Biggest disappointment so far, and most likely of the year. I was so sure I would love this. Instead, even two stars is too generous. The concept is brilliant, but the execution, and especially the execution of the time travel, didn't work for me at all.

The characters are too unbelievable, too annoying, too detached and distanced emotionally from the reader and from each other; I felt zero connection with the characters and zero emotion despite the difficult subject. The relationships and the dialogues felt completely flat for me. I have read several books by different authors on the subject of slavery and my heart is torn on all of them.This book made me feel meh... I knew every part of the historical facts mentioned, so I wasn't learning anything either.

I definitely expected something very different from the time travel concept, and I was extremely disappointed. The worst part for me and what had made me seriously think to even lower my rating to one star was the ease by which the people in the 1800s knew and accepted that a woman time travels back and forth from 1976 like it is something that just happens, no big deal.

I'm selective with the books I choose to read, so most of the books I read are 4-5 stars and some 3 stars (which still is a good rating for me). Kindred will probably be my biggest reading disappointment of the year.

There are many far better books out there. To mention a few authors I have loved: Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Ernest J. Gaines, Yaa Gyasi... and others...

I think Octavia Butler might not be for me as I have also read her trilogy Xenogenesis, and it was an Ok generous 2.5-3 stars, better than Kindred, but still not very good. I know many people love her writing, and Kindred is a favorite book of many, but unfortunately, it didn't work for me at all.