Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

223 reviews

piprigsby's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

4.5

this book is so incredibly important. not only does it provide a critique of the current prison system and the dehumanization of prisoners, but it also adds in real sources and citations about the disparities faced by Black people and transgender people in prison. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape

jenlengland's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Classism

eleanora's review against another edition

dark 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, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

sarahweyand's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

Best book of the year, easily. Still can't stop thinking about it; maybe I never will be able to. Not the lightest read but scary, informative, and captivating. A must-read if you're in the right headspace to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment

corsetedfeminist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book ruined me. 

I don't even know how to write a review of this book. Y'all just need to all go read it so we can sit around together with shattered hearts. 

This story takes place in a far too recognizable future 

America in which imprisoned people have been forced into televised gladiatorial combat to the death. 

It is so realistic that the author studs the text with agonizing footnotes showing the facts he based his book on- the statute on torture. Real accounts of murdered Black people. The statute on the use of tear gas. The statistics on transgender people in prison. 

All of the characters in this book are in depth to an endearing but painful level, but the characters who I came to love the most are definitely Thurwar and Staxxx- both black queer women. Thurwar, the strong but broken leader and Staxxx, who hides a soft heart beneath the tattooed X's marking every kill on her skin. Their romance is heartrending soft and healthy despite the circumstances and their tenderness with each other despite the harshness the world has shown to them broke my heart every chapter. 

I also want to mention a somewhat minor POV character, Emily, who we watch over the course of the book as her boyfriend's love of watching the matches breaks her down from a general distaste to a careless disregard for life coupled while simultaneously being upset when Links die-but not so much as to let it keep her from enjoying watching future matches or getting distracted with her boyfriend. 

In short- this should be a required read for everyone. It is a truly brilliant take down of the prison system, racism, and the police while humanizing the Black and Brown people that those systems teach us to fear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

semicolon42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad 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? No

5.0

Very tough, and entertaining and reflective.  Great characters.  Fun and horrifying. Very well written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Rape

raichoreads's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

Holy cow this was an emotional read. The earnest emotionality that came through this story and these characters was so intense for so much of this book. The strong abolitionist thread that included emphasis on forgiveness and empathy and the necessity of change brought me to tears a couple of times. I particularly appreciated the way that the author implicates the reader in being a consumer of Chain-Gang All-Stars, just like the society that we theoretically would condemn. It evoked a lot of self reflection for me and has me talking about this book with anyone who will listen. I loved the simultaneous resolution and also lack thereof. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Blood, and Sexual harassment

emma6544's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Racism and Blood

Minor: Rape

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

"Chain-Gang All-Stars" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a thoughtful look at the United States carceral system through a near-future sci-fi lens.
In the future, the carceral system has been turned into a reality show. Prisoners can choose to fight against one another to the death with the promise of freedom if they can survive for three years. The story focuses on two Black women who choose to fight, Hurricane Staxxx and Loretta Thurwar, who also happen to be in love with one another. As Thurwar looks to the near future and her potential freedom, the system will find new and increasingly brutal ways to pit the women against each other. 
Adjei-Brenyah has crafted a horrifying world that feels eerily close to our own. Two of the biggest highlights of this story are the characters and the world-building. The characters feel like real people with all of the complications and messiness that makes humans humans. Many of the characters we follow are murderers and yet, Adjei-Brenyah does an excellent job of humanizing them and making their past transgressions feel like it is in the past. We are provided the opportunity to see firsthand how these characters have grown and changed. I also really appreciated how he weaves true facts about our current prison system with the near-future world. They added to and continued to build the existing world. 
I did run into a bit of an issue with the way the narrative was told. We swoop in and out of a number of different characters' lives. Some we spend a good deal of time with while others are only seen for a single chapter. Though I appreciate how this built out the world and allowed us to see how the horror of death matches have become common place, I found the one-off characters could be a bit confusing and take away from the larger narrative of our main characters. Even so, I think this is a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see what Adjei-Brenyah writes next. I am sure it will have great characters and biting commentary told through a fascinating world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Racial slurs and Rape

bookflix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism