Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

39 reviews

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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annabella's review

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

A single sitting read which feels satisfying. It’s short but there’s so much packed into it. Various weaving threads and places like the doctors, mentions of both the protagonists family and childhood but also the involvement with her boyfriend’s, the office culture, etc. And all within that is this ongoing imperialism and racism that infiltrates into every fibre of everyone’s lives. I loved end note poetry bits and the Figures - more of an unusual structure and format of writing which makes it more exciting. It feels kinda brutal so I can’t say I enjoyed it really as it was so.. UGH.
Eg. The bit where the boyfriend is living his life by evaluating each decision as whether it’s biography worthy?? 
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sydapel's review against another edition

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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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rainbowarpaint's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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cuartolimon's review

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dark 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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schorlett's review

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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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hypocrisis's review against another edition

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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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anneklein's review against another edition

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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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ashnickam's review

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challenging sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beautifully written, poetic prose. Amazing and accurate description of depression that it made me really depressed again. Easy to fly through, thought provoking (because of the intense topics). 
BOOK CLUB BOOK 1
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