Octavia E. Butler, Kindred

[rsadelle]

People who know me know that I like sci fi. Octavia Butler is pretty much the classic PoC sci fi author. Aside from this, all I knew about her was that she writes vampire books and she wrote Kindred. I did not read anything about Kindred before I requested it from the library. I kept waiting for the vampires to show up, and only realized 35 pages in that it was not, in fact, a vampire book. D'oh!

Kindred is instead the story of Dana, a black woman married to a white man in 1976, who keeps traveling back to the nineteenth century at moments that allow her to save the life of her white, slave-owning ancestor Rufus.

I read the first thirty-some pages on Monday, another forty-some pages on Tuesday, and the rest of the book in one sitting yesterday, a sitting where I kept thinking, "At the next section break, I'll get up and do my weight lifting," but didn't. That's a pretty good sign that it's an engrossing, compelling story.

I have this idea in my head that Octavia Butler is a Serious Writer who deals with Serious Issues, which she does. The book clearly tackles both the issue of white slave owners fathering children with their black slaves via rape and the issue of how easily people adapt to their circumstances, even if those circumstances mean they become slaves. The Serious Issue that seemed hinted at but not directly addressed is how their time in the past changes Dana and Kevin's relationship in the present of 1976.

Some of the dialogue is a little stilted, and not the nineteenth-century dialogue, either, but the 1976 dialogue. I suspect most of that is simply the formula of writing in the 70s (I can't remember the last time I read a non-children's book written before 1990, so I don't really have anything to compare it to), but there's at least one spot where the message is showing a little too clearly.

In terms of broadening my experience of the world, I have to admit that I had a hard time really accepting how easily Dana adapted to being a slave. I'm not sure how much of this is the writing not pulling me far enough into her head and how much of it is my white privilege that means I've never had to think about what it would be like to be a slave, which is clearly something Dana lives with even before her time travel experiences. I was skimming Racialicious earlier today, and in recounting a discussion about BDSM race play, Andrea Plaid says, "Personally, I think of race play and, yeah, I feel the body memories of slavery, too," which makes me more convinced it's my white privilege showing.

Comments

[papertigers.livejournal.com]

FYI, Octavia Butler didn't write vampire books. she wrote one vampire book, her last one, Fledging. all the rest of her novels are speculative fiction/sci-fi whose main themes focus on race, class, sexuality, and other inter- and intracultural issues.

[rsadelle]

Huh. That makes it even more fascinating that I've somehow picked up the impression that she writes vampire books.

[papertigers.livejournal.com]

maybe you're confusing her with L. A. Banks or Tanarive Due?

[papertigers.livejournal.com]

to elaborate, in case that brief comment came off as snarky or dismissive, my intention was to point you toward some Black women writers who DO write vampire books, in addition to suggesting reasons you might have been misled into thinking Octavia Butler was one. Fledging was OB's last book and the paperback was published the year after she died, so it received a lot of attention in sci-fi/fantasy circles. I have bronchitis and am running a fever, so I'm not terribly eloquent just now.

[rsadelle]

Not snarky at all. I really am genuinely fascinated by the fact that she only wrote one vampire book and yet that's what I've picked up about her. (To be honest: I usually only read fluffy sci fi/fantasy, and I've been avoiding Octavia Butler because of my perception that she wrote Serious Books about Serious Issues.)

I used to say I never read vampire or werewolf books, but then Patricia Briggs started writing them, and I read more of them now, although just being a vampire book isn't enough of an enticement for me - there has to be something else going on too. I will check out L.A. Banks and Tanarive Due, though.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I've been avoiding Octavia Butler because of my perception that she wrote Serious Books about Serious Issues.

She kind of does, though I wouldn't say they are the type of book where the reader ends up rolling their eyes and going "GOD, Octavia, use Western Union already". (Except, possibly, Parable of the Talents.)

[rsadelle]

Belabored Serious Issues are really not my thing, so I think I'll stay away from that one!

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I will say that PotT seeming issue-hammery may have more to do with me and my belief system than with Butler's writing. :)

[rsadelle]

Do you mind my asking what it is about your belief system that made it seem hammery? (I know I know of you from previous fandoms, but I don't know you well enough to put a belief system to your name.)

