Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Assembly

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

22 reviews

felicityebhaslin's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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oxfordcomer's review against another edition

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informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Assembly depicts the realities of being a POC and a woman in real, creative fashion without the gaudy pretensions to progress the plot and to impress the readers. The mix of prose and poetry, the blend of POVs, and the layered challenges of the persona made this book as real as it gets.

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fiaharringbook's review

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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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leoniefnk's review against another edition

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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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oywiththepoodles's review

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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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safymo's review

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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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