Reviews with content warning for Classism - Assembly

This was a book club pick which I would never have read otherwise and while I'm glad I read it, I never really clicked with it. Ultimately it's a me problem because I just don't really get on with stream of consciousness narratives. It meant I never connected with the main character and because there's almost no plot I didn't feel drawn into the narrative. However I can see that it's a good book for what it is and it's very effective in the way it discusses some really complex issues like racism, colonialism, classism and sexism. So while it's definitely not for me, I can see why so many other people loved it.

Content Warnings

nadia_luq's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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nialiversuch's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.75

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solasuaine's review

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

A Black British woman writes what is basically her manifesto and suicide letter explaining her choice to not seek treatment for her metastatic cancer and details her history of continuous dehumanization and racism with a list of incidents of workplace sexual harassment, microaggressions, and full on racist interactions in every level of her life but most significantly in her professional sphere. She's promoted in her banking career but the suits make it seem she's just a diversity hire/promotion to look good. One day in her job after her promotion, a man married to one of her boyfriend's sisters goes on rant on how Black and Hispanic people have it easier but he's not actually against diversity, he just wants fairness. Then she's invited to her boyfriend's his parents weekend marriage anniversary dinner at his estate home, with further classist and more racist mocking by them, and throughout all that, we learn through the MC how Britain still doesn't recognize their history of abusive imperialism and colonization. We see how abortive losers use immigration as scapegoat to justify their mediocrity and seek validation for their loser selves being racist. The MC shares her grievances of being dehumanized every moment of her life and how she's literally done, so much so, that beating cancer and surviving would condemn her to keep this hellish state and how not only would she be a cancer survivor, but a Black cancer survivor, so all that would add to her being further objectified and cheaply used as "inspiration". It's a very bleak book bc you can feel the mc's exhaustion soak through you as you read and you get so angry at the fact that the white instigators of all this are oblivious throughout all of their lives. Sometimes though, it feels like the MC has a chip on her shoulder and maybe she's overanalyzing her boyfriend's parents and sister mundane behavior bc living in a white world is startling enough but no they open their mouths and they really are like that. The writing here is insightful, with gut-punch quotes. You'll have a hard time trying to not highlight the whole thing.

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jamesdavid's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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flowingleaves's review

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

rashi's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.25

I find the style of writing- those fragmented thoughts and philosophising and musings to be very similar to the way I love to think and write. Assembly was not what I expected, more poetry than standard narrative, but I think it really allowed so many thoughts and concepts to be incorporated in such a short time, by the end of the less than 100 pages I really knew parts of this character, and felt that I connected to the decisions and frustrations she faced, even if they do not explicitly reflect my own. Flew through the novel, great pacing and overall really enjoyable read

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