Fictional Humans
Kindred ’s a book you don’t have to put down. It reads like a movie; it holds your attention. Octavia Butler does a splendid job of teaching readers about the past through an excitement-packed story. However there were times when the characters felt unreal. At times I could not believe a person would respond to a situation in the way the characters did. There is an inevitable shortcoming to all stories that exist outside of an author’s realm of experience. I know this book was focused on the historical aspects—what happened to people, the terrible treatment and corrupting influence of an environment. The story was meant to expose the intricacies of the tragedy that is often glazed over in history books—it forces us to acknowledge the first hand injustice of splitting up families and dehumanizing people, raising children with no hope of their own future. The book’s probably not about what an environment like that can do to a person. However, I wish it was. I had high hopes for whe...