A Good Morning America 2021 Top Summer Read PickThe 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 … 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.
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Excellent story. I was skeptical from the initial description of the book – time travel to Antebellum South??? – but picked it up thanks to good word of mouth. I’m very glad I did. This is a fascinating, fast-paced, wonderfully engaging fantasy that asks a lot of difficult questions about what you would or wouldn’t do in differing circumstances. The plot is tight, fast-paced and always interesting.
Why have I never read Octavia E. Butler until now? Kindred is one of those foundation-shaking books that worms its way into your soul. Mostly historical fiction, a smattering of sci-fi, and all heart, this book sheds a harsh light on the everyday cruelties of slavery as well as modern racial inequality and intersectionality. The characters are complex — flawed protagonists and villains with redeeming qualities. The plot is quietly heartbreaking, searingly honest, and explosively raw in turns.
I picked up Kindred because @Sarah buzzed about it and I wasn’t even sure what I was about to get into!
So, Dana in 1976 finds herself flashing back in time to the antebellum South, on a plantation meeting her ancestors. Just generally not a great place to be if you’re a black woman — which of course, Dana is. How does a 20th century woman navigate daily life in the 19th century, and how does one confront slavery, particularly when you are at the bottom of the power dynamic?
A super interesting book. A total page-turner that I couldn’t put down. Loved the fantasy time travel aspects (Dana can’t control when she gets called to the past or when she returns to her own time). Loved the relationships between all the characters. I even loved the historical aspect, though I’m not usually looking for historical books, this one was just told so brilliantly.
If you’re into science fiction this book is for you. If you’re not a fan…it’s still a book for you. It combines time travel between the 1860’s South and the 20th century North. The heroine is written beautifully brave.
Kindred is the bestselling novel by American science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler. Part time-travel tale and part slave narrative, it was first published in 1979 and is still widely popular; it is regularly chosen as a text for community-wide reading programs and book organizations, as well as being a common choice for high school and college courses.
Kindred by Octavia Butler was a difficult read for me. Difficult not because of the writers skill. Butler is a master storyteller. Kindred is written to perfection, but it dives deep into the lives of slaves in America and that is hard to handle. Reading on the painful and purposeful inhumane treatment of our fellow human being is agonizing to confront. Kindred does not allow the reader to live in denial of the details of slavery. This is why everyone should read this book. When I say everyone I mean everyone. Kindred should be required reading for breathing. The book’s main story is of a woman from the 1970s that is magically transported to a slave plantation. Dana the protagonist gets transported to this plantation repeatedly living the life of a slave in the antebellum south. Towards the end of the book I will say I was frustrated with the characters situation and I wanted it to end already. I was 100% emotionally invested and in a way changed by what I have read in Kindred. Read it yourself after all I believe everyone should.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although not written as science fiction, there is a science fiction element due to the time travel component. However, the theme of the book is about a young African American, Dana, who travels back and forth from her 1976 present to an 1800s past of antebellum south. Dana travels to the past to save her future. The problem is, will she be able to escape the past or will she die in it?
Sympathetic characters well crafted in this original, imaginative tale of time travel.
I loved this book so much! Great characters and a unique plot. Dana is a 26 year old black woman, married to a white man. She is celebrating her 26th birthday, in 1976, when she suddenly finds herself on a southern plantation in 1815. Because she is black she is assumed to be a slave. In order to be safe she has to act like a slave. She travels back in time more than once and I don’t want to say more because it would spoil the story. One to read more than once. The author did great research, the history was so interesting!
Butler was a master of using science fiction frameworks to shine a light on issues of race, gender and identity. This novel is no exception.
In this story, an African American woman inexplicably travels back through time to the slave-holding South. She must navigate her way through a hostile and violent society where she isn’t supposed to be an educated person. She isn’t even supposed to know how to read. She deals with all of this while trying to find her way back home.
The husband of the main character, a white man, finds a way to go back in the past to rescue her. In the past, he is also confronted by issues of identity as he experiences, for the first time, a level of power and privilege that he’s never known before.
Will this couple make it back to the present? If they do, will their marriage ever be the same?
A wonderful book; a must read.
I have so much respect for the author, and for her storytelling. Her writing is visual and emotional, and in Kindred, she writes a deeply moving story of a modern woman grappling with a supernatural, first-hand experience of pre-Civil War. Octavia Butler wrings the truth out of who we are as a nation, as a culture, and as individuals. A must-read.
In his critical essay, Robert Crossley aptly wrote, “In Kindred, Octavia Butler has designed her own underground railroad between past and present whose terminus is the reawakened imagination of the reader.” Although Kindred is labeled a time travel novel, it is not a science fiction novel but a fantastic paranormal historical fiction piece with time travel elements. Dana, an African American woman, living in 1976 California, suddenly experiences an uncontrollable ability to time travel, always arriving in the antebellum south on her ancestors’ Maryland plantation. The author doesn’t explain why Dana is able to time travel but reveals the strong link between her and her great-great-great-grandfather, Rufus, the plantation owner is the catalyst that sends her willy-nilly through time.
