Kindred

This was not what I expected at all.

I wanted to read an Octavia Butler book and checked out a random one from my library. This book highlights the mixed feelings racism brings between black and white people. The main characters seemed to hate and love each other because they like each other's company but Rufus can't seem to help to do anything besides hurt the black people around him. I think he wants to do the right thing but never emotionally matured enough and didnt have enough backbone to stand up to societial norms.

An amazing read that I highly recommend. I would never have picked this book myself, but it was recommended and I picked up this time travel sci-fi book one night, thinking it would help put me to sleep. Four hours later, I had to force myself to put the book down. I will never forget this story. This book places you square in the middle of Antebellum South inside the skin of a modern day (by way of the 1970s) black woman trying to survive long enough to navigate her way back home. The author manages to skillfully make her point about slavery - all kinds of slavery - without going into too many gorey details which makes this accessible to all readers. There were some very gritty passages but necessary. The author brings history class to life in this compelling story and yet, her most powerful points are made in quiet moments. The most powerful one for me was when Dana realized how easy it was to condition people to accept horrific mistreatment. Especially when the power structure condones it. There were several passages that were hard to read. This book will leave a mark and is a MUST-READ for everyone. Even though it was written in the late 70s, it’s a timeless story about freedom and human nature. I would especially recommend for book clubs.

I enjoyed this book. I watch a lot of documentaries and movies about slavery and this story fell right in with those. It felt accurate.

It’s odd—this is my third or fourth time reading this book, and somehow my expectations always seem to kind of reset between reads. I keep expecting Rufus to develop into a fairly conscientious man, and keep being disappointed by where he ends up. George Saunders says that building a character is basically presenting a series of facts that gradually narrow the character’s path—ruling out certain possibilities, and clearing the way for others. That’s what we get with Rufus each time Dana returns to him, of course. And I suppose my gradual surprise is simply evidence of what an effective job Butler’s doing with it. My expectations of Dana run the same way, though less so. I’m repeatedly a bit surprised how well (and quickly) she adapts to a life of enslavement. It’s not so much any single instance, but just the way she settles in, and the way we settle alongside her. In both her case and Rufus’, honestly, the problem isn’t that these things are unbelievable. Quite the opposite—the real challenge is that they are believable. I also noticed, this time, how much more I dislike Kevin with each re-read. I don’t remember having much feeling about him the first time. But gradually, and this time especially, his sense of entitlement really starts to shine through. It feels less like naïveté, and more like moral failure. But it’s a familiar kind of white, male privilege; I suspect my real problem here is that I’ve grown less tolerant of these tendencies in myself, so I also note them more sharply with characters like him. As far as the mechanics of the book—the logistics of time travel, etc.—I like Butler’s vague approach. I’m not interested in scrutinizing the fine details of it, any more than she is interested in providing them. The human crisis is far more interesting, and I appreciate her devoting her focus to that. I suppose that even from a character point of view, if I scrutinized them heavily I might find some inconsistencies in how these two modern individuals respond to such a fraught historical moment. But I’m happy to let Butler guide my attention, to such a degree that I don’t find those potential faults. This may or may not be the last time I read the book, but for certain it’s been worth my while each time I’ve read it so far.

My library hosted a “2020 Winter Reading Bingo” challenge. In order to fill the board, I ask the librarian for recommendations for “a genre [I] don’t usually check out,” “read a graphic novel or manga,” and “ask a librarian for a book recommendation.”

I described my leanings as “historical fiction, literary fiction, self help, nonfiction.” I asked the librarian if she ever read a graphic novel or manga where she got something other than entertainment out of the book. Knowing my preferences, the librarian recommended this graphic novel adaptation of Olivia Butler’s “Kindred.”

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the storyline (time travel makes it science fiction), living the life of 1800’s slavery through the lens of Dana, a strong black protagonist from 1970’s. It’s historical fiction, science fiction, graphic novel, a librarian’s recommendation, all at once. I also surprised myself by taking down 3 quotes from a graphic novel!

The librarian busted the myth in my head that manga is what bad students read under their desks during class or when they are supposed to study - a widely accepted belief in East Asian societies.

Also, I won the bingo challenge! I do wonder if I’m the only participant that got a black out on the board.