Kindred

by Octavia E. Butler

Book Overview

Selected by The Atlantic as one of THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS. ("You have to read them.")

From the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower and MacArthur "Genius" Grant, Nebula, and Hugo award winner

The visionary time-travel classic whose Black female hero is pulled through time to face the horrors of American slavery and explores the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now....

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807083690
• ISBN13: 9780807083697
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Cover torn off

I guess this is a thing. But I got it to give as a gift and don't feel I can do that with the cover cut off

Awesome!!!

I enjoyed every minute of reading this book! I'm currently searching for a novel as great as this one!!! It's a must read!!!!

Kindred was a great book

Loved this. The ending slightly disappointed me but honestly the book was a great read.

Kindred Review

Got this book for my English Class and i liked it! Pretty cool seeing slavery and time travel put together!

A Note on the Passing of Ms. Butler

I heard today of the weekend passing of Octavia Butler. She is is in the "Hall of Fame" as an alumna of John Muir High School, Pasadena, which all four of my children attended. "Kindred" was, for many years, required reading at Muir. It was through this connection that I was introduced to her writing by my daughter. She is my youngest son's favorite author, a tribute to her ability to transcend gender, race, and age in presenting ideas that no one else could ever have imagined. We were looking forward to meeting her as part of Pasadena's "One City, One Story" program which had chosen "Kindred" as this year's selection. Butler was certainly not a "black author" in any limiting sense at all. She blasted open the SciFi gates of gender and color with her extraordinary vision, imagination, and courage. The choice of "Kindred" is a fitting tribute to the diversity of her hometowns of Pasadena and Altadena and the Pasadena Unifed School District in which she was educated. It is rare that a passing of someone I have not personally met so saddens me. She is in a world without limits now.

OUTSTANDING

Book Review by C. Douglas Baker KINDRED is one of those rare novels that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go until the very end. From the first sentence, Butler's simple, straightforward prose moves the story quickly making it nearly impossible for the reader to put down. Dana, a black woman living in Los Angeles in 1976, is inexplicably transported to 1815 to save the life of a small, red-haired boy on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It turns out this small boy, Rufus, is one of her white slave owning ancestors, who she knows very little about. Dana continues to be called into the past to save Rufus, and frequently stays long periods of time in the slave owning South. The only way she can get back to 1976 is to be in a life threatening situation. During her stays in the past she is forced to assume the role of a slave to survive. She is whipped. She is beaten. She is nearly raped, twice. She is forced to watch whippings and families being broken up. She learns to enjoy hard work as an escape from the other horrors of slave life. And she watches as a fairly unassuming small son of a plantation owner grows up to be a cruel, capricious, hot-tempered slave owner in his own right. And to be her great-grandfather many generations removed. KINDRED is about slavery and the scars it has inflicted on American society. There are really three key factors Butler focuses on that reveal the ability of the South to institutionalize slavery. First there is the physical abuse. The constant work, especially the physically exhausting work of a field hand, kept slaves too tired to run or become insolent. Being ever on the verge of a lash or two for minor offenses kept slaves working to avoid punishment. Being beaten nearly to death after escape attempts made a slave reluctant to try again; especially if this is coupled with the abuse of the slave's family. Then there is the psychological abuse. The continual threat of being beaten or watching others be beaten broke the spirits of those in bondage. The worst punishment was sometimes having to watch a family member abused for your transgression. Encouraging slaves to marry and have children also deadened their desire to escape. Families made the slave settle down, gave him or her something to protect and care for. The selling off of a few family members had a damping effect on a slave's spirit. A most poignant example is the slave Sarah, the primary house slave; "Weylin had sold only three of her children, left her one to live for and protect". She rarely questioned slavery, thought little of freedom, because "she had lost all she could stand to lose". The risk of losing the one daughter she had left was too great. Slaves that escaped had to be willing to risk not only their own life but possibly the lives of their family. The physical and psychological abuse imposed on the slave made it so much easier to accept one's lot in life and avoid the unpleasantries that recalcitrance enta

Kindred ....to the whole human race

Not so long ago I've read for the first time a book from Ms Butler. I was immediately captivated by her amazing imagination and quality of her prose and became instantly a fan of the author. This first impression was corroborated as I read more of her writings. All her books showed a rich mixture of imagination, complex and interesting characters and conflictive situations to test their mettle. In "Kindred" the story is presented in a sci-fi framework, in order to give an entry point to a world distant more than a hundred years from us, but the substance is about getting in touch with slavery. Unearthing the relationships between slaveowners and slaves, drawing a huge fresco of that society. Dana, an Afro-American woman, is drawn time and again to the past with the specific mission of saving Rufus' life, the son of a slaveowner and his heir. Each time Dana is transported backward, the drama increases. Poignant and vivid scenes are shown, reaching deep into the reader's sensibility, but with an earnest and straightforward approach. You can't elude perceiving the "reality" of the world shown in this amazing book. After reading it, I keep wondering about what strange compulsion make a human being to despise another one based on racial, religious or even political or social differences, without perceiving that we are kindred to each other. Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A masterpiece from one of the essential sci-fi writers

Octavia Butler's "Kindred" is a novel which fits into many literary niches. It could be seen as a milestone in both African-American literature and science fiction; it's also a novel with a lot for feminist readers and critics. But ultimately the power of this book allows it to transcend all labels."Kindred" tells the story of Dana, a 20th century African-American woman who is married to a white man. Throughout the book Dana is mysteriously thrust back and forth in time between her world and the world of her ancestors in the 19th century. She seems to be tied to one ancestor in particular: Rufus, the white son of a slaveowning family. Part of Dana's struggle is to deal with the utterly alien world of Rufus' slaveowning culture.Butler brilliantly weaves many powerful themes into this gripping story: violence, sexual desire, race, literacy, language, law, and education. The story is peopled with well-developed characters who have complex, interconnected relationships. Butler vividly evokes how the slave system both physically brutalized blacks and psychologically warped whites.Butler's prose is lean and muscular. She grips you from the stark opening lines: "I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm." The story is richly ironic and heartbreaking. "Kindred" is a compelling 20th century literary descendant of such important 19th century slave autobiographies as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"; it is also a significant "sister" text to 20th century works (like Toni Morrison's "Beloved") which also revisit the era of slavery. But Butler's ingenious use of a classic science fiction device (i.e. time travel) sets the book apart from all of these other literary explorations of slavery. Whether for classrooms, book reading circles, or individual readers, "Kindred" is a triumph to be treasured.

A wonderful story that provokes such emotion in so few pages

I love this book! I've read at least a half a dozen times yet each time, I become so engrossed that it leads to discusses and I end up lending my copy out and/or purchasing additional copies for family and friends. It's too good not to share. Octavia Butler described the situation in such vivid detail that I literally had to read with my back to a wall, I had to be aware of everything around me. It was almost like a twilight zone feeling.The character Dana travels back and forth through time and space to save her family. Once even (by accident) Kevin, her white husband, goes with her. It's amazing how good the author was at describing just how his attitude changed. Like I said, the story provokes such emotion. My 13 year old son and I are reading the book to each other this week (one chapter each night). I want him to understand the many lessons this book presents from racism, love (both healthy and unhealthy), slavery and the development of a slave mentality (even in present day), trusting, having faith, and just believing.