Kindred

E-book, 287 pages

English language

Published Sept. 11, 2008 by Beacon Press.

ISBN:
978-0-8070-8369-7
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4 stars (3 reviews)

The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black 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...

10 editions

Timeless

5 stars

Incredibly written for a book. It is amazing to think it was written in the 1970s. The story is just captivating, characters so realistic, and the time travel elements very well done. I learned about slavery growing up but never in this way and in so much detail. Dana describes it well when she witnessed the past vs watching it in media, or reading about it in a history textbook. While the story is fictionalized the events described are very real and you find how insidious slavery was and how it not only became normalized in the 1800s. It did not shy away from black bodies being a human currency and the words and treatment alike slaves and "freed slaves" were subjected to. No one is safe. It is a systemic issue that still exists today and while we have made great strides, the effects have still rippled through time. …

Review of 'Kindred' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A relatively quick read, this time travel story is more historical fiction than science fiction.

A groundbreaking book for the author and the times, it is filled with symbolism and morality.

This story has a strong female character with flaws and growth.

I found the ending a bit muddled. We never find out if the main character has changed history.

I often write book reviews by writing several statements about the story and shuffling them into the right order. With this tale, the statements don't really fall into line, and perhaps that is the best review of this book. It is groundbreaking but not great, important but not awesome, and in the end, worth reading. For me this was the last of a challenge to read one book from each year of the 70s, in order. Of those 10, only [b:The Dispossessed|13651|The Dispossessed|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353467455s/13651.jpg|2684122] was better.