A confoundingly great novel. It is alive with all the complexities of living and moves with the weight of history. Appearing a simple time travel tale on the surface, KINDRED presents a blistering indictment of American slavery, the ongoing socio-psychological burden of history, female empowerment, racial relations and how we pay for our sins. You are not forced to entertain these thoughts—they are made available to you—KINDRED is just as good a story without the deep reading. Octavia Butler pulls off another amazing trick. A novel about two specific times feels timeless. Of course the slick new paperback version I was reading contributed to this but while reading I didn’t think once about it having been written in the mid 70’s—40+ years ago. I especially loved how the author destroyed the lazy view of history—most books present people from the past as being like modern folks just dressing or talking differently--like a high school play. Butler nails the entirely different mindset of a another era and better yet posits that proximity and time will lead even a modern person to gradually assume the mindset of that era. Brilliantly conceived and presented. One of my favorite books.