--- product_id: 1357464 title: "Kindred" price: "€ 29.71" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.fi/products/1357464-kindred store_origin: FI region: Finland --- # Kindred **Price:** € 29.71 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Kindred - **How much does it cost?** € 29.71 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.fi](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/1357464-kindred) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Kindred: 9780807083697: Octavia E. Butler: Books Review: What fiction should be all about. - Kindred is a fascinating exploration of a "what if" scenario, which doesn't happen very often. It manages to balance integrity and faithfulness to the subject material with a gripping story which I think is what fiction should be all about. The novel is entertaining, emotional, powerful, and enlightening. Every character is well fleshed out. The time travel elements are just enough to facilitate a great story but fit into the story in a way that is not distracting and does not causes serious logical discrepancies. The topic of slavery is engaged with complexly and really raises some questions and points of discussion without taking away from the momentum of the story. The central question of the book is "What if a modern African American Woman was somehow transported back to a time of American slavery?" Everything about this question is dealt with complexly -from "What would I bring or have on me that would help me survive or give me an advantage?" and "How much would I be able to explain to people there and how much of an impact would I have on their lives?" to "Could I convince someone living in a slave society to shed his/her prejudices?" and "What would I be able to do to help the slaves? How much of what I did would end up harming them?" The book also deals with Dana's relationship with her husband, a white man, and how he deals with living in a slave society as well as how their relationship changes after their series of supernatural experiences. I loved how all these what if questions were answered in a way that helped build a world and story and also helped me understand a time in the US not too long ago. The book does a very good job of portraying not just the evil of slavery but its context, the specific ways in which it might have been particularly harmful, and the culture that it existed in. The characters Rufus and Alice are particularly of interest. As portrayals of a white Slave owning man and a black freewoman turned bondswoman they are quite complex. Neither of them is actor or acted upon, perpetrator or victim. Instead, they are both complex people with personalities that exist in a society that complicates their relationship and leads to violence and desperation. Octavia Butler takes just as much time dealing with the relationships between the characters as she does developing and discussing a historical world. Butler goes beyond discussing the historical world by relating Dana's experiences in the past with her experiences in the present. A good portion of the book speaks to Dana's life in the 1970s, when the "present day" of the book takes place. Issues of race relations, interracial relationships, and the political climate of the 1970s are raised as well. In this way the novel makes the story even more relevant and recognizable -all of it is captivating and believable. Dana's unique place as a visitor to history also raises some important thoughts about what it means to be a student of history, what our role is as someone who can "visit" a time without having to live in it. It calls us to wonder what it means to live in our time, in this culture, and how someone from a brighter future might examine us. As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the portrayals of Rufus and Alice but I have some small criticisms of some other characters. The portrayal of Margaret, the white mistress, was a little lacking I think. She was pretty a rather typical portrayal of a white mistress which I think could have been complicated. I also think the other slaves besides Alice could have used some more personality and even Dana as a main character, I think, could have been fleshed out more. I actually wanted to know more about Dana's views on race in the 70s. It seemed she was pretty passive about it until prompted to think about race through her experience. All in all, though, I found the book engaging and enlightening and in a society where we don't really like to discuss slavery and its consequences and we want to stay away from boring or "downer" subjects, this book manages to make history interesting, relevant, and powerful. Review: Kindred Provides an Excellent and Important Look at Antebellum Slavery - Kindred, by Octavia Butler, was first published in 1976. Edana (a young black woman who prefers to be called Dana) and her white husband, Kevin, are moving into their first home together in California in 1976. She suddenly becomes very dizzy and finds herself transported to a strange place where she encounters and young white boy (Rufus) floundering in a river. Dana rescues the boy and administers CPR to save his life. However, a strange man threatens her with a rifle, and she becomes dizzy again and is transported back to her home where Kevin is stunned by her sudden disappearance and reappearance. Dana does not understand what happened, but a few minutes later she mysteriously appears in Rufus' bedroom, only he is a few years older. This time Rufus is standing in front of a burning window curtain. Dana quickly rips the curtain down and throws it out the open window preventing the house from catching fire and likely saving the lives of the boy and his parents. She discovers from Rufus that his father (Tom Weylin), who had previously threatened her with his rifle, is a slave owner and plantation owner, in rural Maryland. Rufus helps Dana sneak out of the house to avoid be discovered by his father and gives her directions to the house of Alice Greenwood (a good friend of Rufus) and her mother who is a free black woman. Through