Octavia E. Butler's Kindred: A Novel of Time Travel and Self-Discovery

Anthony: This book was good. I found it hard to put down while at the same time finding it hard to read some of the things in it. Haunting, sad, violent, dark, and meaningful.

United States on Jan 05, 2024

Abi Watt: Loved this book. Brought to life a time and attitude alien to me. I need to watch the series now.

United Kingdom on Jan 03, 2024

Rene M. Mastin: I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it's pacing and it's pull both into the past and to be present in the present.

Ms. Butler is a gifted and thought provoking writer.

The characters are well developed and the point of blurred reality is dynamic. Life for the enslaved was difficult, frustrating, devastatingly diabolical and human all at the same time. To be enslaved and be a hero .....was survival, with each person demonstrating their heroism daily.

The book needs to be read with open eyes and a strong will of literary digestion. Can we, do we influence the past in the present?

United States on Dec 09, 2023

Jeff: Although written near the US bicentennial (still a date of celebration knowing the US history?), the book is still relevant today and seems, ahead of it’s time, to have touched on themes that are still relevant today - we still seem far away from real reconciliation with the terrible history of black enslavement. I had to get used to the style of the book (reminded me of Outlander), but it was an effective style in creating empathy (sadness and rage).

United States on Nov 26, 2023

John E: Great book, very hard to put down

Germany on Nov 18, 2023

Stephanie Campbell: This book was a title selected by my book club. On my own, I might not have chosen it. But after initial confusion when Dana was first transported into the past, I began to be drawn into the story. Dana's a black woman living in 1976 California, married to a white man named Kevin. She takes multiple trips into 1815 Maryland to a slave plantation where two of her ancestors, Rufus the white son of the plantation owner and Alice a freeborn black woman, live. They are both children when she first encounters them. As she goes back and forth between past and present, the amount of time she spends in the past is of varying length, but always substantially longer then the amount of time that's passed in 1976 while she's gone. She looks the same to the people on the plantation each time she returns, but they have always grown older. Each time she's drawn into the past, she finds herself arriving in time to save Rufus's life in one way or another. The story is from Dana's point of view, and through her eyes we see the cruelty, horrors and humiliations of slavery. As a black woman myself, I'm well aware of the facts about what slaves had to endure. But there were points in the story when I...

United States on Nov 09, 2023

Elisa: Il miglior libro che ho letto quest'anno, avvincente, avventuroso e fonte di numerose riflessioni

Italy on Sep 19, 2023

Cristian: Es el primer libro que leo de Butler y ¡que vívido ha sido! Casi que se olía la sangre que estallaba en espaldas esclavas bajo los látigos blancos. Los paralelos con un Estados Unidos “avanzado” y su pasado, su instrumentalización por dos siglos para dar ejemplo a los Nazis, y esa traída heroica de las mujeres negras para restituir las humillaciones, ya no solamente físicas, sino en escritos de blancos, hombres, misóginos.

Mexico on Feb 09, 2022

cla4speed: Octavia Butler does an amazing job intertwining fiction, with the sad and appalling reality of the antebellum south. I’ve read a few books that mention the hardships and cruelty of the slavery, but this goes deeper into the day to day of slavery in a very direct manner. Mixing the harsh reality of slaves with the 20th century mind of Dana (main character) makes us feel closer to the protagonist and drawn into her feelings, and into the difficulties of the times. Even though the book was written in the 70s, almost 50 years ago, this does not hinder Dana’s ability to show us slavery and its sufferings in first person, from the eyes of a 20th century person. I am sure you will feel with Dana and for Dana, and most of all, if you never knew about how horrific life was for Blacks in the antebellum south—being a slave or not, you will be able to get a good glimpse of it.

Brazil on Aug 20, 2020

Laura's Reviews: July 4, 1976. It is the two hundredth birthday of the United States of America. Dana is celebrating her 26th birthday with her husband in their new apartment in California when she abruptly travels through time to a 19th century plantation in Maryland just in time to save a young boy, Rufus. Dana is a black modern woman, her husband Kevin is white, and Rufus is the white son of a planation owner. Dana keeps traveling back and forth through time to save Rufus. She comes to realize that Rufus and a young freed woman name Alice are her ancestors. She must keep them save to ensure that her own family line exists. Will Dana be able to keep them and herself safe?

I have read a lot of great books lately, but this is definitely one of the best fiction novels I’ve ever read. I have heard of Octavia E. Butler for a long time and this is the first book I’ve read that is written by her. Butler put together this novel in an innovative way that makes you feel like you are experiencing the horrors of slavery. The novel is told from Dana’s first-person point of view. Dana being a modern woman transplanted back and experiencing slavery made it relatable to a modern-day audience. I...

United States on Jul 05, 2020