Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Encontro

A Black British woman writes what is basically her manifesto and suicide letter explaining her choice to not seek treatment for her metastatic cancer and details her history of continuous dehumanization and racism with a list of incidents of workplace sexual harassment, microaggressions, and full on racist interactions in every level of her life but most significantly in her professional sphere. She's promoted in her banking career but the suits make it seem she's just a diversity hire/promotion to look good. One day in her job after her promotion, a man married to one of her boyfriend's sisters goes on rant on how Black and Hispanic people have it easier but he's not actually against diversity, he just wants fairness. Then she's invited to her boyfriend's his parents weekend marriage anniversary dinner at his estate home, with further classist and more racist mocking by them, and throughout all that, we learn through the MC how Britain still doesn't recognize their history of abusive imperialism and colonization. We see how abortive losers use immigration as scapegoat to justify their mediocrity and seek validation for their loser selves being racist. The MC shares her grievances of being dehumanized every moment of her life and how she's literally done, so much so, that beating cancer and surviving would condemn her to keep this hellish state and how not only would she be a cancer survivor, but a Black cancer survivor, so all that would add to her being further objectified and cheaply used as "inspiration". It's a very bleak book bc you can feel the mc's exhaustion soak through you as you read and you get so angry at the fact that the white instigators of all this are oblivious throughout all of their lives. Sometimes though, it feels like the MC has a chip on her shoulder and maybe she's overanalyzing her boyfriend's parents and sister mundane behavior bc living in a white world is startling enough but no they open their mouths and they really are like that. The writing here is insightful, with gut-punch quotes. You'll have a hard time trying to not highlight the whole thing.

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jamesdavid's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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flowingleaves's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective 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

3.75

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jenmcreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

This is one of my favorite reads of the year. For how short this one is, it manages to pack in a lot of worthwhile meditations on race and gender and class and the fallout of colonialism. The writing style is unique but accessible. I would highly encourage just about anyone to read this.

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rashi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.25

I find the style of writing- those fragmented thoughts and philosophising and musings to be very similar to the way I love to think and write. Assembly was not what I expected, more poetry than standard narrative, but I think it really allowed so many thoughts and concepts to be incorporated in such a short time, by the end of the less than 100 pages I really knew parts of this character, and felt that I connected to the decisions and frustrations she faced, even if they do not explicitly reflect my own. Flew through the novel, great pacing and overall really enjoyable read

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

brown's assembly is so effective in achieving its goals that it's akin to a manifesto, a subdued rallying cry of exasperation, exhaustion, rage, and detached numbness of those who are black and british.

there's not a whole lot of plot here, merely different contexts and scenes from the narrator's life that eventually come together to form a finished puzzle and allow the reader to understand the reasoning behind her ultimate choice.

the novel's very reflective and introspective, and straddles the border of being almost preachy at times, but somehow it works: one couldnt possibly understand the narrator's current circumstances w/o being aware of the larger historical and political forces that precede her, shaping britain and its ppl into what they are - and how they act towards her and those like her - today.

i have to say brown does a stellar job of depicting what it's like to be a black british woman, even one on the ascent. i felt claustrophobic, exasperated, constantly judged simply reading abt the narrator's daily experience. the lie of being taught to always strive and be better so things can get better, but in reality it's never enough no matter what one does, white ppl will always deem minorities as outsiders granted unfair advantages. no wonder the narrator's seemingly bone-deep exhausted; the clownery rly never ends.

while the narrative can feel disjointed at times bc of the frequent, abrupt changes in setting, assembly is nevertheless an impactful book.

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marissab's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bootlegfrank's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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