Year 4, week 27: Kindred

This week's book:

Kindred

By Octavia E. Butler

I have wanted to read this book forever. When I saw a trailer for the film Antebellum last year I thought the concept looked scary/messed up. That book revolves around a black woman in her twenties that keeps being brought back to the time of slavery to save one of her ancestors over and over again through out his lifetime ( I'm not giving away anything, that info is on the back of the book.) If you are wondering why I was talking about that movie and not this book, it's because a lot of the comments I was seeing were comparing these two. I now learned that, while there are a few similarities, the plots don’t line up. 

I ordered the book and then it sat on my shelf for months. My dad read the book and kept asking if I had read it yet. I finally read it for a buddy read (when you read it together with others and discuss on Facebook Messenger). I ended up reading it faster than the group because I just wanted it to be over with. A lot of fiction books I have read about slavery I find myself doing this. I did the same thing with both  The Underground Railroad and Beloved.

 

With that being said, the book is insanely well written, and it pulls you in from the very beginning. The mix of, I want to say, sci-fi and horror is interesting. I'm not normally a sucker for time travel; the plot holes that it provides annoy me. However, this book was just fascinating. It is so heartbreaking hearing the truly horrible things that people did to each other during slavery. The fact that the slave owners saw people as property and not actual human beings was sickening. The fact that there are people today that still don't see people of color as human beings is also very disturbing. 

I would say I would recommend the book but know there are some super depressing heartbreaking moments in it. 

Year 4, week 26: If Beale Street Could Talk

This week's book:
If Beale Street Could Talk
By James Baldwin

This book has been in my TBR "pile" forever. I tried to check out the audiobook and the wait list was long, and then I kept pushing back because it either didn't fit a prompt for that month or a book I was super excited to listen to became available. I am kicking myself big time now because this book is written so poetically. 

Yes it hits hard hitting issues like racism and a wrongly accused/imprisoned young man, but at the heart of the novel is a young couple that have always been in love, and nothing will stand in their way. In all honesty it was a good book to read around the week of Valentine's Day. Not only between a young couple, but also between parents and their children, sisters and community. There are naughty words and have some painful topics, but I would very much recommend the novel. 

No I haven't seen the movie yet. This Mama is way behind on my movie viewing. These kids make me so tired I fall asleep every time I sit down to watch a movie. 

Year 4, week 25: The Vanishing Half

This week's book:

The Vanishing Half

By Brit Bennett

This week's book has had some buzz around it. It was the Book of the Month Club's official book of the year for 2020. I think we might be reading it for my book club for church. My big sister even has picked it up a few times to read it as well. The expectations for this book were very high. This made me a bit nervous since I have a horrible track with not loving books that everyone loves (I'm looking at you Where the Crawdads Sing). 

This book is the story of a set of twins, one having dark skin and the other having such light skin she can pass as a white woman. The story follows both of the twins and the lives they live over the next few decades, and then their own daughters' lives as they grow up. Just because the color of their skin, these sisters and then cousins lives are so different. 

I enjoyed the book and I can definitely understand why everyone went crazy about this book. I would highly recommend this novel.