Book Review- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler



I literally just finished reading this book a few hours ago and wantet to make sure I got this review out while everything was still fresh. I have never had a book upset me while I was reading more than this one. Octavia E. Butler's Kindred is complicated the way that America is complicated. The title is certainly appropriate. The book was upsetting but also very hard to put down. I'm thinking about doing some sort of Octavia E. Butler readathon in the future because I may have very well found my favorite author.

Kindred is about so many things. It's about American history. It's about love in all its forms (good and bad). It's about family. It's about perseverance. One of the primary questions, Dana, the main chacarcter of the story often finds herself asking is whether or not she is strong enough to endure all she is asked to in the story. I will tell you that Dana is from the 1970s and travels back into time to the antebellum south during the 1800s. It's hard to even imaging the  horrors she must endure before she is able to finally return home peacefully as an African-American woman. This book is so upsetting because Buttler does such a great job of showing you the injustice and horrid treatment of people during this time. I feel that many people are becoming more and more removed from this time in our history. Kindred brought up a level of emotion about slavery and American history that I honestly haven't experienced since taking courses in college.  Octavia Buttler is primarily known for her science fiction work. This book is definitely not science fiction. It's a drama unlike any piece of fiction I've read in a long time.

Kindred is not the easiest book in the world to read because of the complexities of the plot. The story is captivating which makes the book hard to put down. I would definitely suggest it to anyone who wants an interesting read. This should be required reading for today's teens who are certainly even  more far removed from this time than the the generation before them. I hate to say that history repeats itself but it does and Kindred serves as a stark reminder of why we should always remember this time so that this part of history does not have to be repeated in any way, shape, or form. As I write these words I hear myself saying, no way, this would never happen again! I find myself saying that injustice takes many forms and we are still battling injustice today. This just reminds me of why all people should be treated equally and fairly. Kindred gets 5 out of 5 stars. It will be a while before I can read Kindred again but its going back on my re-read list. Kindred is available on Amazon.

Kim