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Marina's Reviews > Kindred
Kindred
by
by
“Who’re you?� asked Rufus.
“My name’s Kevin—Kevin Franklin.�
“Does Dana belong to you now?�
“In a way,� said Kevin. “She’s my wife.�
Written and set in the mid-seventies, Kindred is a time travel story which tells us about both the 1800s and , to some degree, the 1970s too. Black writer, Dana and (sometimes) her white husband, are inexplicably catapulted back in time to protect one of her ancestors, Rufus. Trouble is, he’s a white slave-owner, and she becomes one of his slaves.
Although I first heard of this book through a list of the best science fiction books, it is more history than sci-fi. Dana and Kevin have a strange lack of curiosity about what has caused this sudden time travel (if I were them, I’d wonder if it was connected to the new apartment), and don’t really take any steps to prevent it happening again.
The experience of Dana and the other slaves feels authentic and so, as well as fascinating, it’s horrifying and depressing. The N word, inevitably, is used liberally, as if it were just an ordinary word like ‘woman� or ‘man� and it shocked me at first and yet strangely, sadly, I almost got used to it.
“My name’s Kevin—Kevin Franklin.�
“Does Dana belong to you now?�
“In a way,� said Kevin. “She’s my wife.�
Written and set in the mid-seventies, Kindred is a time travel story which tells us about both the 1800s and , to some degree, the 1970s too. Black writer, Dana and (sometimes) her white husband, are inexplicably catapulted back in time to protect one of her ancestors, Rufus. Trouble is, he’s a white slave-owner, and she becomes one of his slaves.
Although I first heard of this book through a list of the best science fiction books, it is more history than sci-fi. Dana and Kevin have a strange lack of curiosity about what has caused this sudden time travel (if I were them, I’d wonder if it was connected to the new apartment), and don’t really take any steps to prevent it happening again.
The experience of Dana and the other slaves feels authentic and so, as well as fascinating, it’s horrifying and depressing. The N word, inevitably, is used liberally, as if it were just an ordinary word like ‘woman� or ‘man� and it shocked me at first and yet strangely, sadly, I almost got used to it.
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Reading Progress
August 24, 2021
–
Started Reading
August 24, 2021
– Shelved
August 31, 2021
–
Finished Reading
September 6, 2021
– Shelved as:
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Shaina wrote: "To me it sounds like a curse word, or reads like one. Not just damn or hell, but it makes me flinch like a word you never expect to hear that isn’t used except as extreme profanity. I guess it shou..."Yes, I did flinch at first but you just can't keep up that level of shock for a whole novel. I think this illustrates why it's important to decide what language we accept as a society and insist on it.
I really recommend the book!
I wanted to read this book for the history and the neat time travel part. When I do I guess I’ll just flinch through it like anything else brutal and horrible in history and let it teach me what it’s going to.