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A review by caseythereader
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
Thanks to Pantheon Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- How does one even begin to review a book like CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS? I knew Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel would be something to behold, and even then all my expectations were blown away.
- This is a sci-fi novel, but it's also an abolitionist text. The way something awful will happen to a character and then there's a footnote with the U.S. law that makes the action legal...whew.
- Adjei-Brenyah makes the reader stay in uncomfortable places, both of physical brutality and of mental work. The lines we like to draw between "good" and "bad" people are smashed here, with the aim to bring the whole system down.
- How does one even begin to review a book like CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS? I knew Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel would be something to behold, and even then all my expectations were blown away.
- This is a sci-fi novel, but it's also an abolitionist text. The way something awful will happen to a character and then there's a footnote with the U.S. law that makes the action legal...whew.
- Adjei-Brenyah makes the reader stay in uncomfortable places, both of physical brutality and of mental work. The lines we like to draw between "good" and "bad" people are smashed here, with the aim to bring the whole system down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail