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Kindred cover art

Kindred

By: Octavia E. Butler
Narrated by: Kim Staunton
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Summary

The first science-fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of African-American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity.

Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life.

During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

Author Octavia E. Butler skilfully juxtaposes the serious issues of slavery, human rights, and racial prejudice with an exciting science-fiction, romance, and historical adventure. Kim Staunton's narrative talent magically transforms the listener's earphones into an audio time machine.

©2000 Octavia Butler (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC

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Critic reviews

"[ Kindred] is a shattering work of art with much to say about love, hate, slavery and racial dilemmas, then and now." ( Los Angeles Herald Examiner)
"Truly terrifying." ( Essence)
"Butler's literary craftsmanship is superb." ( The Washington Post Book World)

What listeners say about Kindred

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Horror Story

Slavery in America was cruel and vicious. All of that is in this book; with beatings, rape, murder, stabbing, children sold away from their mother, hanging, brutal work; and more. The idea is that Dana can travel in time, so goes back and forth between living in contemporary New York to being a slave in the deep south in the 1800's. If you can imagine the horrors, you do not need to read this. There is nothing educational, informative, or even challenging about it, just horror. The Narrator here has rather a 'hard-done-by' voice and always sounds awful even on the rare occasions when nothing terrible is going on.

I thought maybe this book would offer insights about human perceptions of one another, or provide insight into slavery from a slave's perspective. But the time travel idea means that the character Dana is not really a slave, just put upon, and only there for self interested reasons, to save her ancestors.

I am not going to listen to any more, leaving it unfinished.

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4 people found this helpful

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Completely compelling account of slavery

If you're not black - that's a lot of us - and you've never been a slave - that's most of us; this story puts you right in the middle of American slavery where we can touch the edges of experiencing it ourselves. As you might expect from Butler, this is science fiction but without lasers, phasers, or malevolent AI. Instead it tells the story of slavery through family as the protagonist finds herself pulled back in time from 1976 to antebellum Maryland in the US; a modern black woman with rights and expectations suddenly stripped of these as she is drawn to the aid of a white ancestor with his own rights and expectations. Thrown back and forth through time, answering his unknowing calls for help and being released when each threat is resolved, she spends sometimes minutes sometimes months in a world where she can be whipped for looking at someone the wrong way. The story is generational, her own survival dependent on that of the white man brought up to own, use, and trade in slaves.

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4 people found this helpful

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I am so glad I listened to goodreads on this.

this was amazing. simply staggering. I feel sorry for everyone in this book, the writing is powerful and clever, simple and clear.

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4 people found this helpful

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A tough listen

This is a remarkable book and it is obviously where Audrey Niffinger sourced the idea for Time Travellers Wife.
The main character is uncontrollably sent back and forth through time from 1970 to the American south during the slave trade era.
Thus far so good, a great idea, but what happens to her there is so brutal at times, that I had to keep playing the book forward to miss the graphic violence.
I ended up missing some of the plot because of this, and lost momentum.
Sadly I didnt make it to the end.
No doubt an important book, but deeply upsetting and should carry a trigger warning and I didn’t get my moneys worth.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

This is obviously a classic sci-fi novel, so I'm sure people will be well aware of its importance in general (This is a really good general review of the book: http://brownfemipower.com/archives/329) . But this is also a fantastic reading, I was on tenterhooks from beginning to end...

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2 people found this helpful

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wow!

I loved this book, found myself driving around when nearly home so I could continue to listen, never wanted it to end.

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1 person found this helpful

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  • 02-05-18

One of my favourites

This book might be one of my favourites now! Kim Staunton is a fantastic narrator.

It's a challenging book, making the reader/listener sympathise with characters you might not otherwise want to, and really think about why Butler is presenting situations the way she does. The main character was great - full of agency, action and emotion, and the supporting cast was equally compelling. I will probably relisten to this book some time soon.

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1 person found this helpful

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Powerful and challenging

A solid and nuanced performance, and a book that grips you, even when it goes to the most challenging places a human narrative can go. There's no simple moralising, no easy-to-swallow hero's struggle, just an uncomfortably honest and sometimes brutal exploration of what having complete social power over another human being means. The fantastical framing isn't wasted either, it forms a subtle symbolism and a gentle entry point for the events of the book, without ever overwhelming the human drama or dulling the impact of the story. Needs to be listened to!!

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Learnt a lot about American history

Not my usual listen, but I did enjoy it - my friend pointed out though how did Rufus live before Dayna existed? In which cause how did Dayna exist at all?

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  • Overall
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The narration.

I loved it. It was a very good book. really good. The only bad thing was that it ended

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