Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

77 reviews

tamarant4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

3.0

...the massive violence of the state was “justice,” was “law and order,” and resistance to perpetual violence was an act of terror. It would have been funny if there weren’t so much blood everywhere. [loc. 2540]

'Chain-Gang All-Stars Battleground' is the top-rated show on CAPE, the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment channel. Prisoners facing a death penalty or incarceration over a certain amount of time can volunteer to become a Link, a part of a Chain. Individuals on one Chain engage in mortal combat with opponents from another Chain. If a Link survives for three years, they win their freedom. The average life expectancy is three months.

The novel's multitude of viewpoint characters include Links Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxxx, lovers and stars of the Angola-Hammond Chain; Hendrix Young, one-armed spear-wielder; and Simon J Clark, utterly broken by torture and nicknamed the Unkillable. (All were imprisoned for murder, from violent rape and murder to self-defence. And of course have committed many more murders since, as part of the show.) There are also other voices: fans, protesters, an announcer, a scientist... These are interesting for their angles on the show, the cultural context, the prejudices of race and class (the Links are mostly non-white) and the creeping complicity of it.

Though it's the future, with new and exciting technology utilised to cause pain and record violence, Adjei-Brenyah's footnotes snag our frame of reference back to the present day, with stats about race, innocence and violence in the US carceral system. This is more a pitch-black satire than it is science fiction: and it is a love story that finishes on an irredeemably tragic note.

Read for lockdown book club. It took me a while, because this is a very violent book, in terms of physical and social violence. I think it is a timely and important novel, with powerful prose and complex characters, tackling important issues. The fact that I didn't enjoy reading it is incidental.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lokes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Dysphoria

kendallsnead's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.75

Unlike anything I’ve ever read. Heartbreaking. Poetic. Beautifully written about a world that feels too close to reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

rcbarnes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Heartbreakingly uncanny.  Sublimly humanizing.  Disturbingly plausible.  Beautiful throughout.

Should probably be required reading before voting in US elections.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

What a relief to be finished - a brilliant premise but a disjointed, jumpy execution and muddled ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia

its_the_lauraxx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.5

I'm deeply grateful to Adjei-Brenyah for the acknowledgement of humanity that is so often stripped from incarcerated peoples,  and for asking the ethical and moral questions that Americans desperately ignore. A much-needed dose of art as resistance for me. If you don't understand why abolition is key, read the chapter beginning on page 281.

"I thought of how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it's this." (227)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Torture

Minor: Sexual violence

amandabarry95's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

beardedmug's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense fast-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: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence

jennylomax's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

3.0

I appreciate it, but I didn’t enjoy it. Also please check out the trigger warnings if any kind of violence bothers you, I was caught out by something unexpected that I wasn’t prepared for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

pinkiereads's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

i wish i could have liked this book but i just didn’t… there was just something missing or some disconnect in the writing. the premise was interesting but it honestly didn’t feel like it went anywhere? i really liked the statistics and i can say parts of it were good, like how the separate stories entertained. simon j craft and hendrix young were probably my favorite perspectives because they felt more real. the two main characters…. idk. something wasn’t working and i hate to say it but it might have been the fact that the author is a man but they just felt so unreal and one dimensional even as he was clearly trying to write them as complex. anyway, not my favorite. also dragged on really long tbh… i really wanted to like it but i just wanted it to be over 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder