A review by thissagreads
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

A MUST READ!!!!! I could best describe this as prison Hunger Games meets the prison industrial complex, meets dystopian futurism.

The dialogue, the poetry, and hard conversations that these characters had to deal with and have, was eloquent, complicated, thoughtful and heartbreaking. This book forces the reader to think: 

  1. Where and when do ethics and morality stand, when referring to prison systems at large? 
  2. Does it matter the crime, for someone to extend sympathy or empathy?
  3. Private prisons exist, but what happens to the boundaries and rights of the inmate?
  4. THIS IS WHERE WE COULD BE HEADED IF MORE PRIVATE PRISONS OPEN!
  5. Would companies actually sponsor and support the debauchery of the competition?
  6. Does winning the “games” really free the inmate? Or are they tortured mentally forever?

This book is VERY graphically gory and gruesome, but I will still HIGHLY recommend this book. This story will stay with me for a very long time.
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