Kindred in 2017 Reading Challenge

Jun 05, 2018 Martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, needs-trigger-warning, bipoc-authors-black, read-2018, read-women-18, 2018-yorwoc

This book was absolutely riveting. It was one of those that I've been mildly afraid of for a while, partly the hype, partly because it's supposedly sci-fi (although it isn't really, certainly not beyond the premise), and partly because slavery is naturally a pretty harrowing topic. Luckily it wasn't a book that I needed to be afraid of, and I wish I'd just got on and read it sooner!

In the process of moving into her new house, Dana Wilson is inexplicably flung from her life in 1976 into antebellu This book was absolutely riveting. It was one of those that I've been mildly afraid of for a while, partly the hype, partly because it's supposedly sci-fi (although it isn't really, certainly not beyond the premise), and partly because slavery is naturally a pretty harrowing topic. Luckily it wasn't a book that I needed to be afraid of, and I wish I'd just got on and read it sooner!

In the process of moving into her new house, Dana Wilson is inexplicably flung from her life in 1976 into antebellum Maryland. A child is drowning and shortly after saving him, she finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Thus begins the unusual story of a woman being repeatedly flung between the present and the past; from a world where she, as an African-American, is able to legally marry her white partner, to a world where she is considered less than human, a white man's property.

I found Butler's writing to be more accessible and gripping, and I found it difficult to put the book down (some sleep may have been sacrificed...). Her premise of Dana being ripped out of her time with little warning and no choice was a compelling metaphor for those who were kidnapped and sold into slavery and watching her journey and her confusion of sometimes feeling more at home in historic Maryland than in her present day was fascinating. Another interesting (and alarming) part was watching Rufus develop over time, from an innocent boy who had somehow drawn Dana to him in a moment of crisis, into an insecure young man moulded by the racism and sexism of his time and his heritage. It made for uncomfortable reading as I hoped that he might be different because of Dana's influence but knew deep down he couldn't be.

In terms of trigger warnings, this is a novel about slavery so there are multiple incidents of sexual and physical violence. The sexual violence wasn't graphic and was more implied/referenced than actually seen, so I personally didn't find it triggering. However, if you have a high sensitivity to any reference to sexual violence, then you may still want to avoid this. The physical violence was more graphic and actively described.

It was an easy and solid four stars; the only thing missing was that it lacked an emotional punch. I didn't fall for any of the characters (although half of them wouldn't deserve it), and felt like I should have been more emotional when bad things happened to them. Perhaps this was never supposed to be that type of novel, there's something much more intellectual that I can't articulate right now (and may never be able to as I can never have the same kind of visceral understanding of what it means to be a descendant of enslaved people). Though the emotion was what I needed to give it a higher rating, I didn't feel like there was a hole in the novel because of it. The novel felt fully formed as it was, it just comes down to what makes a five-star book for me vs. what makes a five-star book for someone else. I'd highly recommend it to all. ...more

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Jul 12, 2020 Cat rated it it was amazing

Wow. Just wow.

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Jul 17, 2020 Cinder rated it liked it

I’m so on the fence with this. I definitely was interested in the story bc I couldn’t put it down and was curious to see how it played out but I’m not sure if I ultimately liked it. I’m quite annoyed that there were no explanations as to why the time travel was happening, and why Dana and Rufus were so strongly connected besides the briefly mentioned relation. That doesn’t explain why she was “chosen” so to speak. I also struggled with Dana’s character. She had more of a battered woman mentality ...more

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