Kindred

Brilliant and intense. Though the initial chapters read a bit stiff and pat, signalling the prose of a novice writer, it more than makes up for it as the novel progresses into an intense narrative about the tension between submission and rebellion and master/slave & white/black dynamics. The complexity depicted in the relationships between Dana and Rufus, Dana and Master Weylin, Dana and other slaves, as well as Dana and her white husband is incredibly intense and realistic. As a treatise for defending slave submissiveness, the depiction of Dana is as frustrating and revelatory as it should be. As insight into the complex dynamics of interracial relationships, it is uncomfortable and raw. Just a brilliant, brilliant novel.