Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Kindred

🎧 Audiobook 🎧

WOW! This was outstanding!

I came across this via someone on bookstagram and was so captivated by the blurb I just had to read it!

This is not your usual historical fiction book depicting slavery, it is also a modern tale entwined with elements of sci-fi/magical realism at its finest!!

We follow Dana, a 26 year old black woman from the 70s, who suddenly keeps getting pulled back in time to save Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner during the antebellum south! Where slavery and racism was rife and at its harshest, it’s difficult to imagine just how Dana could navigate and survive such a dangerous place.

This had me hooked from the very beginning. It was mysterious, incredibly gripping and kept you guessing as to what would happen next throughout with regards to timelines and particular relationships of the characters. Through Dana’s own eyes and footsteps we as readers were pulled along with her, and shown firsthand just how atrocious black people and slaves were treated during this time. It was shocking and brutal and I’m sure just the tip of the iceberg to what actually happened.

This not only highlighted the white privilege of its time, but also of todays day and age and that racism is something most definitely taught. It broke my heart to see how an innocent child was influenced so negatively at such a young age into believing that other human beings held such little value in society compared to their own, purely for the fact that their skin colour was different. It also explored the example of how the tiniest bit of empathy taught in place of the bigotry, could change an impressionable mind and so many lives for the better if only given the chance, but also just how quickly things could turn if that compassion and understanding was absent and inconsistent.

This was a complex story covering many dark and hard topics not only including the above and many more, but one of which also stood out to me which was emotional and domestic abuse. It encapsulates how the feelings and hope of change could keep a person stuck in a toxic environment or relationship much to their detriment, but also how easily it is for someone to become trapped in that pattern and life with no other choice or options. It’s tragic.

I’ve since found that there is a tv series which has been based on this book so I’m definitely eager to watch that now.

This book is definitely worth a read not only for your own education, but also for the children of our future. I know I will be teaching my own son to treat all people with empathy, kindness and respect and hope that in time, the world will become a much better and safer place for all if only everyone else did the same.

Content Warnings