Kindred by Octavia Butler

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From Goodreads.com:

The first science-fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of African-American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity.

Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life.

During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

My thoughts:

I thoroughly loved listening to Kindred. It was a short and smart but also brutal story. I don't know how Butler managed to pull it all together like she did but it was brilliant. How does one deal with the past and how it connects to your future? She offers up a wide range of feelings from horror to empathy.

I look forward to reading more of her sci-fi works.