2025 #15 Kindred (Butler)

 

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

NB: I read the Kindle Anniversary edition with the foreword by Janelle Monae

Kindred is a powerful novel in many ways, particularly in the understated pragmatism of its protagonist, Dana. It seems surprising initially that Dana should be so accepting of her temporal quandary, but Butler seems to know that the surprise is best left to the reader. This leaves Dana to her "travels" and foregrounds instead, the shifts of identity and multi-faceted and nuanced problems of race, in a narrative that exists both then and now (relatively speaking). The reader may find themselves probing clear-cut binaries and assumptions, and struggling to understand some of Dana's choices--this is what makes her very compelling.

In Butler's antebellum south the metric is constantly shifting for what is "kinder", and enslaved persons are given dimension beyond their enslavement. In the Reader's guide, Robert Crossley notes, "One of the protagonist's--and Butler's--achievements in traveling to the past is to see individual slaves as people rather than as encrusted literary or sociological types." And later, "In a Butler novel the black protagonist is there, like the mountain, because she is there." Crossley's point is well-taken --particularly in the more speculative aspects of the fiction.

The ending might seem abrupt, because it is, but it also seemed fitting. The narrative isn't really about the "when" and the plot, as much as it is about how connected things can be across time and space. We see enough to understand, in two temporal contexts, and are left with an unsettling notion that the past, present, and future may be far more intertwined than we admit. The epilogue does actually need to be there (for once), not to tie up loose ends, but instead to loosen up the ends as such, to weave them into our understanding of where our imaginations might lead and how they might serve us in living a present that is much more conscious of the past.

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FTL2025 4B challenge KindreD ------->DEI Deconstructed (Zheng)

2024 #7: Mind of My Mind (Patternist/Patternmaster #2) - Butler

 

Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this second installment of Octavia Butler's Patternmaster/Patternist series (but written second after 1976's Patternmaster (#3 in the series)), we see that Doro's breeding/inbreeding program has continued, and his efforts are now focused on his daughter Mary, a biracial woman from a poor neighborhood whose telepathic ability surpasses even Doro's expectations. Doro has Mary wed Karl Larkin*, another telepath, whose abilities are strong, but don't quite equal Mary's. (*I'd be curious to know if there is any significance to Larkin being both this character's last name and the protagonist's daughter in Parable of the Talents.

After enjoying Wild Seed, I admit that the jump in time left me a bit disappointed because I really wanted to continue the story of Anyanwu and Doro, and while the former is present in this book, her story is no longer centered. However, there is a nice parallelism in how Mary gains the upper hand (NOT with the same ramifications) as Anyanwu does in the first book. Anyanwu compromised and interrogated Doro's status as the antagonist at times, and that happens less in Mind of My Mind, although the characters are have the trademark multidimensionality that Butler did so well. We briefly meet one of the characters who is a significant reference in the next book in the series, Clay's Ark, which I've already read.

Robin Miles's performance offers a certain even-handedness that serves the narrative well, as well as the characters of Mary and Doro. There were times where things felt a little too flat, but also underscored the amount of mind control happening at any given moment.

Overall it is a worthy sequel to Wild Seed and while I have not read the entire series, I think it is likely an important "origin story" that explains the "Patternists" who are one of the major groups featured in Patternmaster, the last book chronologically (though published first).

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2023 #23: Wild Seed (Butler) - The Patternist Series, Book I

 

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was difficult not to give this five stars because as with so much of Butler's oeuvre, there are parts of it that are simply extraordinary. Butler's capacity to create worlds within worlds that seem simultaneously urgently relevant but also extraterrestrial is spellbinding. The protagonist, Anyanwu, is an immortal who can alter herself at the cellular level to heal herself, change identities, and in some cases, species. Much like Lauren Olamina in Parable of the Sower, Anyanwu is a multi-faceted, sometimes ambiguous, incredibly strong protagonist. Her antagonist, Doro, is a megalomaniacal spirit who has lived for thousands of years, who prolongs his life through cruel and terrible means. Fixated on forming his own society, his humanity is so deeply buried as to be thought lost.

