Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Assembly by Natasha Brown

49 reviews

felicityebhaslin's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, and Colonisation

Minor: Racial slurs

mackenzi's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

 Contemplative and sad. There are a lot of very relateable moments which made me feel hollow, though on some level much of Assembly seems so distant and out of reach. More than anything this book highlights the feelings I've had of trying to reach out and show my perspective, illustrate the magnitude of institutional racism, built into the system from the ground up, to people in my life, and have them unable to see beyond their individual selves, unable to see the systems that build every part of society. That gap sometimes seems insurmountable. And how do you construct an identity in that world, in their world, when you have that knowledge? Trying to force oneself into that worldview means you're sanding yourself down from a full human being into a shadow of one. Both pain and pleasure leech away until there's nothing of either. At their refusal or inability to see, you have to pretend along with them if you want to have a personal relationship. You have to pretend to enjoy being hollow. And Assembly is a story of someone who has done that for her whole life, even while feeling how soulless and impersonal it is, how deeply depressed she's become, while feeling how she's still a part of that imperialist, colonialist machine, be she successful or failing within it. 

It's prettily written and I enjoyed the style. The jumping between the present moment and thoughts of other events, the past, summarizing feelings, drawing conclusions, all in an uncertain voice which halts and interupts itself frequently. It's an easy style for my brain to read, very similar to my own thought process. And the style conjures a distant, detatched, anxious yet resigned perspective. It's very well constructed.

I thought it was funny how most of the top reviews for this book on Goodreads are white men. How they praise it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

sangsmiles's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Hate crime, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Deportation

ssinforshort's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

This was unique, super short, but also packed with so much.


This stream of consciousness book kept me interested, and included a lot Black British history that I wasn't aware of. I will definitely be doing more research after this. 


I do think this would have been better if it was told fully in verse. The even shorter form would have made it easier to dissect. Though, this may have been the authors intent. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Racism, and Colonisation

happilyeveralli's review

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

Fans of Ling Ma’s SEVERANCE will likely enjoy the prose of this pounding and reflective analyzation of racism. 
This is an impeccable novella. I think that a work should always aim to unsettle the current worldview of its readers, but the number of my review reflects my indecision about how I felt about the ending. The novella touches on dread, and that’s how the ending made me feel. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I just think that I’ll have to sit with this one for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

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, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

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

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

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

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

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: Slavery and Colonisation

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

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, Chronic illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Medical content

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