Damian Duffy

This hit a bit close to home when I realised that while it was written in 1993 it's set starting in 2024.... in an America broken and people living in enclaves trying to eke out a living, there's unattended environmental disasters, economic crises and social chaos, so nothing like today, at all...
Lauren Olamina is a preachers daughter living in a gated community trying to survive her hyperempathy (caused by her mother being addicted to Paracetco...) until her gated community is destroyed show more and she has to run with some others to survive. Through her life she develops a religion, Earthseed, and she works to refine it over time and to create a world she can live in.
Oh man does some of this cut close to the bone as I look at America and the world as it is now. I don't think we're far enough away from some of the disaster depicted in this story and it should be read by those who claim that people didn't know about some of the things that they claim are new problems in the world. This is moving and violent and asks questions of the reader. And boy do I hope it doesn't come to pass. show less

This was a hard story to read the first time around. As a graphic novel, it's even harder. Partially because I knew what was coming, and partially because the art depicted the most horrific scenes in a way my imagination never could.

This adaptation did the original novel justice. The plot was perfectly preserved, and the art was hard, gritty, and angular. It wasn't a pretty graphic novel, and it wasn't a pretty story.

Those who have already read Kindred will be pleased with how the story show more translated. Those who haven't will feel punched in the soul... much like I did the first time, and again reading it again as a graphic novel.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. show less

A young black woman in the 1970s gets unexpectedly and inexplicably time-travelled to a slave plantation in Maryland in the early 1800s. She meets her ancestors, who are not who she thought they were, and has to somehow manage to survive as a black woman long before the abolition of slavery without going crazy. She periodically pops back to the 1970s just long enough to recover before being sent back, sometimes with her white husband in tow.

I have not read Kindred before, but this newly show more released graphic novel adaptation seemed as good an introduction as any. The illustrations are wonderful; they convey the dirty, bleak surroundings without being overwhelming.

One of the most interesting aspects to me was the setting of the 1810s instead of the 1860s. There are tons of books, movies, and TV about slaves just before the start of the Civil War, with the taste of freedom in the air. But those are white-person-friendly stories, where slavery only exists for a small amount of time before nice white people come along and set everyone free. That hope does not exist for these characters. Abraham Lincoln is only an infant at this time, and Harriet Tubman hasn't been born yet.

This story pulls no punches with how brutal life was for the slaves, how different groups of slaves felt about each other, and the dynamics of interracial relationships both back then and in the 1970s. I highly recommend it, whether you've read the original or not. show less

Incredibly depressing and chaotic with a crisp narrative voice. Laura embodies the struggle of being a teenager with ideas and concerns but struggling to be heard by adults and others around her. She is at an age where she’s questioning everything like her belief in God and her survival. I generally hate dystopian settings, but this one was so immersive and realistic that I couldn’t put it down. Personally, I didn’t care for the art style.
SN: About Bankole... um sir, why did you wait show more until after you had sex with Lauren to ask about her age? It never occurred to him to ask BEFORE? I guess dick too hard to think or whatever >.>

This is story is very bleak and brutal, so I would only recommend this for mature teens. show less