Themes of community and kinship made this an important contribution of Afrofuturism when it was published, and it remains so today. It takes a multi-pronged approach to engaging with colonialism and in turn, postcolonialism. While much of this is transparent, Butler does not every lose sight of the storytelling and her characterization. This is where it is necessary to give Robin Miles, the reader of the audiobook, absolute accolades. Nuances in accents and intonation abound and each character, major or minor, shines through her portrayals.

Where I struggled with the book was near the ending. I found some of the plot directions difficult to reconcile, and while I generally like that Butler does not feel it necessary to explain all contexts for all events, there are several significant events that happen toward the end of the novel that were uncomfortably dissonant with the characterization. While Butler is making a case, perhaps, for transformation, the changes seemed rush and disproportionate to the major narratives that take up the book.

Aside from that, however, it is a book that, while it shares similarities with works here and there, manages to blend social commentary, speculative fiction, and fantasy in a seamless and organic way.



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2022 #36: Parable of the Talents (Butler) - Earthseed #2

 

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While there were aspects of this book that I did not enjoy as much as Parable of the Sower, in some ways this sequel is absolutely necessary. In it we discover the true costs paid by Lauren Olamina, and see multiple perspectives. As with Sower, it is a tough read and Butler does not sugar coat the violence and destruction. I found the voicing of Larkin on the audiobook left me rather unsympathetic to her character, although as Larkin's narrative becomes more balanced and experienced, this changed a bit. As with the first book, this one is frighteningly prescient--so much so that I double-checked to make sure the book was completed by Butler herself, not someone ghostwriting after 2016 (Butler died in 2006, and the book is from 1998). The character of Andrew Jarret will be familiar to many modern readers in the U.S--although again, this book was published in 1998.
Butler leans in to her descriptions of enslavement, and a lot of the hope of Earthseed seems replaced by a battle for survival. This is not altogether a bad thing and drives home a larger point about how hope can easily morph into something else. Butler isn't doing it for shock value, but instead to throw into high relief the tension between humanity and humanness. Everyone manipulates, and we as the readers are left to try to fathom the many reasons behind those manipulations.


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2022 #10 Parable of the Sower (Butler)

 

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Remarkable. It is a word that is over-used, and yet, can also say absolutely nothing. But truly...that is the word that first came to mind. Not when I finished the book, but within the first hour of listening. Lauren Olamina is one of the best adolescent female characters in all the fiction I've read. Her "sharing" (hyper-empathy) is a disability (invisible to most) and for Lauren, an identity, that very much informs her worldview and arguably crafts her mission of Earthseed, as told both in the quotations from "The Books of the Living" and Lauren herself. She describes one woman as "housebound and squeamish," and notes without sanctimony: "...and that's what I would've become if everyone had known about me." It is hard to say what this book is NOT about. Written in 1993, and taking place in 2024, the book is remarkably prescient, but also makes a larger point about cycles of humanity. Slavery and colonialism are not just of the past, but of a future built on a present that relegates patterns to the past. And yet, some of the past is also celebrated as holding answers for the future.

Lauren's character is written with so much personality, yet without hyperbole or sentimentality. She just is. She suffers betrayal and loss, yet walks forward with an almost gentle ferocity, which really only makes sense for her character and the context of the book.

And yes, this is dystopic sci-fi, but it is also a "coming-of-age" novel. And a declaration of faith. "Embrace diversity or be destroyed." "God is change." Butler celebrates the power of poetry--no matter the source. And she even recognizes the limits to her protagonist's agency, as Lauren must disguise herself (figuratively and literally).

So, yeah, the book is remarkable. And I certainly wish it had been available to read when I was in high school, because I'm certain it would have resonated far more with me than Lord of the Flies or Catcher in the Rye. Definitely one of my top ten books.

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2021 #14: Clay's Ark (Butler)

 

Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this book was uncomfortable both in its 1980s sci-fi ethos and in reading it during a pandemic. That said, Butler's exploration of a tension between parasitism and symbiosis is really intriguing. I did find the character arcs to be on the weaker side, although the jumping between past and present is artfully done (and not gratuitous). The final showdown takes too long and seems sensationalist in its rampant violence, although I supposed there is a point to be made there. The humanity question is explored fairly well through some of the main protagonists, but one of the better aspects of the novel is that it redefines the protagonist role altogether. A worthwhile read, but I could have used more interrogation of the larger themes, and a little less sexual and bodily violence.