This has me shaking. I was really not in the right place to read this but I'm glad I did. Butler's work is brutal and her depictions are so realistic. This world is so full of war and hatred, it destroys me to know we, as humans, never learn anything. The only person I can even say equals Butler for honesty is Colson Whitehead. I have no idea how to approach a review of this book without it turning into a thesis. It really is a marvel..

Completely different from what I expected. I was expecting historical fiction but not sci-fi, historical fiction. It was intense but very well-written.

It must be sacrilegious to say so but I was disappointed by Kindred. While is has some vital lessons about attitudes about slavery and reveals its horror, I was taken aback by the lacklustre writing, the repetitive structure and the flat nature of many of the characters, who showed little complexity or depth. The dialogue was similarly bland and unnatural. The lack of explanation for the time travel and the lack of very basic medical knowledge among the modern characters (a personal pet peeve) undermined the power of the story. The concept is incredible but I found the execution disappointing.

Kindred follows the story of Dana, a modern day (modern-ish — the book was published in the 1970s) Black women who keeps being drawn back in time to slave era American South. She has a connection with Rufus, the son of a slave-owner, and is pulled back in time to him whenever his life is in danger. She first meets Rufus as a young boy but each time she is pulled back, he is several years older.

I really enjoyed this book and was surprised by how easy it was to read consider the heavy subject of slavery and the often complicated topic of time travel.

The time travel element was kept relatively simple in the book so no consideration was needed of time paradoxes or the usual issues associated with the genre.

It was an interesting exploration that addresses not only some of the treatment of the enslaved characters but also examines relationship dynamics amongst the different Black characters and also between the Black and white characters. It explores the reasons why slaves sometimes put up with the mistreatment from their owners, viewed through the lens of Dana who, being from the 20th century, would have not been raised to put up with this sort of treatment.

Rufus was an interesting character. It was particularly disturbing to see how, although he grew to love some of the Black people in his life, he always viewed them of lower status. He could simultaneously love and care for a Black person but have no problem with seeing them hurt or hurting them himself.

A reissuing of a novel that is 40 years old and yet still so relevant to a modern readership. Octavia Butler wrote a shocking but sensitive story which shines spotlights on questions of racial inequality and the long standing psychological and cultural consequences of the physical pain and unrelenting terror of life as a black person in the antebellum South and the lingering shadow of white supremicist power in the novels dual time lines. Easy to see why this novel has been so well thought of and oft used as a teaching tool. I don't think it's lost any of it's efficacy and bite by virtue of being decades old now. Excellent story in itself, but also searingly insightful and thought provoking too.

After reading the graphic novel I was desperate to read the full story.
This was my first Octavia Butler and it will not be my last. She covers some important and intense themes wrapped up neatly in an easy to read and enjoyable story.
There is so much hype surrounding this book and I can honestly say it is so worth it!

This book was just stunning! Ashamedly, this is my first foray into the world of Octavia Butler and I was just blown away by the story she tells here. The narrative focuses on Dana, a 26 year old black woman in 1976 who has a dizzy spell, passes out and wakes up in the middle of a wood next to a river in which a young boy is drowning. So begins a series of time travel excursions to the Maryland of the 1800s to the Weylin plantation for Dana, who must make a life for herself in the past, while always trying to get back to the present. What I found so compelling here was the relationship between Dana and her husband, Kevin, who is white and the way in which his white privilege makes itself known within the narrative, without ever making him an unlikeable figure. The plantation life is brutal and harsh and Butler pulls no punches, but there is nuance to the narrative that paints everyone in shades of grey. Rufus is a particularly fascinating character as Butler demonstrates the way in which we are a product of our environment through his maturation. All in all, this is a must read book and I would genuinely recommend it to anyone, as the speculative elements aren't intrusive enough to put off people who don't generally read science fiction. It was fabulous.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This mix of science fiction and historical fiction was a bit of a miss for me. I loved the historical aspects, as horrific as some of the slavery parts were portrayed, but I could not get on board with the time travel part. I could not suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the times Dana went back to a time I'm sure she would rather forget. I liked Dana as the main character but I didn't feel we found out much about her as a person. I got bored by the end and there really didn't seem to be a point to it all.

3.5 stars

Dana, a young African-American woman who lives in 1976 California, finds herself suddenly whisked away to 1800's Maryland. After saving a boy from drowning and having a gun pointed at her, Dana reappears back home.
Dana is drawn back to the past on numerous more occasions, each time at a point when the boy, Rufus's, life is in danger.
Rufus is prone to getting into life-threatening situations, and Dana has to keep him alive until he has a daughter - her own great-grandmother.
Can Dana keep Rufus alive long enough to ensure her own future?

