| Title | : | Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 141970947X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781419709470 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 10, 2017 |
| Awards | : | Bram Stoker Award Best Graphic Novel (2017), Harvey Awards Book of the Year (2018), Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Best Adaptation from Another Medium (2018) |
Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that suddenly transformed in to the frightening world of the antebellum South.
Dana, a young black writer, can't explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder--and her progenitor.
Her survival, her very existence, depends on it.
This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white--and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word.
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Reviews
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Kindred is the tale of a black woman who is repeatedly transported from her 1970s apartment to antebellum Maryland. The main reason I requested the adaptation was so that I would finally force myself to read the full-length novel. I'm so glad I did because it ended up being one of my favorites last year!
Kindred makes such a great candidate for a graphic novel because there's much dialogue and historical fiction seems to work especially well in the format. John Jennings and Damian Duffy they did a fantastic job of adapting Octavia Butler's story. The review below is for the graphic novel adaptation only. My review for the full-length novel is available
at this link.The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. - Steven Biko
THE INTRODUCTIONWhat would you do if you were suddenly pulled into the past and had to find a way to survive?
The introduction is written by speculative fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor. She writes about how Octavia Butler inspired her when she needed it the most. Learning about Butler's kindness and how she made time to mentor a gifted new writer gave me a whole new level of admiration for her!
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural is one of the most memorable books from my childhood book collection. The scratchboard illustrations by Brian Pinkney shaped how I visualize the antebellum South (
one of the illustrations). While the artwork of Kindred is unique to artist John Jennings, the earthiness of the illustrations made me immediately recall that book. Jennings's style somehow made me feel settled in both the 1970s and 1800s. There's a frenetic energy to the illustrations that convey the extreme stress that Dana's body is being subjected to. His choice of presenting the 1970s in sepia tones and the 1800s in full-color was brilliant and reminded of how differently Dana processed the two different worlds:Rufus’s time was a sharper, stronger reality. The work was harder, the smells and tastes were stronger, the danger was greater, the pain was worse … Rufus’s time demanded things of me that had never been demanded before, and it could easily kill me if I did not meet its demands. That was a stark, powerful reality that the gentle conveniences and luxuries of this house, of now, could not touch.
I appreciated the art even more after viewing
Jenning's Tumblr and seeing how the art for
Kindred differs from his usual style. Here is a
link to one of the Kindred spreads, but you can see some
more of his process for his various projects if you scroll through his blog.
THE STORY
An adapted version won't include everything. The omissions are going to be harder for me to pinpoint because I read the two books so close together. However, I missed the part where one of the plantation slaves explains the reasoning behind her children's names. That part was probably easy to cut because many could probably make that connection on their own!
While there are necessary omissions, there are also parts where the illustrations add so much emotional power to the text. Being able to see Dana's facial expressions tempered my only complaint of the full-length novel—that Dana seemed so detached, unusually accepting of her situation. At one point in the original novel, Dana has to put her copy of
Gone With the Wind aside because she's unable to stomach its representation of slavery after what she has experienced. I mentally pictured her throwing it across the room. The illustration shows her tossing it in the garbage can, which I thought was an appropriate visual.
Some of the most powerful spreads were the ones with the fewest words. One of the pages that impacted me most was after Dana convinces one of the slaves to submit to her owner's desires. "She didn't kill him . . . but she seemed to die little. Rufus mailed another letter for me. Payment . . . . for services rendered." (pg. 158, The Fight) Minimal words, but the illustrations pack such a punch. Another page that I found memorable is at the end of The Fall (pg. 99), when Dana is reaching for Kevin as the whip comes down and she disappears.
The graphic novel is such an awesome format for Octavia Butler's classic book and would make a great gift for her fans. It would also be a great way to introduce yourself to the story if you're not ready to commit to the whole novel or you don't think you'll be able to make time for it anytime soon. I do recommend reading the novel first because it's a very fast-paced and action-packed experience!
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I received this book for free from Netgalley and Abrams ComicArts. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It's available for purchase!
