A review by jdscott50
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In the not-so-distant future, private prisons get creative in how to make money. Not content with federal tax dollars and crooked schemes, they create a reality show network. CAPE develops Hard Action Sports, a gladiator show where prisoners kill each other for a chance at freedom. One-on-one attacks with weapons in a stadium arena, complete with announcers.
Prisoners have teams known as chains and links (hence chain gangs). Hurricane Staxx and Thurwar are the leaders of their chain. Kill after horrendous kill moves them closer to freedom until a change in the rules will bring them face to face.
A condemnation of the carceral state and the horrors that exist in prison combined with exploitation and entertainment. I think prisons wouldn't do this because they would not want to set anyone free. Of course, even that problem is solved in the worst way in the conclusion.
Favorite Passages:
Door number two slides away, then the man sees his own dead body. Jackpot, triple seven, somebody wins, just definitely not him. He stops shaking. I watch him close. Workers hand him a purple pillow with a spoon resting on top of it. More salt for new wounds. He holds the spoon in his hand. Looks at it. Sees himself stretched against the curve. I watch him close. It’s a show I’ve seen before. When a man sees he has been forsaken. Discovers he might be unblessed. Thinking he understood. All at once he see the gods he kept don’t keep him the same way. Not how he hoped. He see he had it all wrong the whole time.
His mama named him a king’s name
’Cause she knew what he had within
His only sin, was too human
So please, God, let him in
So please, Lord, let him in
Prisoners have teams known as chains and links (hence chain gangs). Hurricane Staxx and Thurwar are the leaders of their chain. Kill after horrendous kill moves them closer to freedom until a change in the rules will bring them face to face.
A condemnation of the carceral state and the horrors that exist in prison combined with exploitation and entertainment. I think prisons wouldn't do this because they would not want to set anyone free. Of course, even that problem is solved in the worst way in the conclusion.
Favorite Passages:
Door number two slides away, then the man sees his own dead body. Jackpot, triple seven, somebody wins, just definitely not him. He stops shaking. I watch him close. Workers hand him a purple pillow with a spoon resting on top of it. More salt for new wounds. He holds the spoon in his hand. Looks at it. Sees himself stretched against the curve. I watch him close. It’s a show I’ve seen before. When a man sees he has been forsaken. Discovers he might be unblessed. Thinking he understood. All at once he see the gods he kept don’t keep him the same way. Not how he hoped. He see he had it all wrong the whole time.
His mama named him a king’s name
’Cause she knew what he had within
His only sin, was too human
So please, God, let him in
So please, Lord, let him in