I wasn't really sure what to expect going into Kindred, but I'm glad that I read it.
Dana was a likeable and relatable protagonist. She went through a lot and I thought she coped very well in the circumstances.
There were several other characters that I liked and thought were interesting.
The plot was interesting. I don't know that much about American history but I knew about the plantations. It was tough to read about how the slaves were treated.
The relationship between Dana and Rufus was very complicated and intriguing.
The writing style was easy to follow and engaging. I never lost interest and I think this will be a book that stays with me for a while.

Overall this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

How was this book written in 1976... it feels as though it was written by a modern day sci-fi writer.

This book was funny and heartbreaking at the same time.. watching someone go through slavery but knowing it had to happen for you to even exist.

This was one of my favourite reads of the year and I have recommended it to pretty much everyone I know.

Writing in the 1980s but still extremely relevant today, this reads as a modern take on race - both in the past and how it affects how we live today. The pacing is excellent and the characters believable, drawing you into their world and making you want to find out what happens at the very end. Should be made into a modern classic.

I have now read this both in prose and in graphic novel form and am so thrilled that this book has been given new life in this new publication. Incredible.

I’m really struggling to fully articulate how much I loved this book.

Kindred is the second book I’ve read by Octavia Butler (the first one was Dawn) and last time I said that I absolutely had to read more of her work. It’s been a while. Now, after reading Kindred, I absolutely have to read more of her work.

The summary pretty much gives you all you need to know about the plot. It also points out that this is the first science-fiction book written by a black woman. It’s a clever concept, told simply and elegantly. Now, while the plot has perhaps been replicated a few times, but this doesn’t stop it being a fascinating and compelling read.

The plot itself, however, wasn’t what made Kindred such a brilliant, five-star read for me. Although I loved seeing the contrast between Dana’s life in 1976 and 1815 — and I was intrigued to learn how the hospitalized Dana at the start of the novel came to be — it was the characters themselves which really drew me in. Butler manages to do characterisation better than almost anyone else I’ve read. She never really sits you down and tells you about Dana’s personality, it just comes through in the storyline. She does make a point of telling you some of the aspects of Dana’s life as they become relevant: for instance, how she met Kevin, her family’s reaction to their relationship, what her 1976 career was etc. But the really important things that just absolutely drew me to Dana were her determination, her fear of failing, her courage and the incredibly complex feelings that she had towards Rufus. The whole thing just completely fascinated me and made her so relatable.

I thought that the dynamic between Rufus and Dana was so brilliantly written, because it would be really easy to either go down the line of “well obviously, he’s a slave owner and a bully so she hate’s him”, or be too sympathetic, making him the poor-little white-boy, or even worse, creating a slave-master romance. Butler manages to straddle that line absolutely perfectly. Both Dana and the reader see some glimpse of a decent human being in Rufus’s bad behaviour — especially as a child, you really want to believe the best of him — but you still absolutely get it he and his father are the villains of this story. The fact that Dana constantly has to struggle between the wanting to save him so that her family line can come into being, and wanting to let him die so that her own suffering can end, is gut-wrenching and incredible to read.

I read this book in one sitting, and I know it’s absolutely going to be an all-time favourite. I received an eARC (I assume) to promote the new cover edition that’s out, and as soon as I finished it I went online and ordered myself a copy to keep. I’m definitely going to read more of Octavia Butler’s work, hopefully, sooner than it took for me to get to this one.

I can't believe it took me so long to read this book!
I'm a little bit ashamed to say that I chose Kindred after enjoying Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Kindred avoids many of the issues I had with Outlander simply by being brief- Octavia E Butler's prose is powerful but not stuffed full of unnecessary detail. Her two time-travelling characters have a very authentic relationship- Dana and her white husband Kevin are intellectual equals who handle disagreements with respect and love. The entire novel takes place over three weeks- or a lifetime, depending on where Dana and Kevin get 'stuck'. But Butler doesn't waste time explaining how Dana is able to time travel- she concentrates instead on how the couple react to Dana's disappearances and the lengths of time that she spends in the past. The relationship between Dana and Rufe- the white slave owner who fathers one of Dana's ancestors- is at once baffling complex and incredibly simple. Dana decides to help him because it's wrong to let him die. But while Dana observes Rufe's brutal upbringing and the privilege in which he is raised, she (and Butler) NEVER let him off the hook. No excuses are made for his casual and calculated acts of cruelty, from splitting up families and whipping slaves to the rape that will eventually result in Dana's birth. Dana recognises that the slaves that she might formerly have judged as being cowardly are in fact conditioned from birth to accept their 'place', and kept there by their lack of education and the ever-present threat of rape, beatings and separation. The slaves' view of Dana is interesting- some view her as a survivalist, while others are disgusted by her perceived closeness to Rufe, calling her "white n*****". Some of the hardest scenes to read are those where Dana must ignore her human instinct to protect and aid the slaves in order to live long enough to ensure Rufe's legacy. Dana's internal conflicts. changing opinions and discussions with Rufe and Kevin are incredibly well-written- I learned a lot without becoming overwhelmed. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anybody looking to learn more about race in historical and contemporary America- but I would also recommend it to fans of pacy, high-stakes sci-fi.