her conversation with Rufus, Dana discovers that she has traveled to rural Maryland during the Antebellum period (specifically 1815) and she realizes that Rufus and his black friend (Alice) would eventually have a daughter who would be a direct ancestor of Dana. Therefore, Dana realizes that it is important that Rufus and Alice are protected. She finds the house, but unfortunately a group of white men are savagely beating the husband of Alice's mother. Dana hides until the men leave and then asks the woman if she can stay the night. Unfortunately the men return and they beat Dana. However, during the beating (which she thought would surely kill her) she becomes dizzy again and is transported back to her home in 1976 in California. Dana makes four more trips to save Rufus when he is near death, and each time Rufus is older and the visit lasts longer. She has no way to control or avoid these trips, and it seems that she cannot return home unless she is placed in extreme danger. She is accepted by Tom Weylin because she repeatedly saves his son from death and Rufus becomes very dependent upon, and fond of, Dana. However, Dana is treated as a slave by both Tom and Rufus Weylin, especially as Rufus grows older. Although she does enjoy a somewhat better life on the Weylin plantation than the other slaves, she must endure a very harsh life and she is beaten severely more than once and suffers many other indignities. However, she is accepted by most of the other slaves, and she forms very close relationships with some of them. This book is a science fiction book only because it involves time travel. However, the vehicle of Dana's time travel is never explained and time travel only functions to bring Dana (and her husband who travels with her by touching her as she experiences her episodes of dizziness) to Antebellum Maryland when Rufus needs her. It is more appropriate to view this book as a highly researched book of historical fiction. It enables the reader to witness the incredibly brutal, and dehumanizing, treatment of slaves during the Antebellum period. Readers without much knowledge of the period could not begin to understand the lives of slaves, and Ms. Butler does an amazing job of placing the reader in that shocking and extremely sad environment. Octavia E. Butler is a very distinguished and acclaimed science fiction writer, but she has also brought this harsh and shameful period of American history to life for her many readers. This is a great book that educates, but also contains plenty of suspenseful action and wonderfully complex characters. I believe everyone should read it. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #3,272 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #3 in Black & African American Science Fiction (Books) #8 in Science Fiction Short Stories #133 in Black & African American Women's Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (25,011) | | Dimensions | 5.35 x 0.8 x 7.97 inches | | Edition | 25th | | Grade level | 9 - 12 | | ISBN-10 | 0807083690 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0807083697 | | Item Weight | 2.31 pounds | | Language | English | | Print length | 288 pages | | Publication date | January 1, 2003 | | Publisher | Beacon Press | | Reading age | 14 - 18 years | ## Images ![Kindred - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81aKFgMaH5L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What fiction should be all about. *by J***Y on April 26, 2013* Kindred is a fascinating exploration of a "what if" scenario, which doesn't happen very often. It manages to balance integrity and faithfulness to the subject material with a gripping story which I think is what fiction should be all about. The novel is entertaining, emotional, powerful, and enlightening. Every character is well fleshed out. The time travel elements are just enough to facilitate a great story but fit into the story in a way that is not distracting and does not causes serious logical discrepancies. The topic of slavery is engaged with complexly and really raises some questions and points of discussion without taking away from the momentum of the story. The central question of the book is "What if a modern African American Woman was somehow transported back to a time of American slavery?" Everything about this question is dealt with complexly -from "What would I bring or have on me that would help me survive or give me an advantage?" and "How much would I be able to explain to people there and how much of an impact would I have on their lives?" to "Could I convince someone living in a slave society to shed his/her prejudices?" and "What would I be able to do to help the slaves? How much of what I did would end up harming them?" The book also deals with Dana's relationship with her husband, a white man, and how he deals with living in a slave society as well as how their relationship changes after their series of supernatural experiences. I loved how all these what if questions were answered in a way that helped build a world and story and also helped me understand a time in the US not too long ago. The book does a very good job of portraying not just the evil of slavery but its context, the specific ways in which it might have been particularly harmful, and the culture that it existed in. The characters Rufus and Alice are particularly of interest. As portrayals of a white Slave owning man and a black freewoman turned bondswoman they are quite complex. Neither of them is actor or acted upon, perpetrator or victim. Instead, they are both complex people with personalities that exist in a society that complicates their relationship and leads to violence and desperation. Octavia Butler takes just as much time dealing with the relationships between the characters as she does developing and discussing a historical world. Butler goes beyond discussing the historical world by relating Dana's experiences in the past with her experiences in the present. A good portion of the book speaks to Dana's life in the 1970s, when the "present day" of the book takes place. Issues of race