Reviews tagging 'Death'

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler

27 reviews

alreadyemily's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

ritabriar's review

challenging dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This graphic novel adaptation goes almost as hard as the original. Though maybe that's because I knew about

the horrific whippings

before I started this read. Check on content warnings. Octavia Butler is always a brutal, worthwhile read. 

The plot repeatedly visits the life of a white boy and slave owner's son in Maryland, starting in 1819. The book overall is an account of conditions for slaves during that time, contrasting at regular intervals with modern conditions and amenities. 

Though the rules of the "magic" are clear, the forces that cause Dana to travel back and forth in time are never explained. Instead, Kindred explores the humanity of everyone in the South at that time. It examines the choices white plantation owners made during that time and the pressures on them to dehumanize the people they enslaved. It examines why slaves might have talked badly about one another. It explores how modern minds might react in such a setting. It does it all in a well-researched, historically accurate setting. 

For those with interest in reading both versions, this adaptation changes what happens with Kevin. This adaptation highlights our choices and the original points out that modern minds are still human, same as those in the antebellum South. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Fear of leaving the house High-risk, self-destructive behavior Amputation Medical content occurs pre-Civil-War No one is hit by

bullets

on-page Violence is white-on-Black and Black-on-white, exploring the outcomes of each There is also a slow and horrible crushing of Dana's mind, with a hopeful ending

c_seonjyung's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

anna_rubin's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

dustytealeaf's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

belladonnashrike's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

I’m not sure if this is a good adaptation or not — I wanted to read the original kindred, but this was the only copy available at my library.

the story itself is amazing, but it did feel disjointed and oddly paced at times (I’m assuming it’s the adaptation that had those issues, not the source material).

i’m going to try to find a copy of kindred soon. I really want to read butler’s original writing! she really was such a phenomenal writer and I would love to read this as it was originally intended.

also, loved the forward by nnedi okorafor! her short story spider the artist is one of my favorite short stories of all time, so seeing her name at the beginning was a pleasant surprise. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

cartermon4's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Miscarriage

gemstonejasper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a great adaptation of the original book. It's been years since I read the original, so I thought I'd pick this up to scratch that itch without having to read all of Kindred again (I'm in the middle of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, so I didn't want to get her writing confused). At first, the art seemed jarring. But the more I read, the more I realized that the art is a perfect fit for the story. 

It's a heartbreaking story that explores Dana's perspective as she is repeatedly pulled into the past to save the life of Rufus, her distant white ancestor. The first time she is pulled back, he is just a child and she saves his life. Each time she goes, he has aged up anywhere from months to years. To keep her family line going, and ensure her own existence, Dana has to keep Rufus alive long enough for his child to be born. But that's not easy. The story gives you no other choice but to watch as a child, innocent as any other, is corrupted by his family, culture, time, experiences, etc., and becomes a disgusting plantation owner.

Don't expect to read this in one sitting. Some books can be read that fast, and some people may be able to do that here. But the horror of the subject matter makes it very hard to read in one sitting. I had to take frequent breaks to process what had happened. But I really loved the story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

nick_thebucket's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is incredible but the art is so poor that it actually detracts from the story. The way the expressions are drawn is so cheesy and it just doesn't read as authentic at all. Like they drew her looking more emotional eating shrimp than when she returned after time traveling for the first time. It doesn't look like the characters are feeling the emotions, they look like they're acting, if that makes sense. The anatomy was.... there were so many mistakes and they were very beginner level mistakes. The characters didn't even look like themselves half the time because the artists couldn't draw them consistently. Also the layout/composition of panels was so hard to read at times that they literally added in white border to try to make some sense of what's going on and I thought the white linework was distracting and unappealing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emrockwell14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

I haven’t read the original book, but feel like if I had there would have been just enough more detail to make this a 5 star read. Even seeing what was cut from the prologue (as shown at the end in the “process of making this adaptation” section) due to space constraints made me wonder what was else was missing from the original. Otherwise, this story was gripping and the illustrations made it come to life in ways that haunt me still after reading it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent