Kindred

This is not the sort of book that I normally read -- usually it's sword and sorcery or some spacefaring science fiction. Rarely do I ever read a story about a black woman from 1979 travelling back in time to the antebellum south to save a slaveowner that happens to be her ancestor. I guess there is a first time for everything.

It's a good book, and it feels silly even saying it. Is it a great book? Maybe, but there's a lot to it and it's hard for me to fully digest.

The main character -- Dana -- is both what makes the book work, but also what makes the book feel forced. She's detached, hyperrational, and at times robotic. I feel like all of these qualities were necessary. The story wouldn't work otherwise, because we are being invited to take a clinical look at what it meant to be a slave and a slaveowner. Are there parts in the story where her behaviour doesn't seem normal? You bet, but if she responded in any other way we would lose the sense of the outside looking in. This is even a theme in the story itself, so I don't think the issue was unrecognized by the author.

As for the other characters, I would say that their depth and humanity more and make up for the necessarily clinical approach of Dana. The man that steals the show for me is Rufus, who you meet as a somewhat innocent child but eventually see become fully indoctrinated into the cult of slavery. It's a tragic tale because it speaks to how easy it is to become the worst version of our self.

Nigel, Luke, Alice, Sarah and the others are a testament to the indomitable human spirit. They feel and act like real people, and the horrors that they endure are hard to truly understand. I do not fear for my physical safety. I am treated well and compensated fairly at my job.  My children are safe and free from the whims of men drunk on the evil of the age. Kindred was a solemn reminder of how blessed that I am, and that there are many who suffer today.

I bounced off the first chapter, but once it got going I didn't put it down.

8.5/10