Kindred

This book is about a woman going back in time to the days of slavery in order to save her great great great grandfather from various life threatening accidents before she has conceived her great great grandmother.

While going back, Dana has a lot of self conflict between doing what she knows is right, fitting into the time that she has been thrusted into, and surviving, all while making sure she does not change the course of time that will determine her fate and the fate of her family. This is especially hard for Dana because of the mistreatment she receives and sees others receive. She is stuck in a world where she does not belong to either opposing side. She doesn't fit in with the whites because she is black; she doesn't fit in with the blacks because she is seemingly "too white" for their liking and don't trust her. Although she makes a few friends who are always there for her, she is suffocated by a boy who she despises, yet can't seem to stop saving him. In the end she ends up taking his life when he tries to make advances on her. It was a tough decision for her since she knew that she would be putting a lot of people into bad situations.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked reading it and thought that the plot and the twists were both entertaining and original but the content and graphics of the book made it kind of depressing and dark. I definitely would not recommend this to teach as a high school book and maybe not even a class book at all but if I was to teach it as a class I would stick to freshmen in college age.