Kindred Paperback – January 1, 2003

Butler is an incredible storyteller! This book slips back in time to give the reader a glimpse into the horrors of slavery!

I was watching a podcast, the Cartier Family, and they mentioned this book. Their topic had been about slavery, and one of the hosts said he read this in college. It sparked my interest, causing me to immediately seek a copy.I devoured this text. It moved me with its honesty and compelled me with its emotion. My own emotions were intense, riding the roller coaster from anger to heartbreak with Dana and Kevin.I think the most impressive aspect of this book was the realism despite the time travel. It was phenomenal how relevant the truth of the human condition and conditioning were presented. The subtle manipulations are sometimes more effective than brutality. Mundane routines and boredom can be just as effective in creating fealty when you present it as a better option. Dana had moments where she had the classic victim ideology that said, "At least I have this instead of that."I see why the Cartier Family suggested this book. It is a great depiction of slavery without sensationalizing it. It doesn't mitigate it, either. It is clear as to how it was possible and is possible for people to fall into and accept such atrocities. It illustrates the nuances that taints absolutes.My soul is in pain for so many reasons. I'll carry this story with me for the rest of my life. It is powerful because it is real, horrible, and important. It doesn't matter what time you live in, you can and should do the right thing, especially when you are in the position to make a change for good!

3.7 but rounded to 4.Some spoilersInteresting although I couldn't understand why she wa being called ti keep him alive when obviously he did at least long enough to for Hagar to be born or else Dana wouldn't exist. Why all of a sudden and why then?

All book lovers do this crazy thing. Because they love books and stories, they have a ton of books they haven’t gotten around to reading. I’ve had Kindred by Octavia E. Butler for ages, years.Not reading Kindred as soon as I bought it was a big mistake. It turns out I love this book. I mean I really love it. If you’re read time travel books and like them, very few can compete with Kindred, well The Devil’s Arithmetic is excellent.The Power of KindredThe book is gripping, emotional, and rooted in reality. Dana, an educated black woman married to a white man in 1976, is pulled back in time to 1815 Maryland. Rufus, her great great grandfather, is a slave owner and a child when she firsts meets him.When Dana learns Rufus is an ancestor, I immediately thought he would be a man who lived above the culture of his time, but as Dana is pulled back to Rufus, he’s behavior is typical of slave owners. I wanted him to change and become the man I imagined, but he didn’t.As the years pass, he becomes more and more like his father and those around him. I think the power of this story is the reality and harsh truth that culture and mores help shape us and few rise above their time.As I became more acquainted with life on the plantation, with the position of field slaves and house slaves, with the brutality of slave owners and slave overseers, I found myself experiencing life through Dana’s experiences. Her life on the plantation becomes reality, more so than 1976 because Dana spends little time in her present.The beauty of Butler’s style is that although I’m white, I could easily relate to Dana, and so when she travels back in time to 1815, her experience on the plantation becomes mine. It’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you close the book.For me, the power is in the story of those on the plantation and their limits. This isn’t Tara of Gone with the Wind seen through white eyes. It’s real. Not just the dangers, but the everyday life. The moments of hope mixed with the horrors that such a culture brings.Dana is limited in how she can respond, and yet, her relationship with Rufus gives her some freedoms she wouldn’t have had. Late in the book, a reader learns that her relationship with Rufus also colored and shaped the way the other slaves saw and judged her.The time travel and how it works is never explained, which worked for me. It just happened. Readers know it is Rufus who pulls her back. Each time he’s either near death or has gotten himself into deep trouble, and Dana saves him. While the people on the plantation age, Dana doesn’t. She might be home for hours or days before she is pulled back again, but time on the plantation moves forward until Rufus’ death.The NegativesOkay, I love this story so much, that I dismiss the negatives some people bring up, but here’s a list of some critiques.1) Dana and racism: some critics point out that as a black woman, she would have experienced racism in 1976. I agree, she would have, but I was born and raised in and near Los Angeles. Even in 1976, an educated person in Los Angeles wouldn’t experience the “in-your-face” kind of racism found in this book. Mixed marriages might have been unusual in other parts of the US, but not in Southern California. From my experience growing up, I didn’t have a problem with Dana’s reactions to racism.2) Dana didn’t do anything to change the time or the people. This critique surprises me. Would we really want someone going back in time and mucking around with history? Dana focused on Rufus and tried to influence him to become a better man. As it turns out her efforts were a lost cause. Kevin helped slaves escape to freedom.For me, these are two ordinary people who have to find a way to live in a hostile and “foreign” land. If they started spouting prophecies about the future or trying to invent future technology, who knows what would have happened to them and the future.3) Some people complain they didn’t know Dana was black. The cover sort of gives it away without the author telling us on page one.Okay, I’m being a little snarky. I’m that way when someone criticizes Firefly too.Last ThoughtsGo read the book!

Excellently done writing on past vs present in every way. Can’t recommend enough. Great tribute to the past and present victims of slavery.