If you are interested in John Jennings's artwork, his Hoodoo Noir graphic novella
Blue Hand Mojo: Hard Times Road (pub. date 3/1/17) is currently available in the 'Read Now' section Netgalley.
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Octavia Butler's original book that inspired this is a 5 star read and you should read it if you haven't. This is the graphic novel adaptation and it's quite good and very accessible, especially for people who maybe don't have the stomach to read the original book, which is devastatingly beautiful and brutal.
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I have been wanting to read Octavia E. Butler's Kindred book forever! Well, I finally did... kind of! I read the graphic novel form. One of my friends posted a photo of them reading this on Instagram and I was shocked to see there was a graphic novel version. Thankfully the school that I teach at has an amazing graphic novel section and they had this book.
This book lead to the exploration of violence and the loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and how it has had a lasting impact on today. This book covers racial and gender divides in the South through the 20th century.
Dana is a young black woman, who randomly and unexpectedly time-travels from her home in 1970s California to the pre–Civil War South. In the 1970s she is a free woman and when she is in the pre-Civil War time she travels back to her own complicated family history on a southern plantation. She becomes involved with the slaveholder's son, Rufus. He is one of Dana's ancestors and she does whatever she can to help him, while trying to change his view on slavery and what he does to other human beings.
This book was great and showed how times had changed greatly, but not enough. It also showed what slaves went through and how a child's life and experience growing up can set up a negative mindset of others.
I suggest this book to anyone that enjoys graphic novels and history. -
I just reviewed Octavia Butler's 1979 novel that I read in 1980,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
the first science fiction book I had read that deal with the issues of race and ethnicity. And slavery, as she depicts an African-American writer, Dana, in 1973 transported back to the nineteenth century South in order to intervene in the life of her progenitor, her great great grandfather, Rufus, who--could it be otherwise?--raped his slave, Alice, who would then become Dana's great great grandmother. How are--especially for Dana, but for all of us--whites and blacks forever "kindred" as a result of this "peculiar institution"?
This fine graphic adaptation is adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings and introduced by another science fiction writer who writes compelling about issues of race and ethnicity and power, Nnedi Okorafor. It was awarded the 2108 Eisner Award for Best Comics Adaptation, and I think it's deserving.
PS: It is an interesting coincidence that I happened to also be listening today to Ian Fleming's racist depictions of Harlem and Jamaica in Live and Let Die, and paying close attention to the Jason Van Dyke-Laquan McDonald trial here in Chicago (McDonald was shot 16 times in the back in "self defense" while running away from Van Dyke). I'm white, Dutch as is Van Dyke. I have worked in Harlem and other urban schools for decades and my Dutch ancestors attempted to colonize South Africa. Complicated? Kindred? -
I came late to Octavia Butler’s work and am making up for lost time. A friend in college suggested Parable of the Sower to me. I read that, really liked it… and then didn’t read any more of her work until recently. I was nervous going into this adaptation of Kindred— how on earth could the art do justice to the complexity (and violence) of the original? Reader, it did. The art is beautiful and captures the horror of slavery, Dana’s struggle, and the weird compression of time. At the same time, it doesn’t fetishize the violence that Dana both witnesses and experiences as an African American woman living under slavery. If you’ve read Kindred this is a great companion. If you haven’t read it yet, this adaptation is strong enough to stand on its own.
— Ashley Bowen-Murphy
from The Best Books We Read In April 2017:
http://bookriot.com/2017/05/01/riot-r... -
Find this and other Reviews at
In Tori Lex
I did not read the book, this graphic novel was adapted from first. I can't speak to any differences or similarities to the original novel. I can speak to the horror show of slavery, eloquently described with nuance throughout these pages. Slavery is apart of American History that most American's would rather forget. But this graphic novel makes you face the ugliness without kid gloves. I had to take breaks while reading because human beings being systematically oppressed, beaten, abused and mentally degraded brought to mind far too many examples of how minorities in America are being treated today. We have come a long way since slavery but the dregs and institutions that created it, persist in oppressing Black Americans through mass incarceration and police brutality.
