Book Review: “Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler

Jan 12

Håfa adai! February is Black History Month in the United States. Throughout February 2025, I will post reviews for books across various genres that are written by African American authors and/or depict important experiences and stories within Black history. My second selection of February 2025 is Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

The book review portion of this post consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Science Fiction bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Summary of Kindred

Dana and her husband Kevin are writers adjusting to life as a recently married couple in 1976 Los Angeles, California. Dana, a Black woman raised by her aunt and uncle after the early death of her parents, is sorting through her uncle’s feelings of rejection spurred by her marrying a White man. Kevin, a White man, is sorting through feelings of disappointment in his sister after his sister’s reaction to him marrying a Black woman. But Dana and Kevin love and respect each other, and that’s what matters.

In the days approaching her 26th birthday, Dana’s life is thrown into chaos when she is somehow transported to antebellum Maryland—a time and place in the United States before passage of the 13th Amendment abolished slavery—to save Rufus, the son of a slave owner. Sent back and forth through time whenever Rufus’ life is in danger, Dana is forced to survive in a time she doesn’t belong. But Dana is unsure of her own ability to stay alive as every trip back to the 1800s becomes more and more perilous.

Important Trigger Warning for Kindred

Kindred heavily depicts scenes reflecting the reality of life for African slaves in the 19th Century United States, including sexual assault, physical assault (i.e. whipping), suicide, separation of families, selling of human beings as physical property, and more. These scenes and themes are essential to the plot. If these are themes that would cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then please make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.

My Thoughts on Kindred: 5 stars!

I first experienced Kindred in early 2023 after binging the Hulu miniseries based on this book. I was absolutely enthralled by the story in the show, so I had to read the book. There are differences between what is presented in the miniseries and the novel, but both the original source material and the television adaptation present an incredible story. I knew I wanted to feature a review of Kindred when I started the Bookmarks & Armchairs blog and chose to wait until Black History Month to feature this book since I tend to regularly feature more recently published works. I decided to re-visit the book to make sure my recollections of the story remained accurate and appreciated the story just as much the second time around.

In Kindred, Octavia E. Butler addresses the question of what would happen if a Black person in the 20th Century United States was transported back in time only 160 years in their own country. The answer is the terrifying realization that having knowledge of a certain time period does not guarantee your safety in that time period. For example, Dana knows that freed slaves in the 1800s United States had to carry paperwork on their person at all times as evidence that they were in fact freed and did not run away. But the paper and ink Dana has access to in 1976 is not the same as what is available in the 1800s and, on top of that, she does not know what this paperwork would say. So, even though she knows of something that freed slaves should have, she does not know what that documentation would even look like and is still in peril. This documentation is one of the reasons why enslaved Africans were not taught to read or write during years of slavery, as White slave owners feared that enslaved people would forge their own documentation of freedom.

The levels of stress and anxiety throughout Dana’s time trips to 1800s Maryland are amplified by the fact that Kindred is told from Dana’s first-person perspective, which is the most effective point of view to convey horror. Although it is not categorized within the genre or subgenres of horror, Kindred very much reads and feels like a work of horror. Dana’s interactions with Rufus grow more intense as he grows from a boy to a man, and her survival becomes less and less of a sure thing with each visit to the past.

The relationship between Dana and Rufus is complex. Dana is a woman from 1976 California while Rufus is a boy (and later man) of early-mid 1800s Maryland. Rufus is the son of a slave owner, which means he is likely destined to become a slave owner himself at some point, yet he recognizes that Dana’s visits are what keeps him alive in spite of certain experiences. There is a sort of acknowledgement of their interdependence as time moves on for Rufus but, ultimately, it seems as if there is nothing Dana can do to prevent Rufus from becoming a “man of his time,” one who abides by and reinforces the societal norms of the antebellum United States.

One of my personal takeaways from reading Kindred is that two things can be true at once: you can empathize with the younger version of a person while admonishing the older version of that same person. Every instance of Dana’s time travel is centered around a life-threatening event for Rufus Weylin, the son of a plantation owner and slave owner. Over the course of multiple travels to 1800s Maryland—which occur over the span of a few months in her original 1976 California timeline—Dana sees Rufus grow from a little boy to a man. During her encounters with Rufus the boy, Dana is patient and forgiving and treats his uses of certain words and ways of thinking as a teaching moment to (hopefully) stir him in a morally better direction. But, in her encounters with Rufus the man, Dana is not as patient and calls him out on a lot of his behavior.

My overall rating for Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred is 5 out of 5 stars! In my opinion, it is impossible to accurately depict life in the 19th Century United States without crossing into the genre of horror. And this book crosses that line. For me, Kindred is equal parts science fiction, historical fiction, and outright horror. Octavia E. Butler balances empathy, accountability, and self preservation in this story as Dana goes from trying to make a difference to simply trying to stay alive. I recommend Kindred to all fans of sci-fi and historical fiction!

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.

Other Books Reviewed for Black History Month 2025:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 17 February 2025