E-book, 287 pages
English language
Published Sept. 11, 2008 by Beacon Press.
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...
I like the approach of getting the magic out of the way up front and then going to work on excellent characters and the complex contrasts between time periods. Maybe it's easier for historical fiction, but I can't help noting how flawlessly this story written in the 1970's holds up.
I liked this A Lot. Got through it in a couple of days because I really empathized with the characters and was keen to see what happened to them. I think the book is based on a very interesting idea. The horror of slavery is described very clearly and I have the impression that I somewhat understood it.
Reading sci-fi conditions you to accept premises (like unexplained time travel) and revel in the direct storytelling they open up - here a visceral slavery story with a range of conflicted sympathies put up against 1970s race and gender relations.
Amazing. When someone asks me for a starter Sci-fi recommendation for now on, I think I'll start with this.
I would recommend Kindred. I didn't really feel engaged by the first third or so, but found myself unable to stop after a while.
Seems odd to say I enjoyed it, but I did really appreciate it. I appreciate how the relationships between characters, with the institutions of slavery, farming, with their time and place, are complicated.
Not that they're difficult to understand or full of twists and changes—though they can be—but that the author managed to build them up in a way that made sense, but also looked all wrong when I looked up from the book and thought about it. Reading it was a process of acknowledging some unspoken assumptions of mine that showed me how simple or weakly-considered my own understanding of slavery and social structures of the time may be.
Couldn't put it down this weekend. Very good read - some painful stuff to endure, but good characters and plot pacing.
