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Kindred (1969)

by Octavia E. Butler

Other authors: Robert Crossley (Introduction)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8,3003491,022 (4.22)691
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 transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned across the years to save him. After this first summons, Dana is drawn back, again and again, to the plantation to protect Rufus and ensure that he will grow to manhood and father the daughter who will become Dana's ancestor. Yet each time Dana's sojourns become longer and more dangerous, until it is uncertain whether or not her life will end, long before it has even begun.… (more)
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1970s (13)
AP Lit (14)
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» See also 691 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 347 (next | show all)
I love Octavia Butler. She is to-date the only author for whom I wept uncontrollably at her passing.

I'd been putting off Kindred for a while because I knew it would be a rough ride. Nearly every book by Butler is hard slog. Not because the author is lacking, but just the opposite. She is amazingly good at putting the reader at a different time and place and almost always that time and place is dangerous and extremely painful.

Every book I've read by her has found me often with my finger holding my place in the book while I stare into space examining my own beliefs and the implications of the story put before me.

Kindred uses a fantastic mechanism to tell a very real story. I like that Dana's time travel is never explained. I thought the character development was spot on. And it was simultaneously refreshing and horrifying to get such a different perspective on antebellum slavery than what most history books only gloss over. ( )
  Ivia | Feb 29, 2024 |
My 1st Octavia Butler. Heard about this book from Velshi's Banned Book Club. In 1976, Dana, a 26 year old black woman married to a white man in California finds herself pulled into the 1700's just in time to save a young boy from drowning. The boy Rufus, was the son of a slave owner. It was the beginning of many episodes of her being called to the past by the boy as he aged and needing her help to save him. They established a unique relationship despite being a black woman, she was still considered a slave and could be sold like the fate of many during this time. The book details many of the struggles and quite graphic on some of the ways slaves were punished on the plantation This was difficult at times to hear the way the people were treated and how hard of a life they lived. It reminded me of "Roots" the series on TV back in the 80's. A reminder of how it was for black people in the south, not so many years ago and definitely important lesson of our early history. ( )
  booklovers2 | Feb 25, 2024 |
This may be Butler's most accessible book. Fiction of another world. ( )
  ben_r47 | Feb 22, 2024 |
Completely engaging. This is a marked divergence from the more fantastical Patternist series; here Butler uses time travel as a completely unexplained mechanic to provide a uniquely sci-fi perspective on first-person slave narrative. In doing so, I think she shows us things about slave America than a contemporary account would not necessarily be able to do.

For me, the most surprising realisation was that even though we're taught about the existence of slave stereotypes, having not read first-person slave narratives before it's startling to see the ways in which characters draw from or step outside of those stereotypes. Sarah is my favourite example of this. She talks Dana down from all sorts of foolhardy choices, so we begin to think of her in an Uncle Tom kind of role, but we learn that underneath she is simmering with more anger and resentment at the loss of her children than Dana, or I, could really understand.

Other interesting points come in the relationship of Dana and Rufus; she is his savior several times over and yet is not just unable to wrest Rufus from the mindset of a white man of his time, but he actively forces her into compliance with his wishes when he sends her to bring Alice to him. Despite her self-loathing, she does as bid (as does Alice), and it is not until she is pushed to killing him that she is freed.

Kevin and Dana's differing relationships to the period are also worth looking at. Dana thinks she should be able to wrest control of the situation, but instead ends up needing to ride it out, and even then she cannot return from the experience whole. Kevin thinks himself able to manage, and does in fact survive for five years and help slaves, but Butler shows us that he doesn't have the kind of awareness of the dynamics at play. His request of Dana to scribe is eerily similar to Rufus'.

Overall, Kindred is incredibly gripping. The pacing is fantastic, episodes slowly building up, the characterisation of the cast is extremely moving, down even to more minor characters like Nigel or Tess. I read this in basically one sitting! If you want to examine our modern relationship to historical slavery, why not literally place a modern character into slavery? ( )
  Zedseayou | Jan 30, 2024 |
Read in 2023 and was written in the late 70’s I think. A little dated now but way before her time when it was published. I enjoyed it, liked the time travel, sci-fi action. Slavery is always a difficult subject but I the OB did a great job without necessarily whitewashing it or letting anyone off the hook. A story of a young woman investigating her family history both black and white from slave holding estate. ( )
  Lisl | Jan 28, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 347 (next | show all)
Liens de Sang n’est pas qu’un roman de science-fiction parmi tant d’autres, c’est une leçon d’Histoire. Octavia E. Butler explore l’impact du racisme et de la suprématie blanche d’une très belle manière : à travers nos yeux d’hommes et de femmes libres. Liens de Sang rappelle que la liberté se gagne et que l’évasion peut coûter très chère…
added by vibesandall | editSyfantasy (Jul 19, 2021)
 
Impossible to turn away from once you've devoured the first few pages
added by vibesandall | editStarburst
 
A dark, compelling and still horribly resonant time travel story
added by vibesandall | editIndependent
 
Few writers in our field are so good at blending page-turners with philosophical questions so seamlessly
added by vibesandall | editCory Doctorow
 
If you haven't read Butler, you don't yet understand how rich the possibilities of science fiction can be
added by vibesandall | editMagazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Octavia E. Butlerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Crossley, RobertIntroductionsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Adébáyò, AyòbámiForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gyan, DeborahCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leon, JanaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nuenning, MirjamTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Otoo, Sharon DoduaForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ross, RachelCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rummel, PeterTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schwinger, LaurenceCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Staunton, KimNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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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 transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned across the years to save him. After this first summons, Dana is drawn back, again and again, to the plantation to protect Rufus and ensure that he will grow to manhood and father the daughter who will become Dana's ancestor. Yet each time Dana's sojourns become longer and more dangerous, until it is uncertain whether or not her life will end, long before it has even begun.

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A young African-American woman is mysteriously transferred back in time leading to an irresistible curiosity about her family's past.
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Beacon Press

2 editions of this book were published by Beacon Press.

Editions: 0807083690, 0807083100

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

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