Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realizes the purpose of her summons to the past: protect Rufus to ensure his assault of her Black ancestor so that she may one day be born. As she endures the traumas of slavery and the soul-crushing normalization of savagery, Dana fights to keep her autonomy and return to the present. ( )

Compelling page-turner in which the main character unexpectedly travels through time from 1976 to a plantation in Maryland of the 1800s. Brilliant and moving. ( )

Another on that it is hardly fair to say I read, because I disliked it so much I gave up. The set-up was tantelizing but the execution was a poor. ( )

2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (1979; 2003 ed.) 287 pages.

SETTING: 1976 Altadena, California and 1815 ante bellum South - Easton, Maryland, across the river from Baltimore, on the Weylin Plantation

Yes! This is considered science fiction, but with a historical backdrop of slavery. The author had a very creative mind in putting this time-travel piece together. My only issue was really with some of the dialogue between some of the people. At times, their conversations seemed a bit amateurish when they were in critical situations. Also, writing in the black dialect of the times, like the author did in Gone With the Wind, would have deepened the feel of the story…at least for me. Otherwise, an excellent storyline that captured my attention!

Dana, a 1970’s modern black woman is married to a white man, Kevin. They live in California, and both, aspiring to be writers.

Dana, one day, suddenly felt dizzy, then disappeared right in front of her husband. She found herself back in time in 1815 and on the Weylan slave plantation in Maryland. This plantation turned out to be the home of her ancestors. Her time travel back to 1815 were hours, days and months long. But when she would return to her real world, only seconds and minutes would have passed.

She was repeatedly conjured up by Rufus Weylen, the son of the mean and brutal plantation owner. Every time his life was about to be extinguished, Dana would have a sudden spell and time travel back to 1815. She saved him from many dangers, starting at age 5, then age 12, then age 18 and 27, when he finally died.

It was discovered that Rufus was her great-great grandfather. And, in reality, Dana was saving her own ancestors, which, in turn, saved her own life. But, she had many struggles between the free world she knew and the brutal reality of slavery in 1815, and had to experience near death before being whisked away back to her own world. She would return home each time bruised, beaten or whipped from the torture she endured. Her time in 1815 kept getting longer and longer. At times, she was afraid of never returning again to her home, as some transports lasted months, and as long as two years. Of course, it was still only minutes, hours or a day since she had left her real world.

Each trip back to 1815 brought on increasing horrors for herself and more knowledge of her ancestors and their lives on the plantation. The second trip, incidentally, brought her husband back with her because he was holding onto her when she had a spell. They were there on the Weylen plantation for a couple of months when Dana was strung up and whipped by the slave owner. Kevin came running to her but didn’t make it in time and was stuck there for 12 years without her until she returned again.

Very interesting story as Dana discovers more of her ancestry's history and literally experiences the lives of her ancestors as slaves.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Octavia E. Butler
(b. Jun 22, 1947, Pasadena, CA - d. Feb 24, 2006, Lake Forest Park, WA)
NOTE: She died of a stroke at age 58….same age that I am today.

BOOK-TO-MOVIE

Kindred (2022), an exclusive Hulu FX series (1-8)
I was barely able to get through the first show. Very lo-grade budget and slow. I’m glad I read the book. ( )

An imaginative, emotional roller coaster of a read. Butler guides readers back and forth through time with Black female protagonist Dana, in this gripping examination of white supremacy and the complications of what it means to be Black in America and trace one's lineage to the era of enslavement, and to include violent and capricious enslavers in one's ancestry.

Written in the 1970's, the text remains visceral and vivid, instructive and nuanced today. ( )