As my hunt for my career continues, I have resumed to reading during my free time and recently, through a facebook post by a friend of an article 53 books you will not be able to put down , I went to the library to hunt them down.
Unfortunately, most of the books in the list were either not available in the library I went to or have been borrowed out. But one of the authors in the list was Octavia Butler. Which reminded me that she is a "not bad" author and that I liked her writing.
28. Kindred by Octavia Butler
Beacon Press
Leslie Howle
In the midst of her 26th birthday celebration, Dana, a black woman living in 1976 L.A., finds herself abruptly transported to a slave plantation in the antebellum South. She continues to be rocketed between the time periods and left to reckon with her place in both. Butler’s trademark realism makes this a gripping and unforgettable read.
—Mariella G.
- extracted from buzzfeed.
Previously, during my university times ( T.T, I feel so old now that I have completed my official graduation) I did a module on Monsters in Literature and Film. One of the literature we were required to read for the module was Fledging by Octavia Bulter.
Through the module, I discovered Octavia and liked her style of writing and found it unique that it is from a perspective of a black woman. Not that I am racist, but I believe that Octavia may have experienced some racism growing up or being around and it was reflected in her writing. Which was really interesting as it touches on some topics of how we treat people of colour and how people of colour would feel and though about in some of her writings. Which I find quite relevant as I am living in Singapore, a multiracial country with people from all ethnicity and religion living harmoniously.
In Fledging, it is about a genetically modified black vampire girl whom is immune to sunlight due to her skin colour. In the story, her family was hunted down and destroyed due to their attempts in unconventional vampire creation, where by some of the communities in the book, is a threat and repulsive as it degrades the vampire's "purity" and "superiority". In the story, the girl has to prove to the people whom hunted her family down that she is a "better version" of their community and that it is not a derogatory of their kind.
What I liked about Octavia was it her stories are quite unconventional (a different kind of vampire in Fledging as compared to the "conventional" pale skin handsome vampire in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series) also, it touches on racism. I felt that for a person to write stories like Fledging, she must have been through quite a bit to come up with that perspective where the young girl have to prove to all the adults and officials that she is of no harm and that she is just like them. Which makes me ponder about how we and the society are treating people now. And how a general misconception may affect the recipients.
So far, I have only read Fledging. Seeing that her other books were recommended by buzzfeed, I am certain that her writings are worth a read.
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