The YA Conundrum

45. Kindred

This book embodies a lot of the issues I have with YA books.  So many times you read them and just wish the author would go there, that they would push it.  Instead they seem to hold back in an attempt to save the audience from true exposure.  Is this because so many parents are ridiculous enough to ban books, so authors air on the side of caution?  The books are good, the plots are good, but ultimately I read them and I feel robbed of the emotional experience that is so amazing about literature.  And it ticks me off.

Here we have a 26 year-old woman living in 1976 California, who literally disappears and reappears in antebellum Maryland.  She saves a boy from drowning, has a gun pulled on her, and is suddenly back home.  This continues for her, as she becomes this boy's guardian angle of sorts.  I can see this being a great book to use in a 6th or 7th grade class.  The time travel will draw them in and the realities of slavery are well described, but in the end there is no emotional payout - doesn't that sound impossible?  Could there be a better set up for a really gut wrenching read?  I know, and that is why I was disappointed.

The character development is just not there.  Granted there is a lot going on and we also like to think that thick books scare off kids so we don't want to go over 300 pages.  But I don't understand Dana or what drives her.  I don't understand why she loves her husband or why she cares for Rufus.  I understand that she needs to save him, but does that mean she needs to like him?  If I knew and cared about her more the whole book would have been so much more effective.  But it just kind of glances the surface of everything instead of really diving in.  Why???