Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006)

Kindred has been falsely branded under the classification of a genre novel (genre-bending or not), just because it happens to incorporate some seemingly fantastical ingredients as part of the wordsmith's brew, and in so doing, has belittled its rightful status as a masterstroke of modern art and educational significance. There is so much gravity in the historical depictions contained within these pages smeared with blood and tears, portrayed with a harrowing present-day voice which is so identifiable, that it is an earthshaking experience for anyone to leaf through with at least an ounce of pity in their heart. This is a staggering story of the realities of slavery and an eye-opening portrayal of a demoralizing human cruelty. Why there are so many contenders which take Kindred's place as required academic reading I'll never comprehend.… (mehr)

Not sure why I happened upon this classic sci-if novel, written in 1993, which interestedly begins its narrative in 2024. It might be because my current Libby App is not offering much in the way of decent literary fiction. So somewhere I heard this author mentioned and decided to venture into unknown territory. Octavia Butler became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur fellowship, and the book is often grouped with 1984 and the Handmaid's Tale.
The narrator, Lauren Olamina, is a 15 year old girl living in a walled California community, trying to fend off the outside groups from invading. Climate change, poverty and unemployment have created this Mad Max existence- speculative fiction; no aliens or vampires, just a projection of what was current issues. "I considered drugs and the effects of drugs on the children of drug addicts. I looked at the growing rich/ poor gap, at throwaway labor, at our willingness to build and fill prisons, our reluctance to build and repair schools and libraries, and at our assault on the environment. In particular, I looked at global warming and the ways in which it’s likely to change things for us."
In addition to the vivid portrait of the setting, the narrator is equally engaging. Lauren has hyper-empathy, meaning she feels the pain of others as her own. She is a sharer. She also is forming the tenets of her our religion- Earthseed, where God is Change. Butler writes"change is the one inescapable truth, change is the basic clay of our lives. In order to live constructive lives, we must learn to shape change when we can and yield to it when we must. Either way, we must learn and teach, adapt and grow."
The arc of the novel is a journey Lauren takes with others when her community is destroyed. Having lost her family, she bonds with others to hopefully find a place where they can exist. The novel reaches a satisfying ending but also sets up the sequel.
Lines:
The dogs used to belong to people—or their ancestors did. But dogs eat meat. These days, no poor or middle class person who had an edible piece of meat would give it to a dog.

And you know that drug that makes people want to set fires?” She nodded, chewing. “It’s spreading again. It was on the east coast. Now it’s in Chicago. The reports say that it makes watching a fire better than sex.

I like Curtis Talcott a lot. Maybe I love him. Sometimes I think I do. He says he loves me. But if all I had to look forward to was marriage to him and babies and poverty that just keeps getting worse, I think I’d kill myself.

“That’s the ultimate Earthseed aim, and the ultimate human change short of death. It’s a destiny we’d better pursue if we hope to be anything other than smooth-skinned dinosaurs—here today, gone tomorrow, our bones mixed with the bones and ashes of our cities.”… (mehr)

his is one I've been meaning to read for a while, and boy am I glad I did. Butler uses sci-fi to explore the slave experience in the early 1800s. Dana is a young black woman living with her new white husband in 70's era Los Angeles. One day she gets dizzy and finds herself transported back to 1815 Maryland and finds the young son of a Plantation owner drowning. She saves him, but in doing so she is threatened with a gun and is transported back. She becomes linked to this boy. Whenever he's in trouble she goes back to help him. Whenever she's threatened in the past, she is sent home. Time hardly moves in LA, but years go by in Maryland. Each time she goes back it becomes harder and harder to reconcile the free and independent woman she is with the slave she needs to be. A fascinating read.… (mehr)