Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

27 reviews

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

jennanaps's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Medical content, Racism, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Hate crime, Classism, Colonisation, and Medical content

sydapel's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? No

Ultimately, I think this is a book I need to return to. I found the message and the writing incredibly compelling, but because it's so short (which is why I picked it up in the first place), it was hard to really immerse myself in. There's so much introspective on class, race, capitalism, etc, that I feel I can't think about it deeply without a second read. hertofore, holding any rating for the time being. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent 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

hypocrisis's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

hard to stomach, in a good way.
more like poetry than a novel, really enjoyed the style. natasha brown knows people and how to cut to their core quickly.
there are many great quotes from this book, yet this one found its way into this unfairly brief review simply because i opened my notes app immediately upon reading it, starting the collection of quotations from assembly.

p.21
"Victimhood is a choice," Rach said. Part opinion, part mantra.

while the narrator is describing her best friend here, as the book unfolds it becomes apparent that - although they are not affected in the same way and navigate this differently - both women repress their true feelings, in the narrator's case going so for as to alter her personality, to survive an inhospitable environment (until she chooses to stop surviving).

edit: I still find myself thinking a lot about this book and i don't think it was entirely random of me to elaborate on this particular quote, though it must've been subconscious at the time which I'm slightly embarrassed about. Only now do i realise how much of the protagonists' perspective is revealed within those sentences and how they literally foreshadow the plot.

I can't do this book justice... but if you're thinking about reading it you really should!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Cancer, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Colonisation

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

vickypurry's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Amazingly written, devastating story, and an extraordinary critique on colonial legacy and capitalism in the UK. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Terminal illness

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

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Classism, Colonisation, Racism, Cancer, and Terminal illness

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