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Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (Hardcover, 2017, Harry N. Abrams (Abrams Comicarts)) 4 stars

The book is the first-person account of a young African-American woman writer, Dana, who finds …

Review of 'Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A bit of a slow read initially because I just finished the original version of Kindred and I generally do not reread things, especially not twice in a row.

As far as layout goes, this adaption could have used a bit more fluidity. Combined with the emphasis on straight lines throughout it just felt kind of rigid despite its exuberant colour palette. Personally, I also felt like there was too much drawn detail in the mono-coloured sections so the contrast was also a bit lacking. That said, compared to a lot of novel to graphic novel adaptions I have read, this one was positively genius. The A lot of the time they seem like pretty soulless cash grabs by people who don't really know who the heck they are hiring.

In rereading this I was also struck by how compassionate Octavia Butler is being to slaves, particularly the ones who stayed and the ones who worked in the house. I haven't looked into it yet, but the way she brings up the characters own previous prejudice against these people, I feel confident in saying that it's a definite theme. This also seems to tie in with the way in which she portrays the masters in the book too. No matter how nice they can be from time to time there is no redeeming them and they are DANGEROUS.

In my previous read I thought it was mostly about bringing us face-to-face with the violence of slavery since this is what I saw a lot of people talking about. Certainly not a bad point, it just didn't strike me. So it was also very nice to find something personal to take away I guess.