Octavia E. ButlerReviews

This is a book that tends to come up if you mention that you liked Margaret Atwood’s Oryx & Crake, and it was also an excuse to finally finally take Octavia Butler off the list of authors I’d never read before! This one felt even more eerily prescient than Atwood, set in 2024 (the book was published in 1993) in a United States suffering from civilization breakdown in the wake of climate disasters. Lauren Olamina is a teenager in what was once a middle-class LA suburb but has become both less actually wealthy and much more relatively so. Her neighborhood is walled off from the outside world to protect the little (food, some money earned by those who still can find work, guns) that they still have. Lauren’s mother used drugs during pregnancy, leaving her with hyperempathy, a condition in which she literally feels the pain that others experience. Both smart and canny, she understands that the little comparative oasis she’s been raised in can’t last long, and she starts preparing to have to survive in the outside world as well as developing her own religious philosophy based on an acceptance and even embrace of change, which she calls Earthseed. The crisis she’s anticipated does in fact arrive, and she finds herself one of many people on the road hoping for something better while they try to evade theft, rape, and murder. I found Lauren a refreshing kind of heroine. Usually a teenage girl in a story like this one would be plucky and sassy, hiding an inner core of insecurity. Lauren is serious, smart, and resourceful. She’s confident in her beliefs. And despite being a preacher’s daughter, she’s no goody two-shoes. The other characters are also developed in ways that make them feel like people rather than stock characters. Butler’s prose is engaging, and the narrative journey she crafts for Lauren kept me turning the pages to see where it would go next. My major complaint here would be that it feels more like a “first in a series” than a standalone novel, with lots of set-up and character introductions (indeed there is a sequel, and Butler had originally intended there to be several entries). I am excited to read the sequel and more of Butler’s other work as well!

Who knew that aliens, the apocalypse, and reforming humanity could be so boring and annoying?

The main character is annoying and whines throughout the entire book. What development she does get is forced upon her literally. She doesn't really learn or change and her reactions, after a time, don't follow any coherent psychological state. She's a character who is not relatable or have any really redeemable qualities. The reason she was chosen makes little sense and is weak.

The aliens are also boring and at times read more as Stockholm syndrome rapists than respectable aliens. The reaction they cause in people is more than just initial shock where it incapacitates people for days at a time. The reason isn't physiological but because humanity is so xenophobic. Ya, probably not.

The story barely has a three act structure. Act 1 - main character meets aliens and complains a lot. Act 2 - main character interacts with aliens and complains a lot. Act 3 - main character interacts with other humans and complains a lot.

I read other reviews because this book does have a majority of positive reviews. People claim it's great sci-fi - barely. It's thought provoking - like how am I still reading this? It explores human nature - how much complaining can one person do for 260 pages without ever changing on her own.

The characters are all unappealing, the plot line is mostly explanation-> complain-> observe-> complain-> repeat, and the aliens are so bland you can't root for them or against them. Final Grade - F

Far better than the first installment of this series. Bursting with inventiveness.

After reading (and loving) the Dawn series, this was my next foray into Octavia Butler's writings. Capturing the fierce emotions of her characters seems to be a strength of Butler's. It was that way with Dawn and the same is true for Kindred. Kindred's main character, Dana, must endure the inexplicable time travel between her life in 1976 and the pre-war South, on top of dealing with the realities of being a slave when she is pulled back into time.

Each time she is pulled back in time, it is because the life of a young white boy is in danger. She realizes that the boy, Rufus, is a descendent, and his survival is tied to her own.

The novel is rich in the obvious themes of racism and sexism, but I think the tumultuous relationship between Dana and Rufus also speaks to the frequently very complicated relationship that African-Americans have with white Americans. In one sense, we feel disdain toward continually being relegated to second-class citizen status, yet there really doesn't seem to be a way to move forward in this nation without forming a kindred bond. Despite how often Rufus' treatment of Dana becomes deplorable, she realizes that they need each other and must find a way to move forward together .

