Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

66 reviews

smithalexis035's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book really got me thinking about the possible future of our incarceration system. This book is graphic, it can be easy to get lost too as there’s a lot of characters and it jumps around a bit. This book is out of my normal comfort zone for genre but I really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Classism

ellen_is_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

This book is stunning.

Through the lense of a high-action murder game show this book delivers a sharp criticism of the American penal system. By using such an extreme framing point, we are shown all of the ways that the penal system has failed, continues to fail, and could fail in the future. 

Incredibly human characters which force you to question your own complicity and limits of what kinds of punishment can be tolerated. 

Rooted in real statistics and structures of the modern justice system,  this story highlights racial disparities, harsh punishment practices, and all the ways that prisoners are seen as less-than and allowed to be harmed for it. 

I will be thinking about this book and it's message for a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual content

leannanecdote's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

deetabz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, and Sexual harassment

crazybookworm31's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book was an incredibly gripping story, I had trouble putting it down even once, I was so wrapped up in the characters and the plot, I never wanted to let it go.
The story is grueling and painful, but the short chapters and many perspectives offers a bit of reprieve that kept this from being outright depressing. The character Staxxx acts to raise the morale of the other characters within the text, but she did the same for me too, making me laugh when I wanted to cry.
The story is a scathing indictment of the American prison system, one well deserved, and the horror comes not just from the concepts of the story, but by how close it feels to being reality. The horror of knowing we could become this held me the entire way through.
The story is told in many perspectives, something I had to get used to at first, but once I had, it was a breath of fresh air, a bit of creative story telling that is hard to find in published fiction. I greatly enjoyed the author's voice and writing style, the differences between characters voice, the way I could tell who was narrating, not just by the chapter title, but by their own brand of narration. That shows a great bit of talent and skill from the author, which I absolutely applaud.
Is this book sad? Upsetting? Makes you want to be sick? Absolutely. Is it one of the best fiction books I've ever read? Abso-fucking-lutely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

Non-linear story telling, unreliable narrator(s),

anti-black racial slurs, nazis, graphic depictions of physical and psychological torture, brain-breaking

briophyta's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This story is a call out of so many current issues. The pacing is a bit difficult, but worth it for me to follow. Something feels slightly disjointed and difficult to follow at times because of perspective changes and how many characters come and go + flashbacks to many different times and places. The audiobook cast does a really good job. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

laestaci's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A tragedy and a compelling human story. Insights to the prison system. Too real projections about how capitalism and prisons and the military industrial complex can easily join forces to charge us the pleasure of watching people kill each other. That said, was hopeful for something else in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

aducharme4's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Classism

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