Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

44 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

sakisreads's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

I needed something to desperately get me out of a reading slump and this was a recommended read. I am SO glad I read it 👏🏼

A Black British woman navigates the white world around her and my oh my, it’s not a pleasant place to be 🙄 I highlighted so many quotes from this book, one of which was:
‘Best case: those children grow up, assimilate, get jobs and pour money into a government that forever tells them they are not British. This is not home.’

How Natasha Brown managed to capture SO MANY EXPERIENCES (and nuances) into a 112 page novel I will never know. I thoroughly appreciated it though 🫠

4.5 out of 5 stars from me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

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

tamaramo's review

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Deportation, Infidelity, Racism, and Colonisation

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

nathiddles_106's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cancer

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