Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Friday, 18 February 2011
Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
I read this book three years ago. It was part of a friend's required reading.
She gave it to me because I was looking for something new to read.
It tells the story of Dana Franklin, a 26-year old black woman living in California with her white husband. The relationship is entirely run of the mill and I remember liking that the book made no big deal about this interracial couple.
This detail turns out to be an important plot after all point because it shows that Dana is a woman, whose life is unaffected by racism, slavery, intolerance. She's a free woman and it's normal to her.
On her 26th birthday, she is summoned through time, back to the antebellum South, by a young white boy. Rufus Weylin is the son of a slaveowner, and, it turns out, Dana's ancestor.
1st wake up call for Dana.
In total, Dana is summoned six times, and each time she must save Rufus from death. This means saving him even after he has raped a young woman. Failure to do so means erasing her timeline. Each time, too, she stays longer, meaning she has to learn to live on the plantation as a slave. For 20th century Dana, this means obeying her white ancestor. Failure to do this means being whipped, raped or killed.
She gave it to me because I was looking for something new to read.
It tells the story of Dana Franklin, a 26-year old black woman living in California with her white husband. The relationship is entirely run of the mill and I remember liking that the book made no big deal about this interracial couple.
This detail turns out to be an important plot after all point because it shows that Dana is a woman, whose life is unaffected by racism, slavery, intolerance. She's a free woman and it's normal to her.
On her 26th birthday, she is summoned through time, back to the antebellum South, by a young white boy. Rufus Weylin is the son of a slaveowner, and, it turns out, Dana's ancestor.
1st wake up call for Dana.
In total, Dana is summoned six times, and each time she must save Rufus from death. This means saving him even after he has raped a young woman. Failure to do so means erasing her timeline. Each time, too, she stays longer, meaning she has to learn to live on the plantation as a slave. For 20th century Dana, this means obeying her white ancestor. Failure to do this means being whipped, raped or killed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)