Oh look, it’s a book: Kindred

“Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler (1979)

For a class I had to read Butler’s “Fledgling” which is also her last book and I pretty much ran through it in two days – notes and all. I was amazed, it was easily read and understood yet had such a wide range of important topics all well spelled out. Butler topics are most importantly race, gender, age, but she manages to put spaces of queer identity into the representation of sexuality. At least that’s what I read into it (I am actually writing a paper about it… hopefully until Tuesday).

“Kindred” is her first novel that was not part of a series. She wrote it while working on the “Patternist”-Series. It is the story of Edana – who’s always called Dana – who is pulled into a different time by an ancestor. Unfortunately the time is 1815, the place is Maryland (by then still a slave-holding state), and Dana is an African-American woman. She goes back in time to help mentioned ancestor who himself is the son of a slave-holder. She saves his life time and again and finally sees his daughter being born – the daughter who is also her ancestor but born by a slave.

But Dana is not only observer, she becomes a slave herself. She is beaten, she is abused (though not sexually), and finally has to make the decision to safe herself.

This is a powerful book where slavery is revisited through the eyes of a woman living in the 1970s. She herself is married to a white man in California. The book is in part Science-Fiction, in part historical novel. It is shocking, it is thrilling, and not an entirely easy read.

Unfortunately for me it does not really fit into the topic of my paper but I am still glad I read it. Octavia Butler had a rare talent and I will go on reading her books for the pleasure they give me and for the thoughts they evoke. Make sure to check her out.

Read On!

Watchable: Precious

“Precious” by Lee Daniels, based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire

So, I do what I love doing on my birthday: go out to watch a movie. This time I chose a depressing film about a girl with a hard lot in life and only one choice… doing everything the hard way. But it does get better, somehow.

Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is a fat kid (about 16) who is pregnant with her second child, the father is her own father who abused and raped her since she was three years old. Her mother knows, of course, but instead of helping her daughter she uses her own dominance over the beaten girl and abuses her in her own ways – for taking her man away from her.

The principal of her school finally enrolls Precious in a program of young women who are all somewhat behind in learning but who still want to graduate. In this wild assortment of broken girls she finds friends. But it is mainly her teacher – Ms Rain – who makes a difference in her life. But it is not all glossy and nice from that moment on. Precious has yet a long way to go… but I won’t tell you what else awaits her because I want you to watch it for yourself.

Why did I watch such a depressing film on my birthday? Well, I wanted to  see it and I would have had to wait another two hours for the Sandra Bullock-film to start (I just remembered the dialogue from “Scream 2″ at the beginnning when she wants to see the Sandra Bullock-flick and her boyfriend wants to see the horror movie that gets both of them killed… strange). Well, I have also heard the movie was supposed to be good and so I went and watched it. I liked it, too, but it is heavy food (I translated this from German “harte Kost,” but it’s probably not quite fitting in English, sorry).

Precious teacher, by the way, is a lesbian and since the movie plays in 1987 this has a slightly different connotation than if the movie would be set 20 years later. She is played by Paula Patton and played very well, so look out for her in the future. She gives her character just the right amount of edges so as not to appear unbelievable.

There are some people you might recognize (or not recognize); the mother is played by comedian and actress Mo’Nique, Lenny Kravitz (whom I did not recognize as Nurse Joe), and Mariah Carey as Precious’s social worker, Mrs Weiss (and not half bad, but not really Oscar-worthy either).

So, try to catch this while you can. It will be worth your while.