, Octavia E.
  • ISBN: 9780807083697
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.01 x 0.80
  • Number Of Pages: 287
  • Publication Year: 2004

Customer Reviews

Rating Snapshot

5 ★   78%
4 ★   11%
3 ★   11%
2 ★   0%
1 ★   0%
4.7
9 Ratings

11

11% Would Recommend
1 Recommendations

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  • Kindred

    Would Recommend
    Donna H. - 4 months ago

    I really enjoyed this book. Very creative premise with some time travel.

    Tags: Suspenseful, Plot Twist, BIPOC

  • Time Travel for Social Change

    Tera B. - 3 years 5 months ago

    Uncontrolled time travel, pre-Civil War south and a woman from 1976 called Dana fold together to create a mesmerizing and toxic concoction of social commentary, family and magic. The idea is simple, one that every reader of time travel should know like the back of their hand; Dana, our hero, is pulled out of time. She disappears from her apartment in San Francisco and is thrust onto a full working plantation. If Kindred had been any other basic time travel novel Dana would be there to save the world, to right some wrong and to be the chosen one for a time long past. There would be a mentor to offer protection and to shelter her as she learned to deal with the new world. None of this is the case. There is no mentor to save Dana, no evil to defeat and no grander plan for her. Dana is utterly and completely alone. That fact is what makes Kindred incredible. With no safety net, Dana is forced to make decisions that will see to her survival and very little else. Instead of trying to change the world Dana is forced to ask the question if the past is worth her life and her chance to return to the future. The choices and following consequences are haunting and require an open mind. As Dana continually gets pulled into the past for longer and longer frames of time she develops complex relationships with slaves and plantation owners alike who see the color of her skin first and foremost. Nothing about Kindred is easy. Crisp, clean writing carries emotionally poignant dialogue. Butler sketches the world lightly: she is more concerned with action and dialogue. While more descriptions of the environment would never hurt it does not distract from the story Butler is telling. Butler actively challenges the reader continuously on matters of racism, sexism, and abuse. Characters are faced with choices between the lesser of two evils. Every character Butler writes is in shades of gray and misshaped products of their time. Kindred is a novel that challenges social perception and questions how racism of the past echoes into the future. If you like time travel grounded in reality this book is a must read.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Kindred

    Jordan P. - 4 years 11 months ago

    Fascinating time travel novel focusing on understanding time and personal history in an African-American context.

  • A must read

    Natalie T. - 4 years 11 months ago

    Wow. Kindred is unlike any book I’ve ever read. Not only does it deeply effect the reader emotionally, it also encompasses the different layers of complexity in a fantasy, historical-fiction, and memoir all wrapped up in one book. It’s a horrifying look into one of the darkest periods of American history, the deep antebellum South. Dana is a young Black writer living with her husband in California when she is suddenly and inexplicably dragged back in time to 1815 Maryland. She arrives at the scene of a young, white boy named Rufus drowning in a river. After rescuing him and then looking down the barrel of his father’s rifle, she disappears just as suddenly back into 1976. With no warning of when she’ll be catapulted through time next, Dana is forced to acclimate to plantation life in the nineteenth century. She quickly learns that her fate is intertwined with the Rufus’ and that his well-being is what guarantees that her ancestors, and ultimately herself, will survive. Genius that Butler is, she succeeds in sparing no gruesome details and showing you the atrocities of slavery. Her commentary of both the past and the present are still fresh and modern today. This is not the sugarcoated version of history we were taught in class. Octavia E. Butler is a gift to all of us. #springpicks

  • Kindred

    Noreen L. - 5 years 1 month ago

    Even though this was first published in 1979, it holds up. A gripping story that holds your attention from beginning to end. Says a lot about racial relations in the past and now. A must read for time travel fans. Can't believe I have never read this before now. .