Kindred is a compelling novel, combines history, time travel, along with science fiction into one. Throughout the story, the main protagonist, Dana, repeatedly travels back and forth between the year 1976 and the 1810s (and later). I felt this was a hard read, as I was a little confused because of the whole time travel aspect. Though it was a little confusing, I felt I got a good lesson out of it; it shone light on topics that are often overlooked, such as the truly harsh conditions of slavery and uncomfortable daily life in the 1800s. 

I found this story to be captivating because it shows the stark contrast of how people can be treated differently, simply because of race. Not only does this story go over topics of racial inequality, but also gender inequality, and we see that represented through two different perspectives: of Dana and her husband Kevin. For example, Dana is an African American woman, while her husband is a white man. Traveling back to the 1800s, you can probably imagine how different their worlds became. Dana becomes treated harshly as a slave while Kevin is able to go on with his life without much complications. This is quite unfortunate and depressing, yet it is a sad truth of how those back then lived.

If I had gotten transported back to the 1800s, I don’t think I’d ever really adjust to life; however, Dana says that after a few months of living in those conditions, it was easy for her and Kevin to adjust to their roles in society. I felt this situation of being transported in time was sort of helpless; no matter how much they wanted to, Dana and Kevin could never really just change what was happening around them, simply because that’s just how they lived back then. No matter the amount of prejudice and unfair circumstances in that time period, they were forced to face the sad truth that nothing would stop the injustice.

At the very start of the book, Butler sort of ‘spoils’ the ending, which I found intriguing, and it made me want to read the story even further. I did feel like the story was quite long, and some chapters not necessary, but each part of the book encapsulates you in such a way that it’s hard to put the book down. There’s never really a dull moment throughout; though not all of the story is joyful and happy, the book was still interesting, despite the violence and brutalities. Overall, though the story might be aggravating and difficult to read because of the disturbing themes, I do think that it would be good to read such a book, as it educates and gets emotions out of the reader.