Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

51 reviews

mcnan's review

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dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

What an incredible collection. Adjei-Brenyah's work is poignant, sharp, insightful, and simultaneously upsetting and exciting. I was always looking forward to reading more. None of these are weak stories, but my particular favorites were Through the Flash and The Hospital Where. Content warnings are not complete but mention some. 
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sarahmackenziey's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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thatokiebird's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Friday Black is a short story collection, without a theme yet connected in the tone of each story. They're dark, heavy, tense and dread and despair fill nearly every page. This was definitely not an enjoyable read, yet I'm glad I read it all the same. I enjoy short story collections typically, and this book is filled with interesting view points and alternate histories and I particularly liked the science fiction and dystopian elements.

The author is so imaginative, processing what different realities would look like. From a virtual realty theme park where people go to murder virtually and come back again and again, to an infinite time loop Groundhog day-esque world, where no rules exist anymore because why not. There were only three connected stories of the 12, which follows a two people working retail, one story detailing an alternate Black Friday where deaths add up casually as just a matter-of-fact.

I do want to read the author's full-length novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, to get a feel of how they write characters over the course of a novel, instead of just in these short 10-15 page vignettes. Also the cover art of this book is stunning. 
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catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

This book was not for me, but that's my own fault as i didn't seek out any information about the content warnings for this book. It was really well-written, and vivid in detail though! Some of the stories i liked vetter than others, but even when i didn't lile a particular story, it was still worth listening to. 
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cheazcakeguy's review

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challenging dark funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a collection of short speculative fiction. There is a decent amount of variety, but there are a few stories that tackle similar themes/topics, especially consumerism and racism. Many of the stories are set in a world similar to our own, where one or more aspects of our own world have been exaggerated to the point of absurdity. As a result, the stories often have an extremely dark sense of humor and expose the absurdity inherent in real-world concepts like racism, violence, consumerism, and truth. Some of the stories have a different tone, but I never quite felt the emotional weight behind the ones with a more pensive, poignant feel. To me, the writing was much better at evoking feelings of rage, shock, despair, and defiance than sadness or regret.

Some stories were more interesting than others. A couple were a bit dull, but my favorites were the ones that really leaned in to the ridiculousness. I especially liked The Finkelstein 5, Friday Black, Zimmer Land, and Through the Flash. Nothing really blew me away, but this book was certainly unique and unexpected. Overall, this is a pretty thought-provoking, well-written collection of stories.
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leahjanespeare's review

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medium-paced

4.0

I'm not a huge reader of short stories, but I LOVED Chain-Gang All Stars so I wanted to give Nana's debut collection a shot. I could guess that this came earlier because the writing (while excellent) wasn't as good as his novel, but the ideas are unflinching and it's pretty out there (and yet not at all out there). I hope his next published work is another novel rather than short stories, but will read it all the same either way!
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katie_morris's review

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3.0

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bibliozord's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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wanderingtones's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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madsmacmath's review

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Amended review:
This was the book that got me into both short stories as dystopian horror. I’m grateful to Adjei-Brenyah for both of those things.

Increased my rating because I was a little more uncertain the first time around.

—————

I don’t read a lot of short stories, and they’re a unique genre in their own right. It took me a second to get the feel and cadence, and to realize my criticism, that the stories felt like they were ripping off real life, is the whole damn point. These stories feel like looking at an uncanny valley image; they’re just different enough for you to see the story but so hauntingly and eerily familiar. It’s like everyone else has said - dystopian, sci-fi, selective realism. Like a Black Mirror episode on the page.
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