"Slavery was a long slow process of dulling."
I was uncomfortable reading it, but happy there are no sappy story lines or helpful white saviors. Everyone in this novel has a role to play in racism. Even Dana and her white husband realize the far lasting consequences slavery has on a person's humanity. Dana is forced to travel through time whenever her white ancestor Rufus puts himself in danger. She helps him because her very existence depends on his survival. While the premise seems fantastical, helping people in power who don't have your best interest in mind is how large segments of America live.
"In his grief, Rufus seemed almost to want death. But he was afraid of dying alone."
Throughout Dana's experience back in time with her Ancestors she shatters all of the myths we tell ourselves to make slavery more palatable. She has to face how much of slavery can not be rationalized and the brutality of everyone involved. . It is a detrimental practice to strip human beings of power and ask them to be grateful for the experience. This graphic novel is a great reminder that not talking about a reality doesn't change it, race relations will continue to suffer while people can with a straight face say they don't see color. I would recommend this to everyone because you have to understand the nature of racism to grapple with how to change it. -
Crowned the “grand dame of science fiction” by Essence, Octavia Butler was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed science fiction writers of the 20th century. Her career spanned over a dozen novels and, among her many awards and honors, Butler was the first science fiction writer to win a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, before being cut short. In 2006, she tragically passed away at the age of fifty-eight.
Thirty-eight years after its original publication, Butler’s best-selling novel, Kindred, and by extension Butler’s own voice and vision, has been given new life. Considered by many to be her most accessible work, the novel has been adapted into a graphic novel by cartoonist/writer Damian Duffy and editor/artist John Jennings.
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, like the history it shares, is haunting. At its core, it is a story of pain, a tale of survival. A twenty-something writer from the year 1976, living in California, is mysteriously and repeatedly pulled through time and space to early 1800s Maryland. This protagonist, Dana Franklin, an African American, is thrust into the all-too-real, all-too-horrifying realities of the world of slavery.
The initial confusion Dana experiences is well felt by the reader. How did she get there? Why is this happening? As Kindred unfolds, Dana’s sanity and her very life are challenged.
The art of Kindred reinforces the terror and panic often felt by the narrator. The sometimes dark, often gritty images set a serious tone and an intensity that the story demands. Discomfort, frustration, and anger radiate from the book’s pages: the physical, often sexual violence is not just spoken of, but frequently shown. The art and story work collaboratively to make sure the reader is not okay with what is taking place.
Chiefly, Kindred is an ever-important reminder of how we think of and treat each other. The story explores not just the attitudes and actions of slave-owners and other whites towards their black slaves, and vice versa, but of slaves towards the educated black protagonist. The dynamics of these mindsets and the book’s events show the devastation that ignorance, jealousy, and sheer hatred can cause in the lives of many.
As Dana says at one point, “People don’t learn everything about the times that came before them.” We know slavery happened. But we don’t feel it. And, I suspect for many of us, we don’t like to think about it. To assist with the lessons Butler wants us to learn, Dana, who is very much her own character, functions in part as a proxy of the reader. Butler could have simply written a story set in 1800s Maryland, but by having the realities of slavery not just witnessed but lived by a protagonist from the modern era, we are forced to feel and think about that tragic era of our history as though it were happening to us.
Kindred does not ease that pain. Throughout its pages, the reader is confronted with brutal scenes. Whippings. Sexual assault. Rape. The violence depicted in Kindred is a necessary reminder of humanity at its worst. And the acceptance of these actions as “normal” by most of the characters is as troubling as the events themselves. One of the most haunting moments of the book shows two young child slaves playing pretend: these children—for fun—act out a slave auction. The buying and selling of humans is so normalized by these children that they even assign dollar values to their worth. A few pages later, Dana’s inner monologue addresses this horrifying scene poignantly: “I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery.”
Nearly four decades after its original printing, Kindred remains a valuable story and teaching tool. From its pages, we are reminded of the destructive consequences of prejudice. -
I read this ages ago in the regular book format. I saw this graphic copy at the library and picked it up. Has very vivid pictures and was interesting to read in this context.
