Kindred

The Ground-Breaking Masterpiece

by Octavia E. Butler

304 pages

English language

Published March 12, 2014 by Headline Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-1-4722-1481-2

(163 reviews)

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.

28 editions

Eduardo Santiago reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I was expecting this to be painful. I expected to feel rage, helplessness, fear, disgust.

I was not expecting serenity. That's an incongruous word for a book on this topic — I'm uncomfortable writing and even thinking it — but that's what fits. Dana, the protagonist, demonstrates an astonishing inner strength, a quiet fire manifesting as wisdom, patience, remarkable tolerance. The result is a nuanced and complex book: kindness, resilience, fortitude; also monstrous cruelty, with clear villains who — much like today's Republicans — are simply weak worthless subhumans, products of a deep-rooted and enormously broken system, incapable of breaking out of it and too stupid to understand a bigger, broader, better world. Butler, unlike me, is able to find compassion even for those creatures. Her Dana is a memorable character: soft front, strong back — Brené Brown would approve. Every character rings true, with believable emotions.

Sean Gursky reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

They don't have to understand. Even the games they play are preparing them for their future - and that future will come whether they understand it or not.

I am fairly new to Octavia Butler's writing (this and Parable of the Sower is all I have to go on) but I understand all of the accolades and praise she receives. Her stories may be written decades ago but they don't feel dated or out of style, if anything they are as important now as they were when they were written.

I came across Kindred while reading recommendations that fit my style and once I saw "time travel" and "Octavia Butler" I needed no further encouragement and this book shot to the top of what to read next.

I thought I would die on the ground there with a mouth full of dirt and blood and a white man cursing and lecturing as he beat me.

Going in to the story cold I had no expectations for the story and Kindred delivered on all fronts. Butler has a beautiful way of writing but can also be blunt and horribly brutal. Kindred does not hold back on difficult topics like slavery, abuse and rape. It can be challenging reading material but the story is so well written that I didn't hesitate returning to the book.

That's history. It happened whether it offends you or not. Quite a bit of it offends me, but there's nothing I can do about it.

As Canada is going through its own reckoning with residential schools and the First Nations it's very apparent that history is ugly, messy and not be what was taught growing up. History can be offensive and the best way forward is to learn from it and attempt repetition.

Kindred is a time travel book but doesn't play within the rules. Paradoxes are ignored and warnings for tampering in the past aren't mentioned. And none of that matters. The story is so engrossing that I wasn't thinking about a butterfly effect or negative impacts to a family tree. This is an outstanding story and am glad for the trip to the 1800's and learn a little more about the messy history that has impacted us all.

ManyRoads reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An amazing tale. An excellent read for those, like me, who are genealogists and/or family historians. The depth of the tale's theme; the complexity of the situation & time; and the involvement / investment in the past form an incredibly powerful base for this tale. Life is never simple.

What an awesome author, she was....

loppear reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on Goodreads

5 stars

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.

Eric Lawton reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Excellent book. Read it carefully and think.

There's not really any “science” in this fiction, just a literary device whereby the Black protagonist keeps getting carried back to a slave plantation from modern times. (Not a criticism, just don’t expect SciFi, but do read it anyway).

This device allows the protagonist to see the situation through modern eyes.

Enslavement is shown at the high, horrifying level of what it is like to be enslaved or slaver as the white protagonist shows some sympathy as a youth but grows into his father's attitudes as he is prepared to take over the plantation.

But it is also shown at the more detailed levels of how the players are partly aware of their situations but also so immersed in them that their questioning is submerged much of the time.

I’m going to read it again soon.

There’s a readers’ guide in the last …

Kibrika reviewed Kindred (Bluestreak) by Octavia E. Butler

Review of 'Kindred (Bluestreak)' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

It's a time travel book, and I have a soft spot for those. This one is no exception.

I feel like the language of any book I read rubs off on me, and that is a minus, since this book takes place among black people and southern Americans, and I don't like the sound or style of that language. Especially since I listened to it in an audio form. But it is what it is.

The characters and the events that take place among the characters are realistic and kind of heartbreaking, yet exuding strength and hopefulness. It is a bit on the dark and violent side, but I don't feel bad after reading it.

Jonathan Zacsh reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Amazing. When someone asks me for a starter Sci-fi recommendation for now on, I think I'll start with this.

AJ Kerrigan reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is a rough read, but a good one. A sci-fi premise worked into a story that is more historical fiction/social commentary at its core. While there's some mechanical overlap between this and a story like The Time Traveler's wife, they're very different stories.

I'm pretty much in line with Christy's review here :).

Kathrin Passig reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Irgendwie war bei mir aus dem Studium oder wer weiß woher der Eindruck hängengeblieben, Octavia Butler sei langweilige Gendertheorie-Pflichtlektüre, vermutlich eine fatale Verwechslung mit Judith Butler (ohne behaupten zu wollen, die sei langweilig, weil: nie gelesen, womöglich ebenfalls ein Irrtum). Jedenfalls war dieses Buch überhaupt nicht langweilig, es hat Handlung (Zeitreisen! Sklaverei!) UND Figuren, die jeweils mehr als eine eindeutige Eigenschaft haben, eine seltene Kombination.

Avarla reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Not what I expected at all, but so good. Kindred ties Black History together and even after 40 years doesn't feel old or outdated. I'm not sure what it says about American history and present, but it definitely makes Octavia E. Butler a fantastic author.

patchworkbunny reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I felt super anxious for Dana throughout, knowing the risks for her. At one point early on Kevin says that it doesn't seem that bad, and I must admit I felt the same at that time in the story. Of course Kevin is a white man which lends him a lot of privilege and Dana challenges him. It doesn't take long for the violence to escalate and for Dana to see the reality of her removal of rights.

It also shows how through fear, someone can become a compliant slave. Many wonder why slaves didn't band together to overthrow their captors, and Kindred tries to show why that might be. The master uses children as bargaining chips, the love of others to keep slaves in their place. And once Dana has experienced the pain and humiliation of a whipping, she is much more cautious about her actions.

She's also in the awkward position of needing to protect Rufus or be erased from existence. She has to basically endorse rape in order to exist. It's difficult to read in places.

It doesn't really tackle any of the paradoxes of time travel, and there are no implications of the modern day items she takes back with her. I felt her a very sensible woman to take some of the things she did. You just kind of have to accept what happens, happens.

Cheri reviewed Kindred, Gift Edition by Octavia E. Butler

Review of 'Kindred, Gift Edition' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

I'd go 4.5 but rounded up because it was better than 4. The story was so well done. The author was no where in the book - only Dana telling her own tale. I look forward to reading this again and telling everyone else that they should read it if they haven't.

Lucas reviewed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Black women writers series)

Review of 'Kindred' on Goodreads

5 stars

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.