Rat 🛸
Wildly impressive and genre-defining for a reason. I've watched a few films/TV shows that have dealt with modern people back in time forced to experience slavery so I thought I kind of knew what I was getting myself into reading this but honestly Kindred is on a whole other level when it comes to themes, characterisation, and confronting really difficult conflicts with how a person relates to their family's history. Also really this book's depiction of a modern interracial relationship and the baggage that they can't avoid. I would really recommend the audiobook (read by Kim Staunton) that I listened to as this book is very dialogue-heavy and I think voice acting lends itself very well to that.
*spoilers below!!!*
Probably The Single Most interesting relationship I can imagine between protag and antagonist. I wanted Rufus to suffer so much but I could also see why Dana held out hope after hope for him.
I was initially apprehensive about the fact that Dana's experience is not as bad as a regular enslaved person's (although it's still terrible!!) as I thought it would minimise the horrors of the enslaved experience, but as it went on I appreciated that that was an intentional part of the story Butler wanted to tell. Dana struggles to relate to both her black and white ancestors, and the power dynamic with Rufus is really interesting in that it somewhat goes both ways.
This also goes into the messed-up things that happen to a person's psyche when they are forced to live under such bleak circumstances. Dana hates the way it twists her mind to be grateful for a thing so small as having paper to write on.
Obviously Rufus does so many things that made me angry but I was so fuming over what he did to Alice that I had to take a break. She was free!!! agh!!!!!
Wildly impressive and genre-defining for a reason. I've watched a few films/TV shows that have dealt with modern people back in time forced to experience slavery so I thought I kind of knew what I was getting myself into reading this but honestly Kindred is on a whole other level when it comes to themes, characterisation, and confronting really difficult conflicts with how a person relates to their family's history. Also really this book's depiction of a modern interracial relationship and the baggage that they can't avoid. I would really recommend the audiobook (read by Kim Staunton) that I listened to as this book is very dialogue-heavy and I think voice acting lends itself very well to that.
*spoilers below!!!*
Probably The Single Most interesting relationship I can imagine between protag and antagonist. I wanted Rufus to suffer so much but I could also see why Dana held out hope after hope for him.
I was initially apprehensive about the fact that Dana's experience is not as bad as a regular enslaved person's (although it's still terrible!!) as I thought it would minimise the horrors of the enslaved experience, but as it went on I appreciated that that was an intentional part of the story Butler wanted to tell. Dana struggles to relate to both her black and white ancestors, and the power dynamic with Rufus is really interesting in that it somewhat goes both ways.
This also goes into the messed-up things that happen to a person's psyche when they are forced to live under such bleak circumstances. Dana hates the way it twists her mind to be grateful for a thing so small as having paper to write on.
Obviously Rufus does so many things that made me angry but I was so fuming over what he did to Alice that I had to take a break. She was free!!! agh!!!!!