Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

20 reviews

tinyplanet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Torture, Murder, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Blood

Minor: Antisemitism, Infidelity, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Classism, Cursing, Homophobia, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Alcohol, Death of parent, Deportation, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

samburkhouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Police brutality, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Child death, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Transphobia, Sexual content, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

kingsteph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Self harm, Murder, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

A devastating diatribe against the US prison system, this book uses violence to show the misery of the incarcerated. It’s shocking and eye-opening and one of the hardest books I’ve read this year. The suffering is almost unrelenting, the rare delicious meal or soft bed breaking up the monotony of the characters’s wretched existence. 

The character development is focused on the now - very little attention is given to the lives the people had before they entered the killing-as-entertainment program. We learn just enough to know that these are not the same people who earlier committed murder, rape, and arson. The irony is that they’re now being told to kill, and to do it in a spectacular manner to make the games masters and the promoters as rich as possible. 

As pointed out in an interview Mari gives, there’s no good solution to the problem of incarcerating so many people. But clearly the current situation isn’t working and there needs to be change. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence

thedreammachine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Suicide, Racism, Self harm, Police brutality, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Addiction

anthologee's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Self harm, Mental illness, Gun violence, Confinement, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Racism, Hate crime, Rape, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Genocide, Cursing, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, and Colonisation

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, Gore, Racial slurs, Confinement, Violence, Mental illness, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

atiek's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

There's a lot to unpack with this book. The timely reflection of our society when it comes to race, class, and how they interact with the criminal system is entwined with the plot, as two of the main characters are put on a crash course of destruction that somehow leads to freedom. The symbolism of "freedom" is inescapable as the author dares you to accept the hardest parts of liberation for all including forgiveness for the nastiest of us and the willingness to change the illness of social problems that lead to the worst parts of how we treat each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Violence, Classism, Blood, Death, Confinement, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, and Grief

cwilliams20809's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Phew! What a ride. 
This book is Bold. Daring. Visceral. Dark. Gritty. Enigmatic. Necessary. 

The Plot: Reminiscent of The Hunger Games & Gladiator but still original and innovative. Inmates opt in to CAPE - a capitalist driven, mass entertainment, literal fight to the death program. Inmates are part of links. Links from different chains compete against each other in matches. As inmates accrue more wins/kills they earn additional sponsorship, BP (blood points/money), and move up the hierarchy. The highest rank being ‘High Freed’ where they can obtain “freedom.” 

Characters: So many. Our primary focus though is Hurricane Staxx and  Thurwar. Their individual back stories are briefly explored. Their love is a present, but subtle, component of the character archs. For me, the plot was more compelling than the characters. However, I appreciate morally gray aspects and this is apparent for most of the cast. 

Review: A sharp, social commentary of the prison-industrial complex. Nana integrates a lot of voices and plots. Some characters weren’t explored enough (ie Doc Patty, Will). Some plots needed more closure and nuance (the Game Makers).  However, I appreciate a multi-POV story with various plots. So despite my minor critiques the macro-intentions of the story were clear. There were lots of moving parts at micro/individual aspects & most were executed fairly well. I appreciated the length - not too long and propelled forward by the lingering ‘threat’ of season 33. 

This was a 5-star read until the last paragraph. I’m still confused. But maybe that was the point? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Rape

Minor: Mental illness and Homophobia

clea's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Death

Minor: Sexual violence