Super claustrophobic and grotesque. More alienating than I usually like my sci fi, but it worked so well.

Although I was not enthusiastic about this book club choice, I am glad to have read it. It generated a lively discussion about the themes of slavery and oppression which arise when a modern (1976) African American woman finds herself travelling back in time to 1819 on a Maryland farm, forced to rescue an ancestor to assure his and her own survival, and she must live as a slave in doing so. The writing struck me as clear but not lyrical. There was almost too much dialog at times but the story is a good one and trundled me along to its unsatisfactory ending. The protagonist and her husband do a little historical research but never really resolve this strange occurrence and how it permanently changed their lives.

A thoughtful, wonderfully imaginative tale of a group of human beings who've been rescued by extraterrestrial unknown after a nuclear war has wiped out most of the human race. As she did in "The Parable of the Talents" Butler wrestles with the problem and burden of leadership. The titular character is a strong and able and has seemingly been selected by the humans' new hosts to prepare a group of human beings to resettle Earth. However, she doubts their good intentions, seems unwilling to give up her humanity after learning that they have perfected genetic engineering, and has to deal with human nature, which seems no less intransigent and self-defeating on a giant, living spaceship than it did on earth.

Both Butler's description of the aliens and their overwhelming strangeness and Lilith's initial repulsion to them are well-portrayed, as are the efforts she makes to bond with her indescribably weird hosts. There aren't your standard bulb-headed little grey men here -- obviously put a lot of thought into how a species as different as the Oankali and the Ooloi might consider the universe. And, like Butler's earlier novels, there's no doubt that this extraterrestrial encounter will not be entirely chaste: sex and a desire for closeness all play a part here.

In the end, though, this novel, interesting as it is, is too short to be really satisfying. Butler seems to be setting up a trilogy, and I suppose that that's fine: I don't know how she was planning out her work at this stage of her career. But I could have used a bit more of Lilith's story. I suppose that I'll just have to read the other two volumes in this series.½

This book blew me away. I can't believe it's been around since 1979. It's a cross-genre marvel of a book, telling the story of a modern (1976) black woman who is inexplicably transported back to the antebellum south. Each of her inadvertent journeys is fraught with danger, physical and psychological. Butler asks questions of Dana, and by extension us, that are deeply uncomfortable. How can people tolerate seeing the abuse of others without interfering? How can people be abused over and over again and never retaliate? Brilliant book, would recommend it to anyone.

Nice twist on historical fiction. Can't say much else without giving too much away, if I haven't already. ;-)

#772 in our old book database. Not rated.

Interesting, original story. Writing is alright, nothing awe-inspiring.

Kindred has been falsely branded under the classification of a genre novel (genre-bending or not), just because it happens to incorporate some seemingly fantastical ingredients as part of the wordsmith's brew, and in so doing, has belittled its rightful status as a masterstroke of modern art and educational significance. There is so much gravity in the historical depictions contained within these pages smeared with blood and tears, portrayed with a harrowing present-day voice which is so identifiable, that it is an earthshaking experience for anyone to leaf through with at least an ounce of pity in their heart. This is a staggering story of the realities of slavery and an eye-opening portrayal of a demoralizing human cruelty. Why there are so many contenders which take Kindred's place as required academic reading I'll never comprehend.

