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| Kindred (Black Women Writers Series) | 
| Author: Octavia E. Butler
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $13.99 (100%)
New (14) Collectible (3) from $3.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  173 reviews
Sales Rank: 276272
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0807083054
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
UPC: 046442083058
EAN: 9780807083055
ASIN: 0807083054
Publication Date: September 15, 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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Product Description
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. With more than 100,000 copies in print, Kindred is a classic timetravel novel by an acclaimed African-American science fictionwriter.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 168 more reviews...
 Not Science Fiction August 29, 2008
In the Reader's Guide at the back of my edition, Octavia Butler is reported to have said that she considers Kindred to be a "grim fantasy," not science fiction, as there is "absolutely no science in it." The mechanism by which Dana is "called" from 1976 to the early 1800s is never discussed. It simply is not relevant to this riveting story.
Through the story of Dana, a happily married woman, a successful author of 1976, suddenly and inexplicably thrown, repeatedly, back to a farm in the early 1800s in the slave state of Maryland, Butler examines slavery, the enslaved, and slavery's effects on all the people it touches: those born into slavery, Freedmen and -women returned to slavery, a Black woman from our own era who suddenly finds herself in a slavery-based society, a white man from our era also suddenly thrown into that same society, and those who "owned" other human beings - the slave owners.
She examines the choices slavery thrusts on each of these characters, too. Some of the most interesting parts of this story, to me, were Dana's agonized thoughts as her modern ideals and preconceptions were broken on the rocks of the horrors she saw all around her under the system of slavery. In some instances, she found that the reality of an impossible life made impossible (she thought) choices all-too-possible, for both herself and others.
Octavia Butler thoroughly researched this book by studying the Slave Narratives, first person "autobiographies of nineteenth-century Americans who lived as slaves," as well as other elements of the geography and culture of the era in which Kindred is set. Her meticulous research gives this book a stunning authenticity.
I read this book in one sitting. I literally could not put it down. I would recommend it to anyone.
Anyone interested in Kindred simply MUST read Toni Morrison's Beloved, in my opinion. Beloved is an even better book. Don't miss either one!
When I first looked at this book's details here at Amazon, I was put off by the fact that it is referred to in the category "books for girls." I was afraid it would be some kind of simplified "children's" book. Make no mistake: this is NOT a "children's book!" It is a thoroughly adult classic."
 highly overrated August 13, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The only good thing I can say about this book is that Octavia has an interesting writing style and the story idea is creative. However, Octavia seems to think that if you are strong in these areas, you can be weak everywhere else. The first major flaw of this book is how extremely mawkish it is. For instance, there is a slave in the book named Tess. Now, Tess never had any speaking lines, so my brain came to referring to Tess as slave x because all the other slaves without speaking lines had no names, so why should Tess? Now, you can imagine how hard it is to make the reader care about slave x who has no speaking lines, so it took me completely by surprise when something bad happened to Tess and I was supposed to feel bad about it. Next, why don't you kill a character before they appear? Then, protagonist Dana spends some time moping over slave x and getting all worked up about it. However, the characters were so uninteresting that I wondered if Tess having a personality would make any difference. The most interesting character was the bad guy tom weylin, but octavia decided to ruin this by not deciding whether I should hate him or care for him before writing the book. This wasn't the only time she couldn't decide if I should hate someone or care for them. The character Alice was in a bad situation, so all too realistically she had Alice lash out at everyone around her. I hated Alice, but it seemed like Octavia wanted me to do differently despite making her a revolting character. Rufus weylin was pretty much a repeat of his father, being nice one second then abusing his slaves the other. The highly obnoxious margaret weylin became a sweet old lady in her old age, freed of racism and with the ability to no longer annoy everyone. This wasn't just with caring about characters, but protagonist dana would switch from being a compassionate pushover to being overly assertive. That's just an example. The story only gets worse as it goes, as nothing new really happens. Slaves are mistreated I GET IT ALREADY! Pretty much every part after the fourth part was redundant. The ending itself was highly disappointing, even for such a bad book. The only reason I can think of to buy this book is if you've never read a book about slavery before. Indeed, the treatment of slaves is accurate to the point that anyone who likes historical fiction will be outrageously bored because that's all their is in the story. No exciting plot twists, no deep characters, what else do I need to say?
 First time Butler Reader July 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished Kindred and was inspired more by the character development and slave narrative than the fantastic aspect of the text. I think Butler handled the historical situation more effectively than she did the actual situation of time travel. I was expecting to be drawn more than I was into the ramifications of the protagonist's time traveling on her present-day life.
I agree that about half-way through the story became a bit too predictable, but I never lost interest, because Butler never slowed the text's pace.
I can't say that I was riveted by the book, but I read it in afternoon, so I mustn't have been bored either. I would recommend the book for high school students specifically. (I am a teacher and I think the book would be one students would be interested in.)
A blending of two genres. June 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ms. Butler combines the slave narrative with conventions of science fiction in this novel. Dana is a black woman living in the late 1970's with her white husband Kevin. She is transported back in time to the 1800's in order to save the life of her white, slaveholder ancestor. Once, Kevin is transported with her. She spends quite a bit of time in this period and is treated as a slave. Her 20th century upbringing and sensibilities quail at this and she tries to affect some change, at times with disastrous results. She is forever changed, both physically and mentally by this experience.
While I am quite used to stories of time travel, the slave narrative is new to me. This book was loaned to me by my African American co-worker when she found out I liked science fiction. I would imagine this book reads more like a slave narrative than science fiction, as the time travel is just a device to place the protagonist in this setting. Her experiences are heartbreaking, and remind us that it wasn't too terribly long ago that people of African decent were treated as less than human.
 An Excellent Introduction to this Writer June 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, this inspired writer recently died. I encourage ALL to review her works. This novel was my introduction to Octavia E. Butler, and I would advise any enthusiasts of speculative and science fiction to investigate it, and her multiple works!
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