What can I say about this book. 😳 It is simply brilliant. 😁👍🏻 I loved it from the first page and I loved it to the very end. The whole time-travel-thing is written very well and still doesn‘t take up too much space. The focus is clearly on the emotions and the relationship between Dana and Rufus. It was never boring and it never dragged on (at least for me), there was always at least slight tension. Either Dana was waiting to be „called“ again or she feared her next whipping… 😳😲

„In 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave. When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he’s drowning. She saves his life – and it will happen again and again. Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them. And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it’s even begun. This is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.“

Blurb

The last sentence says it all: „[…] separated by so much more than time.“ Rufus‘ view of the world, of people and race is so diametrically different from Dana‘s (and ours by the way) that you wouldn‘t think they could even talk to each other. And often times it is very complicated and twisted but Dana tries hard to get him to see her view and to ease him a little… As a white cis-male I am considered very privileged and I would not dare to think that I know what a slave in the 17th century had to endure but with Butler‘s book I guess I got at least a very small glimpse of it. And it was shocking, harrowing and infuriating. Not many books managed to touch me so much… not in terms of tears or horror but in terms of understanding, sometimes even feeling the emotions of the people and realising anew how bad that time and many people within that time were… 😢🙁 I really recommend that book to each and every one. Truely one of the best books in my library and already a highlight of 2024! 😁👍🏻

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️