Kindred is without a doubt one of the craziest books I have ever read in my entire life. The entire book went by really fast, which I liked because it was easy to keep up with the readings. I feel like the characters didn’t have a lot of depth, but I didn’t mind because I think it added to the pace of the novel. One of my favorite characters was Kevin because despite what happened, he always loved and never gave up on Dana. Even though he was trapped in the past for five years, I think he kept himself together pretty well, which is more than I can say for how I would’ve reacted in that situation.
By the end of the book, I felt as though I had lived through this entire experience with Dana. I’m still not sure why Dana had to go through this. I know that she was summoned when Rufus was in trouble, and taken back when she was in trouble, but why did this happen to Dana? Maybe it was to save her own families timeline and make sure Rufus lived long enough to create Hagar. At the beginning of this book, I didn’t realize that Dana’s timeline begins with a white man raping a black slave. It’s completely backwards to think that Dana must save Rufus’ life so that he can force Alice to have a baby with him.
I think a lot of people could defend Rufus’ actions by saying that he is just a product of his times, but that doesn’t make it seem any better. Rufus seems to be a little more progressive than his father, but still not a very good person. Some might say that at least he loved Alice enough to buy her back after she ran away, but he was the one that drove her to attempt an escape. Rufus’ “love” is a very selfish one, and that is why he is absolutely my least favorite character.
Overall, Kindred has definitely become one of my favorite books of all time. I really loved that it was fast-paced and action-packed. I would definitely recommend this book to any of my friends, and I’m really glad I was introduced to it during this class.