relations, interracial relationships, and the political climate of the 1970s are raised as well. In this way the novel makes the story even more relevant and recognizable -all of it is captivating and believable. Dana's unique place as a visitor to history also raises some important thoughts about what it means to be a student of history, what our role is as someone who can "visit" a time without having to live in it. It calls us to wonder what it means to live in our time, in this culture, and how someone from a brighter future might examine us. As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the portrayals of Rufus and Alice but I have some small criticisms of some other characters. The portrayal of Margaret, the white mistress, was a little lacking I think. She was pretty a rather typical portrayal of a white mistress which I think could have been complicated. I also think the other slaves besides Alice could have used some more personality and even Dana as a main character, I think, could have been fleshed out more. I actually wanted to know more about Dana's views on race in the 70s. It seemed she was pretty passive about it until prompted to think about race through her experience. All in all, though, I found the book engaging and enlightening and in a society where we don't really like to discuss slavery and its consequences and we want to stay away from boring or "downer" subjects, this book manages to make history interesting, relevant, and powerful. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kindred Provides an Excellent and Important Look at Antebellum Slavery *by C***N on July 12, 2012* Kindred, by Octavia Butler, was first published in 1976. Edana (a young black woman who prefers to be called Dana) and her white husband, Kevin, are moving into their first home together in California in 1976. She suddenly becomes very dizzy and finds herself transported to a strange place where she encounters and young white boy (Rufus) floundering in a river. Dana rescues the boy and administers CPR to save his life. However, a strange man threatens her with a rifle, and she becomes dizzy again and is transported back to her home where Kevin is stunned by her sudden disappearance and reappearance. Dana does not understand what happened, but a few minutes later she mysteriously appears in Rufus' bedroom, only he is a few years older. This time Rufus is standing in front of a burning window curtain. Dana quickly rips the curtain down and throws it out the open window preventing the house from catching fire and likely saving the lives of the boy and his parents. She discovers from Rufus that his father (Tom Weylin), who had previously threatened her with his rifle, is a slave owner and plantation owner, in rural Maryland. Rufus helps Dana sneak out of the house to avoid be discovered by his father and gives her directions to the house of Alice Greenwood (a good friend of Rufus) and her mother who is a free black woman. Through her conversation with Rufus, Dana discovers that she has traveled to rural Maryland during the Antebellum period (specifically 1815) and she realizes that Rufus and his black friend (Alice) would eventually have a daughter who would be a direct ancestor of Dana. Therefore, Dana realizes that it is important that Rufus and Alice are protected. She finds the house, but unfortunately a group of white men are savagely beating the husband of Alice's mother. Dana hides until the men leave and then asks the woman if she can stay the night. Unfortunately the men return and they beat Dana. However, during the beating (which she thought would surely kill her) she becomes dizzy again and is transported back to her home in 1976 in California. Dana makes four more trips to save Rufus when he is near death, and each time Rufus is older and the visit lasts longer. She has no way to control or avoid these trips, and it seems that she cannot return home unless she is placed in extreme danger. She is accepted by Tom Weylin because she repeatedly saves his son from death and Rufus becomes very dependent upon, and fond of, Dana. However, Dana is treated as a slave by both Tom and Rufus Weylin, especially as Rufus grows older. Although she does enjoy a somewhat better life on the Weylin plantation than the other slaves, she must endure a very harsh life and she is beaten severely more than once and suffers many other indignities. However, she is accepted by most of the other slaves, and she forms very close relationships with some of them. This book is a science fiction book only because it involves time travel. However, the vehicle of Dana's time travel is never explained and time travel only functions to bring Dana (and her husband who travels with her by touching her as she experiences her episodes of dizziness) to Antebellum Maryland when Rufus needs her. It is more appropriate to view this book as a highly researched book of historical fiction. It enables the reader to witness the incredibly brutal, and dehumanizing, treatment of slaves during the Antebellum period. Readers without much knowledge of the period could not begin to understand the lives of slaves, and Ms. Butler does an amazing job of placing the reader in that shocking and extremely sad environment. Octavia E. Butler is a very distinguished and acclaimed science fiction writer, but she has also brought this harsh and shameful period of American history to life for her many readers. This is a great book that educates, but also contains plenty of suspenseful action and wonderfully complex characters. I believe everyone should read it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review *by R***S on November 2, 2025* J’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre! ## Frequently Bought Together - Kindred - The Parable of the Sower (Parable, 1) - Parable of the Talents (Parable, 2) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.fi/products/1357464-kindred](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/1357464-kindred) --- *Product available on Desertcart Finland* *Store origin: FI* *Last updated: 2026-05-16*