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Octavia E. Butler

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What Members Thought

Aug 15, 2022 Lucinda rated it really liked it

This took a while to read as it was my handbag book, but when I was about halfway through I decided to just sit and read until I finished (it was due back at the library!)
Although this book is classed as sci-fi due to the time travel involved, I think it is more of a character driven story.

7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2011 Jeff Scott rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, audiobooks, science-fiction, race

The history of slavery in the United States is a well-documented horror. There seems to be enough first person narratives of runaway slaves and even photographs that can convey how bad it was, but could one really understand it unless they were living in that time? Octavia Butler uses an innovative technique to explore this idea. She probes further to examine how hate and racism can be built into a young innocent child and be turned into a very twisted man. She also examines how easily those thr The history of slavery in the United States is a well-documented horror. There seems to be enough first person narratives of runaway slaves and even photographs that can convey how bad it was, but could one really understand it unless they were living in that time? Octavia Butler uses an innovative technique to explore this idea. She probes further to examine how hate and racism can be built into a young innocent child and be turned into a very twisted man. She also examines how easily those thrown back in time can have little impact on the past and how that past changes those from the future with very hard lessons.

Dana and Keith have recently moved to a new place. Dana has been researching her heritage and with it, a history of slavery in the United States. One day, on her birthday, she is transported back in time to the antebellum South, Maryland 1819, and saves a young boy from drowning. When his father comes to thank her with a shotgun she is immediately sent back to her own time. This dynamic of being called for to help this same boy and sent back when she herself is in danger repeats in the story. Early on, it is a great technique to examine how hate can become embedded in a small boy:

“She said I was a what?” “Just a strange N—. Both she and daddy both said they had never seen you before.” “That was a hell of a thing to say since she saw me save her son’s life.” Rufus frowned. “Why?” I stared at him. “What’s wrong?” He asked. “Why’re you mad?” “You usually call black people N—Ruf?” “Sure. Mama says it too except when she has company. Why not?” His air of innocent questioning confused me. Either he really didn’t know what he was saying, or he had a career waiting for him in Hollywood.” (chap 3)

The first third of the book has this kind of back and forth. Dana is sort of a teacher, hoping that her interactions with Rufus will not make him turn out like his father. As the story progresses, it demonstrates the danger imminent in the time period. How that, even from the future, she is not immune to the actions of those in the past. This becomes far more serious as her trips back and forth in time become far less certain, allowing her to experience what it really would have been like to be slave.

“That’s the part that bothered me too, how easily we seemed to acclimatize. We both had trouble, but it seems like we should have had a harder time adjusting to this particular segment of history.” Chapt.15

Butler uses brilliant techniques, overlaying racism between the present day (of 1976) to the past (1819), how hate can grow in a small boy, and how helpless you can be in a society filled that controls a person as their property, the feeling of being trapped forever in that horror. It makes history that much more real. It’s also terrifying to see what Rufus becomes with a dramatic finish to the story.
...more

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Jan 22, 2017 Donna rated it really liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Time travel and slave memoir is an unlikely combination yet this book captures a well done genre blend that includes historical fiction, fantasy, and women's empowerment novel.

I'm giving nothing away by revealing that this story is about an African-American women who time travels between 1976 California and early 19th century Maryland to find herself on a slave plantation needing to keep a young white man alive long enough to become her great-great-grandfather.

The thing I like best about this ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2014 Kerry rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: about-a-woman, female-author, iownthis, african-american, 11booksclub

I can't believe I picked the ONLY Butler that isn't science fiction. I chose it because it was a standalone, not a series, but still, that was stupid. I need to get over my "oh no I can't know ANYTHING about the plot!!" thing when choosing a book for Book Club. Oh well. Sorry, Book Clubbers!

This was only all right. ...more

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Apr 19, 2021 Malaina rated it it was amazing

Everyone should read this. I had avoided it because I don’t generally like science fiction but it read mostly like historical fiction. And it’s excellent.

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2017 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, sci-fi-fantasy, american-history

I don't know why this isn't on every high school reading list. I also don't know why it is tagged as science fiction. Yes, there is time travel, but the logistics of it are never mentioned, never made clear, and are not anywhere near the heart of the book.
At the heart of the book is the relationship between Dana and Rufus. This relationship is complicated by time and place. Their bond that runs so deep that it breaks all conventions and has the power to save and destroy both of them.
Dana is a mo ...more

1 like · Like · see review