Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

68 reviews

theliterarymess's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I likely never would’ve picked this up had Vintage not sent it to me, but omg it’s amazing. It’s dark and gritty dystopian. The Hunger Games but the contestants are criminals and it explores how the death penalty isn’t always a fair justice and how it’s often those from minority backgrounds who get the worst treatment in America’s prison system.

Chain-Gang combines dystopian world-building with real-world stories and data. I loved the switch between the narrative and footnotes, finding it worked smoothly even with the audiobook. I don’t think Adjei-Brenyah is trying to shove the message down anyone’s throat, he’s just telling it how it is.

The characters are so nuanced, you never really know if you’re really supposed to be ‘rooting’ for any one of them given their grey backgrounds and not all of them are reformed or repenting. 

I removed a star from my rating only because I felt unsatisfied by the ending. I do wonder if this is purposely left ambiguous by the author but I would have liked a few more clues to the outcome of the events in the story and what would become of the characters.

It’s one of those books where I found the audiobook narration worked best to really give you a feel for the tone of the characters. I listened to the audiobook alongside reading where narrators Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, Aaron Goodson did a fantastic job.

It’s a dark and violent read, but a much needed one. I didn’t expect to like this at all but I truly recommend it to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

mnstucki's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book just wasn't for me. There is a lot of meat to it and I could see it being a great discussion book for a book club because of all of the interesting topics it touches on, but the violence was just too much for me personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

cepbreed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"One thing I can promise you is there will always be pain." 

"A knife is only ever so far from your neck."

I have never dreaded a last chapter more than this one. 

Masterful. Powerful. Jaw-slackening. 

My mouth is dry and I'm at a loss for words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is everything I love about reading. It's emotional, tense, and thought-provoking. I was also really impressed by the scope of this book. I think it would have been very, very easy to mess this story up, to make it not hit as hard as it did, to make it another Hunger Games ripoff that tries to be smarter than it is. But it stands on its own and it stands very strong. Not only does Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah tackle something as huge as the prison industrial complex, but he slips in commentary on other issues too, that although not directly related, play a part in the system as a whole. The idolification of celebrity; the fetishization of Black female athletes; misogynoir, misogyny and patriarchy; capitalism and the tech industry; the criminalization of the mentally ill; and of course the dehumanization of criminals. Soo much is packed into this story that it's impressive it's less than 400 pages. And every single bit of it makes you think, a lot.

This is a Black Mirror style dystopia. It feels weird to call it a dystopia, because it feels so real. It's not too far off from reality, which is why it feels like a Black Mirror episode. 

Something that made this book stand out for me was its multiple POVs. At first, it felt overwhelming to be constanly juggled around different people that didn't seem to matter to the story. But I came to understand that that was the point; everyone is connected to the system in small or large ways. There is no separating yourself from the system whether you want to or not. At the same time, we are all connected together as people. It made the entire story feel like a snowballing of seemingly unrelated butterfly effects. The death of a character's father leads her to accidentally invent the torture device used against prisoners and protestors. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time means one person gets convicted for a crime while another goes free. It shows how the little choices can make somebody's fate, and how the prison system capitalizes on those little moments to punish, dehumanize, and control. It makes the reader ask, are we defined by the choices we make, or do the choices we make really have nothing to do with us at all? 

All the POVs come together in one way or another at the end; characters we read the perspective of one time at the beginning of the book become someone we meet in passing in another character's perspective. I loved the effect it created and how it showed each tiny piece of the system and the story as a whole. Some people will find it discombobulated and confusing, but it really worked for me.

And the characters we focus the most on are beautifully done. They are people who have done some of the quote unquote "worst" things a human could do. They are murderers, rapists, arsonists, criminals. But they are also people, and the author does a really great job making you fall in love with them despite what may be your gut reaction to them. They have passions, fears, regrets, dreams. Some of them forgive themselves and others want to punish themselves just as badly as the world wants to punish them. Some of them fully lean into the hand they have been dealt, and others succumb to their own hopelessness. The characters definitely shine here and also open up a lot of introspection and reflection. I would say there are four main characters, but the minor characters play a huge part in the story and I was every bit as moved by their individual stories as the main storyline. 

The plot itself is rather basic, and I think if the characters were less compelling it would have quickly become boring. The main conflicts themselves wouldn't have been enough to carry the whole story, but because we become so close to the characters and the POVs are split up the way they are, the intrigue stays high and, at least for me, it was impossible to put this down. The last 25% of this book does not pull any punches. It hits hard and it hits fast. 

Every choice the author made feels extremely intentional. The choice to use different narration styles for different character's POVs. The choice to include footnotes that break the fourth wall by pointing to real-world statistics on imprisonment and systemic racism. The choice to end the story how he did. Everything was done extremely well and I'm confident I'll be thinking about this book for a long, long time.

Brutal and devastating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

squintyfarmer's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Transphobia

mcicenia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of my fav books I’ve read this past couple of years. features a sapphic couple with a poly character, as well as a minor trans/nb character. a really sharp witted satire with dark and insightful commentary on the prison industrial system. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Police brutality

sundayfever's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was the most challenging book I've read this year. Deep dark look at  incarceration, systemic racism and classism. Tense and really gripped me. It's rare a book actually has me on the edge of my seat. Lots to reflect on regarding the value of human life and prison abolition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Rape and Transphobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racial slurs and Religious bigotry

aleyajo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So enthralling! Excellent critique of the prison industrial complex. You cannot truly love if you have ownership over another. Masterful blend of the real with the almost-real, akin to the Handmaid’s Tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

rainbopagn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is a book that will make you rethink everything you feel and know about the American justice system. This should be required reading. The way you go back and forth between perspectives and the way they come together in the final pages... its beautiful storytelling. It is also vicious and violent, much like the real life justice system. The way the author pulls in real people and real statistics is an homage to those who have been unfairly and unjustly treated.  


SPOILERS in
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I am more than a little pissed that Thurwar killed Staxxx. I had expected them to go out together, mortally wounding each other. I understand the meaning of the full circle moment but it still annoyed me.     

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Medical content, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Medical trauma