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I'm an atheist humanist with Serious Issues with organized religion. (But I repeat myself!) Parable of the Talents deals partially with the clash of competing belief systems, and how different organized religions (including the fictional one invented by the protagonist of the earlier book, Parable of the Sower) function and cope.

The whole thing gave me mental hives in a weird way that I am not sure I can explain without spoiling the book!

[rsadelle]

Hmm. I'm interested in some kinds of sci fi that deals with religion, so this sounds like a possible rec to me!

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Definitely start with the first book in the series!

[rsadelle]

Absolutely! I'm a little compulsive about reading/watching things in order.

[sanguinity]

There was a big fuss about Fledgling even before she died, actually. It was the first novel of hers in eight years -- fans had been chomping at the bit, wondering if she had given up writing. Then when it finally came, it was completely out of left field. ("A vampire book? Is this the same Octavia Butler?") She gave a couple interviews that suggested it was a writer's-block-clearing book, and so some fans hoped that the next book might be more "typically" her--

And then there was no next book.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was hoping after Fledgling that she'd end up finishing the last Parables book, but...no dice.

:(

I hadn't made it to Fledgling in my to-read stack by the time she died, and after that I saved it up for quite a while because I didn't want to have finished everything.... dammit.

[papertigers.livejournal.com]

oh, I remember all that too, but I was trying to get at why someone unfamiliar with her work might associate her with vampire books, since she wasn't around to clarify when the paperback was published. I've been putting off reading Fledging, not because it's a vampire story but because I don't want to not have anything else new of hers to read once it's done. so it's sitting on the bookcase like a redheaded stepchild, although I've had the paperback since it came out (I almost never buy books in hardcover).

[sanguinity]

*nods*

My favorite author ever, whom I have been reading for the past twenty-five years and pretty much grew up with, has become elderly and doesn't publish much anymore. One of his more recent books sat unread on my shelf for an age and a day, because I couldn't stand the possibility of maybe not having any more of his to read.

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

I think I'll do the same thing when Terry Prachett publishes his last.

[sanguinity]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but... Oh, that did make me laugh. I can just imagine reading Kindred and wondering where the vampires were! :-D

(Especially since my first knowledge of Butler was that her book was awesome but also so brutal and violent and soul-ripping that I'd look at one of her books and ask myself, "Are you feeling brave today?" And most days, the answer was "No.")

Thanks for the reminder that the bookclub is coming up -- I need to pluck Kindred down off the shelf and give it a re-read this weekend or next.

[sophinisba]

I just listened to that audioplay that was linked in the bookclub post (because I didn't feel up to rereading) and it was different from the novel but very (painful and harrowing and) good.

[rsadelle]

I laughed, too, when I realized there weren't going to be any vampires!

See, that's been my impression of Butler, too, which is why I've never read anything by her before, despite having actually owned one of her books once.

Oh, huh. I had no idea it was the bookclub book. I'm looking forward to the discussion post!

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Kindred does sound like it should be vampires. Wasn't there a TV show by that name or something? *googles* Oh, yes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindred_the_embraced)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Kindred: the Embrace. It was the TV show based on the Vampire: the Masquerade rpg. And OH MY GOD, that TV show was awful. It was produced by Aaron Spelling, IIRC, and was basically Vampire 90210. It also just made no damn sense half the time.

I have the DVD box set. This is a subject of some shame for me...

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

I have The Lost Boys on DVD and if I lost it I would buy another. So there.

Thanks to papertigers for some vampire fic recs. I need to get the taste of LK Hamilton out of my mouth.

...I wish I hadn't typed that.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people feel that way about LK Hamilton.

Sometimes people feel icky after reading her books too.

I'm sorry. I saw an opportunity for cheap smut. I couldn't help myself. I'm a bad bad woman.

somewhat OT:

[papertigers.livejournal.com]

...I wish I hadn't typed that.

*snerk*

< tangent >oh, you want vampire stories? (http://www.vampirelibrary.com/) < /tangent >

Re: somewhat OT:

[rsadelle]

WOW. People on the internet are so dedicated.

[rsadelle]

See? It wasn't completely unreasonable! (I think I only saw one or two eps of the show. I know more about it from a Kindred/Once a Thief crossover I read years ago.)