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Actual rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up.
I read the original novel version of Kindred in 2020, and I stand by everything I said in my review of it, which can be found
here.
It’s a story that has really stuck with me since I read it 3 years ago, and so I decided to revisit in via the graphic novel adaptation. I’m so glad that I did, because it was brilliantly conveyed here. I found the story both more emotional and somehow slightly easier to stomach. This is in spite of the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style. There was just something about the way in which the story was pared down to fit the more visual format that gave it an additional punch. But it’s a story that is just incredibly strong in any format. It’s one that stays with you, and one that I highly recommend. -
3.5/5 stars!
Kindred is a book I've been wanting to read for a while, but my hectic schedule, (read: my inability to stop requesting books from Net Galley), hasn't allowed me the time to squeeze it in. When I saw this graphic novel adaptation available on, (where else?), Net Galley, I had to have it. Luckily, they approved me and here we are.
I enjoyed the heck out of this story-as much as a story partly about slavery can be enjoyed. Dana, (a young black woman), through some unknown mechanism, gets pulled back in time every time young Rufus' life is in danger. She doesn't know Rufus from Adam, but he's in trouble and she comes to his aid. As the story goes on, we discover that Dana has been pulled from the 1970's back into the time of slavery. The time travel aspect is never explained, so I tried to accept it as a given. After a period of time, Dana is sucked back into her current time and into her white husband Kevin's, loving arms.
Upon her return, Dana explains to Kevin what happened. The next time it happens, Kevin is pulled into the past along with her and again, Rufus' life is saved. I don't want to say anymore about the plot because...spoilers. (In case there is anyone else out there who hasn't read the book, other than me.)
I liked the story and I did like Dana and Kevin. However, the characters back in the time of slavery were not as well developed as I would have liked. (Perhaps they are more developed in the novel itself?) My main problem with this graphic novel is the illustration. I was not all that fond of the graphics. I did end up getting used to the illustrator's style, but overall it didn't work that well for me. Perhaps the graphic novels that I have experience with all have superior illustrations, (The Sandman Series, Preacher, American Vampire) and that's why I was disappointed? Or perhaps these graphics were just a bit sub-par.
This was a great way to familiarize myself with the story so I'm not entirely ignorant anymore. It also did whet my appetite for the original tale. Overall, I would recommend this graphic novel to readers like me-ones that have a hard time fitting a long novel into their reading schedule. Just don't expect the graphics to knock your socks off and you'll be fine.
You can pre-order your copy here:
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
*Thanks to Net Galley and Abrams ComicArts for the e-ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!* -
Octavia E. Butler's Kindred is a weird blend of biography, science-fiction, and historical fiction.
Los Angeles, 1976. Dana and Kevin, black and white, wife and husband, begin teleporting/time traveling to the year 1819. The story mostly follows Dana's time on Maryland's Weylin Plantation, spent in the company of the owner's son Rufus and the other slaves.
As a time piece it's incredibly brutal and accurate, but to be honest it doesn't seem to say anything new. American slavery was an evil social plague that continues to fuel institutional racism and hyper-violent hatred today. 1819 was a terrible time of dehumanization, torture and death for blacks. And contrastingly, even 1976 maintained prejudice and social stigma against blacks as seen for Dana and Kevin who are a mixed race couple. But it's not really anything I haven't seen before on the subject.
More importantly, my problem is with the story's fundamental concepts and science-fiction. Dana's time travel ability isn't explained. In that sense it's fantasy, a mysterious plot device to facilitate a tour of early American slavery from a 20th century perspective. Dana also knows how to control her time travel yet allows herself to linger in the past beyond her comfort, which I don't understand. I also don't understand why the "method" of time travel is fueled by pain and fear of death other than it's fitting for the story. Another convenient plot device?