Not sure why I happened upon this classic sci-if novel, written in 1993, which interestedly begins its narrative in 2024. It might be because my current Libby App is not offering much in the way of decent literary fiction. So somewhere I heard this author mentioned and decided to venture into unknown territory. Octavia Butler became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur fellowship, and the book is often grouped with 1984 and the Handmaid's Tale.
The narrator, Lauren Olamina, is a 15 year old girl living in a walled California community, trying to fend off the outside groups from invading. Climate change, poverty and unemployment have created this Mad Max existence- speculative fiction; no aliens or vampires, just a projection of what was current issues. "I considered drugs and the effects of drugs on the children of drug addicts. I looked at the growing rich/ poor gap, at throwaway labor, at our willingness to build and fill prisons, our reluctance to build and repair schools and libraries, and at our assault on the environment. In particular, I looked at global warming and the ways in which it’s likely to change things for us."
In addition to the vivid portrait of the setting, the narrator is equally engaging. Lauren has hyper-empathy, meaning she feels the pain of others as her own. She is a sharer. She also is forming the tenets of her our religion- Earthseed, where God is Change. Butler writes"change is the one inescapable truth, change is the basic clay of our lives. In order to live constructive lives, we must learn to shape change when we can and yield to it when we must. Either way, we must learn and teach, adapt and grow."
The arc of the novel is a journey Lauren takes with others when her community is destroyed. Having lost her family, she bonds with others to hopefully find a place where they can exist. The novel reaches a satisfying ending but also sets up the sequel.
Lines:
The dogs used to belong to people—or their ancestors did. But dogs eat meat. These days, no poor or middle class person who had an edible piece of meat would give it to a dog.

And you know that drug that makes people want to set fires?” She nodded, chewing. “It’s spreading again. It was on the east coast. Now it’s in Chicago. The reports say that it makes watching a fire better than sex.

I like Curtis Talcott a lot. Maybe I love him. Sometimes I think I do. He says he loves me. But if all I had to look forward to was marriage to him and babies and poverty that just keeps getting worse, I think I’d kill myself.

“That’s the ultimate Earthseed aim, and the ultimate human change short of death. It’s a destiny we’d better pursue if we hope to be anything other than smooth-skinned dinosaurs—here today, gone tomorrow, our bones mixed with the bones and ashes of our cities.”

his is one I've been meaning to read for a while, and boy am I glad I did. Butler uses sci-fi to explore the slave experience in the early 1800s. Dana is a young black woman living with her new white husband in 70's era Los Angeles. One day she gets dizzy and finds herself transported back to 1815 Maryland and finds the young son of a Plantation owner drowning. She saves him, but in doing so she is threatened with a gun and is transported back. She becomes linked to this boy. Whenever he's in trouble she goes back to help him. Whenever she's threatened in the past, she is sent home. Time hardly moves in LA, but years go by in Maryland. Each time she goes back it becomes harder and harder to reconcile the free and independent woman she is with the slave she needs to be. A fascinating read.½

Weird, uncomfortable and confronting.

I wanted to like it more.

A thoughtful look into predicting the future and what we need to remember about our past. Very timely and thought provoking. Something we need more of in these times.
The artwork was beautiful as well. Definitely worth the quick read.

The opening is so strong, a being coming to and recovering from substantial wounds, rediscovering who they are. Then it gets into some “child loving” dynamics that were not for me. Also, vampires and courtroom drama — not my taste

Well written in terms of character and world-building but it felt 'lite' almost conceited, a faint smug sense of 'I'm alright' all the way through and didn't properly capture the fear, uncertainty and unpreparedness the characters would actually have - which is ironic because that was part of the message it was trying to convey.

One of those the future is now books. Written decades ago, the opening is a futuristic 2024. We had managed to develop much better technology (although phones are close and not envisaged) but the trends of growing extremism and drug gang segregation, enclaves and no-go areas, have all risen much faster and overcome the world. Our heroine is living in a low-middle class such enclave surrounded by the mostly lawless and feral Outside. More feared than experienced. However the frequent attempts to break in are proof that at least some of the fears are real. It of course all comes crashing down and she's forced to flee, initially alone, but then with a small but growing crowed of trusted friends and companions to whom she preaches her new-though religion - why don't we all try to be nicer to each other.

I'm sure at the time it was ground-breaking and much disliked by many of the conservative side, even though it's portrays the evils of drugs etc. but I could never quite suspend my disbelief far enough, not just from the timeline, but also in how the enclaves and towns they passed through survived. Civilisation relies on a lot more integrated networks than seemed to exist. And all the people she met were either nice or obviously terrible, and the world just doesn't work that way.

