Comments | bookfails: Kindred Fail

trakshun in bookfails

Kindred Fail

Dec 02, 2009 13:53

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kill it with fire, thank god it was just fiction

Comments 7

ad_nauseam91 December 2 2009, 19:18:28 UTC

Oh my... that sounds so... How did that guy even get published?

I think I recognize this style of writing from some other books I've read - the story telling tries to be dramatic, mystical and captivating, but in the end it's overpretentious, cliched, and soporific. Plus, the author's explanation to the mystery going on is never as interesting as what one imagined it would be.

Ah well, let's hope that whatever book will be the next one you read will be better =)

noveldevice December 2 2009, 19:25:42 UTC

"That guy" is Octavia Butler, a very good s/f writer and POC, unfortunately now deceased.

She was, as it happens, a very very good writer. I haven't read Kindred, and every author lays an egg occasionally, but on the strength of my prior experience with her work, I have to suspect that the OP didn't get it.

im_writing December 2 2009, 19:32:51 UTC

I actually really liked this book. I took a whole course on Butler in college. The teleportation is never really explained but where she ended up wasn't random. Rufus was her ancestor. The reason it seems she keeps getting pulled back is because Rufus is continually putting his life in danger and she gets pulled back to save him. If he doesn't live to adulthood and have sex with the slave, Dana is never born ( ... )

suitablyemoname December 2 2009, 20:05:04 UTC

Thank you!

And, on a snarkier note,

There's lots of ridiculous rape and the writing is awful. I mean, I want to scream.

Glass houses.

captain_emily December 2 2009, 22:56:26 UTC

I loved Kindred. It's actually in my list of favorites, and I've even published an article on it. I highly recommend it ( ... )

glamorandgore December 3 2009, 07:37:59 UTC

aww, i loved that book.

mutive December 4 2009, 00:14:56 UTC

I loved the book as well. I'll agree that it's sort of a "you have to like Octavia Butler to like Kindred", but she is a great sci-fi writer, and I think that this is better than some of her work. Again, I'd be one of the first to admit that almost EVERYTHING she writes is a bit over the top political/racial/sexual (as she noted, she's a feminist black woman), but I generally prefer her to Atwood, and think that Fledgling is one of her more though provocative and interesting books.