There are two timelines in Kindred, Dana’s present life, with her husband Kevin, in 1976 California, and nineteenth-century antebellum Maryland. Whenever Rufus is in danger, Dana is pulled from her present life multiple times to save his life. Each visit appears mere minutes in the present, but days and months on the plantation. The only way for her to return to her time is through fear and pain. Ms. Butler paints an accurate picture of the period’s white supremacy, racism, and blatant sexism. Though from the future and highly educated, Dana’s skin color dictates her place on the plantation, one she assumes because she has no choice. And to protect Alice and Hagar, her great-great-great-grandmother and her baby, crucial people to her future birth.
Dana’s ability to travel through time is unpredictable, pulling her away at any moment. She’s always prepared for the phenomenon to occur and keeps a denim bag close, a bag filled with supplies and weapons to protect herself in the past. But when will the time-traveling stop? When can she go back to living a normal life? The answer seems obvious, but with dire consequences for Dana.
Time travel always generates a paradox. Altering the past will affect her future. The Grandfather Paradox is prominent in this story, given Rufus is the beginning of her bloodline. There is only one way to stop time travel, to kill her great-great-great-grandfather, a man she has a strong affiliation and hatred for. If she kills Rufus, will it annihilate her birth and prevent her from returning to her time? Its an action she weighs with much care while she suffers the pain and humiliation of slavery.
Kindred is a fascinating and thought-provoking read. If you’re a fan of historical fiction and time travel, this is a must-read.
This book had me wanting to slap a lot of people. Mind you, I’ve only slapped one person in my life. If I’ve already committed to the action by thinking about it, this a significant increase.
After reading the first chapter and rolling my eyes a little, I’m thinking Dana will save this white kid and he’ll love her and be a good person and all that jazz. Yeah, no…I got a kick-in-the-pants surprise.
Rufus develops this need for Dana that at first is childlike and a response to trauma, but as he gets older and needs her more often, he starts to show his true colors. Dana still sees him like a child and knows his actions are driven by trauma and his world, but she can’t give up her self-respect. She can try and blend into the environment though, and her husband helps and hinders at the same time. This complex tug-of-war is what makes everyone so slappable and the ending so sad and satisfying at the same time.
“Good person” is a difficult thing to understand. My modern sensibilities have a really hard time with it, and Butler takes opportunities to put “good” behaviors in a historical perspective while reminding the reader that it’s still not OK. With a few exceptions, too many authors shy away from these issues alltogether, or don’t show how complex they are. I appriciate autors who “go there” very much, and Butler doesn’t hold back.
This book is brutal and yet somehow necessary.
I’ve been reading author’s notes in all the books I come across, and this book as some amazing notes resources for more information.
Octavia Butler’s ability to blend the present with the past is remarkable. She was a wonderful writer and woman.
Beautifully researched, this novel is nonetheless like hearing about life on a slave-dependent plantation from a best friend. The point of view from the present era feels honest, not melodramatic, and deeply disturbing. I’m urging everyone I know to read it. It’s an experience and an emotional education.
This book exceeded all my expectations. The writer reeled me in from page one and I could not put it down! I’d say this was a genre hybrid – Historical Fantasy Fiction with a bit of Mystery.
I absolutely recommend.
A classic! A woman from the 70s time travels back to her ancestors as enslaved in the antebellum south. Absolutely one of the best books I’ve ever read.
This gripping time travel story is a classic for a reason. Octavia Butler is a genius with words and she creates an immersive painful story about a black woman from modern times yanked back into the past to defend her frankly indefensible plantation owner ancestor. The story was written in the seventies, and feels both dated and timely. This book should have been on every high school reading list in the country 30 years ago. I can’t believe it took me this long to read this gem.
Wooooow! This book was packed with so much elements! She managed to blend the slavery times and current times and fit them into a book perfectly! The plot was so on point it was almost impossible for me to put this book down! Wow! I can’t wait to read more from her!
Wow, so many emotions and things to learn
Wow, what a read. I was amazed at how quickly this story pulled me in. I really liked the symbolism and what it represented because I was able to follow it. The at the story was told and the imagery made everything so much more real. It was even stated in the him that a movie could not make it seem real. It gave me a theater understanding of what slavery was probably truly like for most slaves. Butler just had a what of making you we and feel.
I loved the time travel aspect of the story. I liked more it want one for one. I liked how they came back from the post and had to struggle with really. How they had to relearn and grow. The horrors they witnessed and described are still important to learn today.