Chapter 1: The River ~ First Reaction

I have to admit that at first, I felt that it was all too coincidental that I ended up in the seminar about cultural encounters, as an African American female. After learning more about the seminar itself and the required summer reading, I became less apprehensive about the class and intrigued by the reading assignment.
Despite the contrast between my sense of organization and Octavia Butler's beginning in media res, I was, in a sense, glued to the book (not even wanting to pause in order to write this blog). I was both surprised and amazed at Octavia Butler's ability to captivate her reders so early in the story, especially in such an unconventional method. The sense of time travel further enables the reader to compare cultural encounters with African Americans in the antebellum south with those of a more modern world.
Although I tpically view the idea of time travel as juvenile, namely compared to the issues of racism and tolerance, I am intrigued by Butler's integration of the two to emphasize the latter and its change over time.
I am uncertain about the remainder of the book, but I can hardly wait to pick it up again.