The primary reason we're told Dana continues to not only time travel but remain in the past is to assist Rufus, the plantation owner's son. But I have a hard time believing this motivation. It's explained that Dana was going to school to be a teacher and work in early development, teaching reading and writing, but she never finished school. So naturally she has this strong unfulfilled desire to work with children, which is obviously fitting for the story: when she travels back she's suddenly an unusually literate free black and she teaches Rufus and some of the slaves how to read. But why does she care for Rufus? He's rude, evil, and psychotic. He's a physically and verbally abusive rapist. My only speculative explanation is that Dana is suffering from Stockholm syndrome or PTSD and is trying to cure Rufus of the incurable. I don't know. Even that doesn't sit well with me.
The other reason Dana continues to time travel is that she and Kevin are eventually (and predictably) separated. She returns to 1976 and Kevin is stuck in the past. So naturally a search ensues. And you can guess how that plot thread resolves. This was far too predictable. Getting lost or stranded in time in a time travel story is practically grounds for a drinking game it's so expected.
At the "roots" this is a historically fictional, science-fiction biography of a black woman who time travels from prejudicial 1970s to slavery-era 1819. Because she's a smart, educated, modern woman, she gets in trouble and tries to historically revise the past and change its inhabitants. Which, as you can guess, goes horribly wrong. What's the moral of the story, what's the "why"? Racism is alive and it sucks. Slavery was awful. And even being educated and enlightened still isn't enough to survive in that brutal era. But the character's motivation seems lacking to me.
Admittedly, I read a free advance copy of this book so the quality of the unfinished artwork is pretty terrible, like legitimate storyboard sketches in places, so I can't accurately judge the artwork. I imagine that it could be wonderfully rough or impressionistic, like Jeff Lemire. This, however, was pretty hard to look at in its unfinished state.
All that said, Kindred is an interesting if mysteriously reasoned story. I strongly empathize with Dana and the blacks who died and suffered through slavery and continue to suffer hatred and violence, that goes without saying. But story wise I had a hard time connecting with Dana or other characters in this book because characterization and plot were lacking. And the artwork was a serious miss in this rough edition. -
I should say I have not (yet) read the novel this graphic novel was based on. I found this graphic novel to be a powerful, disturbing, and emotional story. I liked the art work and found the story to be compelling and kept me gripping the pages until the end. Dana finds herself transported from the 1970’s back to the 1800’s in a southern plantation saving a boy, Rufus, she eventually realized is an ancestor of hers. She isn’t sure why or how it happened, but she finds herself bouncing back and forth several times before she realizes she needs to save and guide Rufus. This book tackles the issue of slavery and what it looked like and the complex relationships that were within those bonds. I definitely want to read the complete novel after reading this.
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4 1/2 stars
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Having just read the novel of this book, seeing it in graphic formation was just wonderful.
The comic rendition was drawn in a way that I feel keeps the feeling of the novel. It is shorter, but I feel it keeps true to the story nonetheless.
I like the color scheme and the lines, there's a picture and on page 174 (of the Kindle version) where you see Dana transported between time and I felt like that was exactly how I pictured it in my mind.
But of course since this is the graphic novel adaption it's not AS graphic as the novel, but it's still really, really good. -
The book is better, with a much stronger emotional impact, but this graphic novel is still incredibly powerful. Some of the imagery is harrowing - Octavia Butler was such an amazing author, someone who could capture a moment in time with enough nuance that it could still be conveyed in a few simple words on a page. The story itself never fails to hit home, even on reread.
If this is your first introduction to Octavia E Butler, definitely read her novels - they're amazing. -
This is a really great graphic adaptation of the powerful classic Kindred. Having read both I think they did a pretty good job of capturing the heart of the story and a lot of the emotional complexity and horror of what Dana experiences. I think it's difficult to fully transpose a book like this into a graphic format and certainly I think the book has greater nuance and is well worth reading. However, I think this could be a good entry point for people getting into classics of the genre. The art style isn't my favorite, but I was okay with it. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
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Haven’t read the original novel, but this adaptation was beautiful, complex, disturbing, and powerful. Sometimes I wonder why I read graphic novels — then I encounter a book like this and remember.
The balance between art and story, in which each elevates the other, is hard to achieve, but when it is done right the result is powerful.
