Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

20 reviews

fiaharringbook's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Cancer, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs, Alcohol, Deportation, Slavery, Genocide, Racism, and Police brutality

leoniefnk's review against another edition

reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This is the definition of literary girl dinner. The tangibility that Brown paints into my ears is at times gorgeous, but mostly a source of unease. Everybody should read this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Violence, Sexual harassment, Deportation, War, and Slavery

oywiththepoodles's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation and Slavery

safymo's review

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

this novels feels like a weight on my chest. it is an important one but oh so disheartening.

it's the story of a black woman living in the UK. a woman who has "made it" and now ponders the question "what was this all for?". it's about the inherited grit, guilt, self-effacement, characteristic of people of immigrant descent in a Western, white male-dominated world – "what was this all for?". when you've merged your work and identity "but what it takes to get there isn't what you need once you've arrived." then what?

this glimpse into a single week in a fictional character's life is sadly reflective of many of our lives. Brown uses many devices to convey the impersonal and perennial value of the text – dialogues without quotation marks, imprecise but evocative descriptions of entitled Janes and Johns Smith. she uses form for a similar goal – poem-like passages, legends of infographics depicting casual racism and "an organised, systematic brutality that their soft and sagging children can scarcely stomach – won't even acknowledge".

the writing is eloquent but challenging at times – some sentence structures eluded my comprehension which made these reflections feel private (to the author) and exclusive but not untrue.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Cancer and Death

fatfrog's review

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Slavery and Infidelity

schorlett's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Cancer, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Slavery, Alcohol, and Classism

anneklein's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

holy shit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Terminal illness, Classism, Misogyny, Medical content, Racism, Sexism, Cancer, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Xenophobia

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Medical content, Xenophobia, Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Hate crime

goldyyy's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Cancer, and Slavery

notthatcosta's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• 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

4.0

This book is like a 100-page fever dream. There is so much said in so little time, but the pacing and the  structure ties it all together somehow. I appreciated how little exposition there is, and yet I was able to discern the fundamentals of what was happening, despite the non-linear, splintering structure. 

Even as plot lines and moments fade in and out within the space of a few pages, I remained grounded in the motions - I felt tension, fear, frustration and even peace at points. I was also confused a lot, don't get me wrong.

While part of me would have liked more than the snapshot we received of this story, I was more impressed at the economy and the confidence in its delivery than I was disappointed in its length. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Slavery, Death, Colonisation, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, and Racism