I can't come up with a way to rate this one. All I can seem to say about Dawn is what it wasn't. I could hardly stand to read it towards the end as the consent... stuff... got worse and worse, but it was interesting and I did finish it. It was not incorrect, and not irrelevant, and not ill-conceived. I didn't like it. I don't think it was badly written. I don't not recommend it, but I don't recommend it either.

Ok, actually one thing I can say about it: Really Alien Aliens. Like, totally fucking fantastic aliens and alien culture and alien biology. Very few people are even decent at writing really alien cultures; Octavia Butler blows them all out of the solar system.

Most of what I'm struggling with is whether the ending was effective---which also depends on what was the point Butler was trying to make. (spoiler-cutting vague talk about the direction of the narrative that doesn't reference any specific plot points.) Lilith accepts things because she has no choice, and she tries to find a way to survive within them, and I'm not judging that at all---it's... real, human. But it's hard to reach the end without losing your grip on her struggle to justify things, and when you lose that you lose the ability to identify/empathize with her, and she sort of becomes a "statistic." And if she becomes a statistic, the point of the book goes from "what does it mean to be human" and "how do you survive a situation so completely out of your control" to "look what awful things I can come up with to do to my characters."

It's mostly Hoopla's fault but this was so hard to read! The Hoopla ebook is super low-quality images, combine with the font and it was a big old headache

3.5-4. I think there are many legitimate criticisms of this book and the choices it makes; I am not surprised there are a fair few people who find it distasteful or unreadable. I did, however, read it in a matter of days--for me it was often uncomfortable but deeply propulsive.½

This is such a hard book to rate according to a 5 star system. I'd give it 4.5 if I could. In many ways it reminds me a great deal of [b:The Left Hand of Darkness|18423|The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #4)|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488213612l/18423._SY75_.jpg|817527]--in its plot structure and in some of its flaws.

What a bleak and brilliant book to start 2020 with. This book contains enormous pain and fracturing, and it was sometimes hard to push through that, but its insight, its willingness to break its own molds, its willingness to hold several things at once (and the way it forces you to also do so) is, I think, worth it. It's left me unsettled and opened.

Lilith is a survivor of a catastrophic war on Earth. She finds herself on an alien spaceship where she meets one of the most interesting alien races in literature - the Oankali. The Oankali are a race that travels the universe "trading" genetic material with other races and would like to do the same with humans.
Lilith is chosen to be a sort of liaison between Oankali and the other survivors saved by them. The conversations between Lilith and Oankali are the highlight of this novel. In these conversations, Butler reveals the true themes of the book; the Other, the price of survival, the meaning of identity, sexuality and the ability to make one's own decisions.

To people, the Oankali are so different and repulsive that it seems to be difficult for some characters even to look at them. The dread of the new reality for the survivors is palpable and I had to be in a special mood to pick up the book, it was that real.

However, for me, the novel just lost its magic once Lilith woke up the rest of the survivors. These characters were so bland and unbelievable. I found myself skipping paragraphs just to see what happens at times. I was gonna DNF this at 70%, that was how bad it got.

Another thing that bothered me was the portrayal of humanity in this book. Pretty much all male characters are your proverbial caveman types. Women tend to just go along with whatever they suggest.
The survivors also pair up as soon as they are woken up for some reason, without any real connection.

It made me feel like the Oankali are really right to want to genetically alter humans because they are clearly beyond repair (not to mention they ruined their planet). On the other hand, the Oankali are helpful, stable and logical, but give humans no choice and practically rape them. They are in it for their own reasons, absolutely selfish.

I find it difficult to read this as an allegory of colonialism as it just doesn't work. Still, it is thought-provoking and poses some interesting questions. It's just a little dry for my taste.