Still plan to read all of the groundbreaking work of Octavia Butler. -
It's hard to rate this without comparing it to Kindred, the novel. The source material is amazing. I enjoyed this adaptation, but it felt like in some ways like it was hitting bullet points.
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A graphic novel adaptation of an Octavia E. Butler classic that I saw on Scribd. I adored the original version so much and reading this is a good reminder of how powerful the plot and characters are. I just found the art style a bit inconsistent. It felt weird. It's a quick read, though, and I like it, but I'm not crazy about it. I still prefer the novel form. Reading the original version is still the best option.
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[I read/reviewed this adaptation --and Butler's novel as well-- previously this year, but apparently never posted either review.]
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation. 3 stars
This is a pretty good adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's novel, Kindred, and I enjoyed it, but I prefer the original novel by a substantial margin. I found the original to be a more fulfilling experience. 4.5 stars. (
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
If, though, you've already read the original novel, by all means have a look at the graphic novel as well. But I think it would be a mistake to let the latter substitute for the former. My reservations are I admit partly due to my own biases: i.e, in general I prefer graphic novels with stylized, comic, or abstract art, over realistic depictions such as in this one, which of course was completely necessary and appropriate to this story, to this source material. I suppose a more fair criticism I have is that the graphic novel tries to pack too much material in. For example, at one point there are 27 dialogue balloons packed into only two panels. Trying to follow the back and forth between the two characters is awkward, and the cluttered look is distracting. Almost 50% of the space on these two panels are taken up with dialogue. They could have condensed this dialogue, which is backstory anyway, and, as in the novel, is the least interesting section of the story. It therefore seems to call for summarizing, or at least spread the words over more panels to avoid clutter and confusion. That's the most extreme example, but in general I feel there's too much packed in.
Samples of images in preview >>
https://books.google.com/books?id=l3e... -
Good books make you cry. Great books make you think. Fantastic books stay with you long after you read them, and haunt you with their story. This book, this book has all those factors. If the story is this good in graphic novel form, it makes me feels I should run right out and read the original.
I thought, when I got it, I would flip through a few pages, and then go back to work. Well, 200 something pages later, I had not gone back to work.
Very moving story of a young, black woman from 1976, going back in time to save an ancestor. This happens several time, each time, returning seconds, or hours after she left. She only knows it is happening when she gets dizzy. And the time she is send back to has to be one of the worse times to be black, as she finds herself on a plantation in pre-civil war Maryland. And the ancestor she has to save, is the son of the plantation owner.
Worse, then having to keep saving the white man, is that the woman who would be her great-great-great-something grandmother is black, and wants nothing to do with the son.
And in between, we see a non-whitewashed, so to speak, story of life as a slave. This graphic novel makes this book available to many more people, people who should read it. This should be offered in schools, in libraries, and anywhere people need to read this, and understand the history of the black people in the US. Very sad, very moving, and very compelling.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. -
Kindred is one of my favorite books and it made a lasting impact on me when I read it last year. Reading the graphic novel version was a slightly different experience that I will try to explain. The first difference is that the story doesn't seem as personal as the actual book. The first person narration was much more complex in the novel, with no surprise, but I feel the graphic novel missed out on some possible great moments of introspection by Dana. Yes, all of the important scenes are in the graphic novel but it just feels different.
Another main difference is that the lettering and text bubbles in the graphic novel aren't really done to a degree of perfectionism that I've found in other graphic novels. Some of the text is a bit small and the spacing/positioning of some of the text bubbles make it confusing on which text bubble to read first. I think that the lettering was definitely the weakest part of the graphic novel.
Do I think that art added anything to the story? Uhm, barely. There are a few scenes where I think the art really brought something new to the story and showed an emotion or connection that I might have missed in the novel. For the most part, the art just was there and didn't impress me much.