A powerful story, that even nearly 40 years after it was first published is still incredibly hard hitting and relevant today.

I was surprised how deeply involved I became in the storyline. There’s no shying away from the brutality of life for slaves in the ante bellum South here. Everything is told vividly and convincingly. It’s violent, cruel, raw and very real. The characters are full of life and complexity too. Not least Rufus, who we follow through Dana’s eyes from child to man as the son of a plantation owner. At first, we feel something similar to pity for him. His father ignores him, his mother mollycoddles him, and he’s friendly with his slaves children. Brought up to abuse them without really understanding that he’s doing so, his rude introduction to Dana catches him by surprise, and we hope, maybe change him into a better man than his father.

There’s a scene we see between some slave children, where they play act a slave auction as if it’s normal and unordinary. Dana and her husband Kevin are appalled by this, and it reminds them that no matter what they may feel about integrating into this lifestyle, they’re not of this time. Their attitude is grossly different to the contemporaries they’re surrounded by, and this is mirrored in Rufus as he grows up to be a person Dana comes to despise, down in part because of his upbringing and environment. It’s a deeply complicated codependent relationship, as Dana tries to shape him into a ‘better man’, but being pulled up short by the times and expectations. For example, Rufus sees no harm in repeatedly humiliating and beating Dana to remind her of her place, just as his father does, yet feels some level of shame in doing so and feels a ‘need’ for her never to leave him. It’s a kind of love that’s toxic, but one Rufus believes is acceptable for a plantation owner and people he believes he owns.

There’s a certain level of complicity that runs throughout the novel, as Dana seems to readily slip into this role of slave and accept that she may never return to her present time. She accepts Rufus’ often brutish treatment of her, along with the other white men she comes across, without any consideration as if it’s her birth right as a black woman during this period of time. Perhaps this is because of the deep level of fear that seems to permeate the novel between all of the slaves. It’s as if at any moment, any of them could be sold or beaten to death (or worse). They’re so downtrodden, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could rise above this to lead any kind of revolt or rebellion and it amazes me that anyone of this time did. These are the people history tend to overlook, when they faced such abject adversity to make them truly heroic .

I would liked to have seen more of Dana and Kevin in their time together ‘after’ and how deeply the emotional scars ran into the future, and how they’re altered by their time spent in the past. However, this was a wonderful read.

I have heard so much about Octavia Butler on various podcasts and through international book clubs so, when I saw Kindred was available to request I didn't hesitate. I was not disappointed.

This is the story of Dana, a black woman living in America in 1976. Butler wrote this in 1979 when inter-racial marriage was still a contentious and controversial issue. This fact alone makes my hackles rise. We meet Dana when she and her husband are moving in and setting up their new home after their whirlwind courtship and marriage, but things are a lot tricker than either one anticipated. While unpacking and shelving their many books, Dana begins to feel dizzy and nauseous and vanishes in front of her husband's eyes. This is Dana's first
instance of time travelling back to the antebellum south where she finds out she is somehow linked to a white child named Rufus. Young Rufus is the son of slave owner, I think you can see where this might be heading...

I shan't go into more detail about her relationship with Rufus as this proves to be a main plot point, however, Dana is called back from the present to help Rufus whenever he is in danger. This of course puts Dana in many hazardous and dangerous situations where she is often left fearing for her life as a black woman in pre-civil war America.

Having heard a great deal about Butler's sci-fi writing I was expecting the mechanics of the timeshifts to be explored at some greater level, however, I still really enjoyed Kindred and would recommend it even though it is a brutal look at the appalling treatment of slaves. A timely read.

I'm a long term fan of Octavia Butler and this didn't disappoìnt, although in sci-fi terms it's unusually vague about mechanics which is not something the author generally shies away from. The MC is personable and easy to root for and the horrors of slavery are all too real. It did feel as if the reader was kept at arm's length however which reduced the impact somewhat. An excellent novel as yoy'd expect from Butler but not one of my favourites.