Kindred

By: Octavia E. Butler

Narrated by: Kim Staunton

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The first science-fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of African-American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity.

Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life.

During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

Author Octavia E. Butler skilfully juxtaposes the serious issues of slavery, human rights, and racial prejudice with an exciting science-fiction, romance, and historical adventure. Kim Staunton's narrative talent magically transforms the listener's earphones into an audio time machine.

©2000 Octavia Butler (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"[Kindred] is a shattering work of art with much to say about love, hate, slavery and racial dilemmas, then and now." (Los Angeles Herald Examiner)

"Truly terrifying." (Essence)

"Butler's literary craftsmanship is superb." (The Washington Post Book World)

an excellent must read

a very informative interpretation of salary...emotional and overwhelming evidence that salary existed and destroyed lives and families....whiteout a cost to the owners!!!!

Thrilling and mesmerizing!

The story is so engrossing, I never want to pause it. I'm almost done with it and am constantly wondering what the characters are up to. Staunton's narration is beautiful and melodious. A lot of science fiction makes one think, but this story also teaches real history. This audiobook is a wonderful companion, and I will miss it once I've finished it!

Interesting premise leads to contemplative tale

In many ways this was a difficult book to get through, but I'm glad that I did. It provided an interesting insight into the humanity and lives of everyday people caught up in the inhumanity of the slave trade in the Antebellum South. An additional element of contemplation was the fact that I was a black woman in 2017 reading about a protagonist based in 1976 who goes back to 1815 to start her journey. This added an additional level of complexity. I found that the expectations and racial identity of this black woman based in 1976 were quite a bit different from my own. What a difference 40 years makes. This book will live on and in 2076 how much more foreign will the experience be for readers of that time? I'll be thinking about this book long after the last word has been spoken. My main fault with the book was the narrator. She wasn't terrible but she wasn't great either.

From a white couple in their 70s

An imaginative tale that succeeded in making us more aware of the history we knew well and thought we understood. The first-person narration, which was very well performed, brought a new sense of intimacy to a period we felt we related to, but couldn't on so intimate a level.

Great story

I really enjoyed this book. It was very hard to put down. I will have to reread this book with my women’s lit class this spring. I will be glad to do so. This story had me on edge at every moment.i will definitely recommend it to others

Captivating story

This is a story about a black American woman who time-travels back in time, and gets to experience a stark contrast between the modern age and the slavery. But the supernatural element of the story is not what matters most, it is the stories of the ordinary people trying to get-by in a hostile world, their relationships, small joys and even greater griefs. It tells about how easily people get used to such kind of situations, and accept their fate. It also shows how the society and the socially-accepted rules change over time and form our views about the world.
I enjoyed this story a lot, it's narration and the main character. Even though there are certain aspects that could be criticized, they are too minor to matter.
The narrator is very good, I am already searching for other books recorded by her!

A look back in time

As a Marylander it was interesting to read of historical Maryland. Good story flow.

Fantastic book about integrity and compromise

Incredibly complex characters and the choices they have to make on an early 19th century Maryland plantation. I may never say "well, I would have ..." again, because you just can't know what you can stand and what will break you.

Kim Staunton captures the pain and joy and bitterness and resolve of the characters beautifully. It was like watching a movie in my head.

I don't want Kindred to end!

This is my new favorite book! It was written in 1979 but it could've been written yesterday. Not only is the book well written and the characters so believable but I learn so much as I'm translated through time! Well done Octavia E Butler!

Well written & performed but depressing

I read a book about the Holocaust that was uplifting and filled with joy, The Hidden Room, an autobiography by Corrie Ten Boon, but the hope it that book was the result of the internal characteristics of that author, and her Cristian faith. Every books about slavery I've read has been less than uplifting, as you would expect, but Twelve Years a Slave by Soloman Northrup was well worth reading because it is a valuable and credibility first hand account of an institution everyone should understand in order to ensure that such an evil institution never returns as a legitimized institution during the remainder of the age of mankind. This book, as a work of fiction, unfortunately, can't squire that credibility, no matter how well written, and so is just depressing.