What did impressed me was how well Damian Duffy and John Jennings was able to condense the story into a 230 some page graphic novel and tell the same story without much difference. Sure, a few of the panels jumped inexplicitly, but the story was really honest to the source material. I think that Butler would be proud of the translation to the graphic novel. I recommend the novel over the graphic novel but if you aren't going to spend the time to read the novel then definitely read this. If you love the Kindred novel, I feel like you are going to like this too. I'm glad I read it and it gave me a good reminder of why I should read more of Octavia Butler's work. -
2.5 stars. Kindred is my favorite book. It's royalty in the badass book hierarchy. I'd been anticipating this graphic novel for a long while, and I suppose my expectations were a bit too high. I wasn't thrilled with the illustration and some of the choices made by the editors. I wanted so much more from this but was left feeling unfulfilled. Super bummed.
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Read this for my MLIS elective
RTC!
Content warning: racism, slavery, suicide of a minor character, rape (including attempts) -
Octavia Butler's 1979 novel is adapted for this 2017 graphic novel by Damian Duffy & John Jennings.
Both the novel & graphic novel have earned high praise & although this was a good read I didn't find it lived up to the reviews.
It's well written & the early chapters where the main character mysteriously travels back in time from 1976 to the 19th Century are brilliantly handled. However, the middle of the story lacked the tension of the first half although the overall concept & the author's look at American slavery from a 20th Century viewpoint is very well told.
I just wish I had enjoyed this more than I did. -
Octavia Butler is something of a hero among several of my friends and I've been told many times over the years to read her. I've tried before without much success. The prose just doesn't pull me in. This winter I finally got a little deeper into two Butler novels, Fledgling and Kindred. Fledgling I listened to about half of and then for the rest read a synopsis. Kindred I listened to a few chapters of and then read this graphic adaptation, and I'm grateful to finally have a little more of a connection to her work She's definitely not for me in terms of style, but as a philosopher and a social critic, she's brilliant.
Kindred is the story of a 'modern' biracial couple, Dana and Kevin, a black woman and a white man, that stumbles into a troubling dilemma. The woman is somehow time-connected with a white, slave-owning great grandfather whose life keeps falling into danger, and when it does, starting when he is a very young child, he somehow calls for her and she vanishes from her home and appears at his plantation. This puts her in all kinds of danger--a black woman of the 20th century landing on a plantation in the South in the 1830s. It's complicated by the fact that they find a way for Kevin to come with Dana, and his whiteness works sometimes as protection, but also puts them in some danger. And because he doesn't want to risk her traveling there without him, he winds up staying there while she returns home, where in contemporary minutes, years could go by in the time-travel-past.
Dana and Kevin watch as slaves are bought and sold and brutalized. They try to find ways of fitting in, resisting, learning, being a support to the slaves and also to Rufus, Dana's white great+++? grandfather. The relationship is complex in that Rufus is in some ways struggling to break away from a culture in which men are taught to exploit and abuse. He vacillates between abusive rages, predatory sexual behavior, and a sensitivity and affection that gives Dana room for hope.
All in all this book raises a lot of questions about relationships, history, responsibility and trust, and the ending is, I thought, brilliant, in terms of plot structure and resistance/courage.
The art in this book I feel ambivalent about. I think it's just about aesthetic preference in terms of storytelling. The art is beautiful, but the style I find to be distracting. There are a lot of extra lines, a lot of bright blues. There is one section where everything is washed in a light violet, which was kind of cool. There are different color schemes in different parts of the book (past/present, etc) but there is so much going on visually that it's hard for me to make sense of it. I thought some of the extreme close-ups were beautifully done. The style can be cartoony and caricature-ish but also some panels have the richness of a painting.
I found it hard to tolerate Kevin. I read him as arrogant and kind of uninteresting. I'm not sure if that is what Butler intended. If not, I wonder if it is the way he is portrayed in here. Or maybe Butler's fictional worlds value/have tolerance for characters I don't find appealing? Hard to say. I'm very curious what other people think of him--in this graphic version and/or in the prose novel. -
I had heard a lot about Octavia Butler and I knew how much of a pioneer she is in the field of fantasy/sci-fi for black authors. But I’m also not much into reading classics and never thought I would be diving into her work. But, we chose Kindred as the March BOTM for our Stars and Sorcery book club and I decided to pick up the graphic novel adaptation. I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to feel after reading this but I know I’m better off for having had this experience and the insight into this wonderful author’s work.
This book really is a painful look at slavery and it’s lasting effects. Dana is a young, independent, modern woman but we see how easily she starts getting used to the oppression and horrific conditions in Antebellum south because her mind is on survival. Her whole family’s existence depends on her keeping Rufus alive, but that also means she has to tolerate his aggression, sexual violence and inhumane treatment of the slaves - all of which go against her own beliefs. This fight between her survival and her conscience is depicted in a very thoughtful manner but the abuses she or anyone else endures is never whitewashed. The author also shows us that just because the practice of slavery was abolished, it didn’t really end. It’s affects have lasted for generations (even till date) which is clearly reflected in the family’s reactions to Dana and Kevin’s interracial marriage. There is also a great parallel between the menial jobs that Dana has to work in the 70s to keep food on the table to the kind of jobs she is expecting to perform on the plantation.
The art style in this graphic novel is very unlike anything I’ve ever read before and it took sometime for me to acclimatize to the characters, but I think it suited the story. The illustrator uses a different color scheme to reflect the past vs the present and that definitely worked in the book’s favor. But I think the best (and probably the worst too) part of this adaptation was seeing the horrific depiction of slavery on page - the whippings, beatings and rapes - it’s very painful to read and I had to take breaks in between, but it also makes this book and the story feel much more real.
I think this is an important book to read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone, but just be aware of the graphic content. I also think this graphic novel is probably a good first foray into Octavia Butler’s work - this will definitely pique your interest and maybe help in your deep dive into the author’s other prolific works. I for sure am interested in trying to read the original Kindred sometime, hopefully soon. -
This book is hard to rate because racism, bigotry and slavery are topics that are not easy to read. One would think that we’ve changed things, that we’ve made better decisions, but truth be told, we’re in the same place as in the 60s.
Kindred is sort of a time-travel story that has this woman who can go back in time, whenever this white guy is in danger. At first, when he’s just a kid, she helps him because he’s only a helpless kid that repeats what he listens and sees, but eventually, when she goes back to her time period, she decides that she has to do something.
And what a terrible idea that is.
Sometimes she stays in the past for several months, as she works for this kid’s father in order to have a place to stay. And whilst she’s an educated woman, most of the people who work for this man are living in terrible conditions. The important subject here is that the author (as well as the illustrator and the editor) wanted to portray how people of color were treated a century ago, and how they’re still treated right now. Like I said, slavery is a topic that we must learn in order to stop ourselves from repeating the same mistakes.
Now, I could never understand (not really) the sorrow, the pain of losing a lover, a sibling, a parent, a friend, because they were sold as nothing but slaves. These people were treated worse than animals. I will never support the idea that people of color (and minorities in general) are ‘less’ than white folks. We all deserve the same rights and it’s certainly unfair that from the moment people are born, they are meant to be hated for something they cannot change.
This graphic novel made me cry out of frustration and anger. The past is something we cannot change, but we have to learn from it. We have to change our behavior in order to make things right, to let everyone know they can be safe. That we all have a place in the world and that we should be treated as equal.
Anyway, I haven’t read the actual novel written by Octavia but I think this graphic adaptation was really something everybody should read. But be aware that this isn’t a light-hearted reading.
Read it for the #FemmeFanTale Readathon. -
I got a free uncorrected proof at ALA. If you've read Kindred, you know that Octavia Butler's novel is not for the faint of heart. In interviews she mentions that she wrote the book to help modern people emotionally understand slavery but that she toned down the horrific realities of slavery. Reading the graphic novel is gutwrenching in a different way as you view Butler's storytelling unfold panel by panel.
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This graphic novel just did not do it for me. As most reviewers state, the artwork takes away from the story. It is truly distracting and not attractive at all. The graphic, in total, does not do Butler's book justice
as it does not present the depth or urgency of the times.
