Reviews with content warning for Torture - Chain-Gang All-Stars

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

511 reviews

pinkiereads's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i wish i could have liked this book but i just didn’t… there was just something missing or some disconnect in the writing. the premise was interesting but it honestly didn’t feel like it went anywhere? i really liked the statistics and i can say parts of it were good, like how the separate stories entertained. simon j craft and hendrix young were probably my favorite perspectives because they felt more real. the two main characters…. idk. something wasn’t working and i hate to say it but it might have been the fact that the author is a man but they just felt so unreal and one dimensional even as he was clearly trying to write them as complex. anyway, not my favorite. also dragged on really long tbh… i really wanted to like it but i just wanted it to be over

Content Warnings

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This book has so many layers I'm not even sure how to feel about enjoying the book and wanting to know how it ended. Like what does it mean to want to know what happens in the final chapter? I think it's another underscore of how complicit we all are in the broken justice system. I'm sure it's scary to admit but a lot of us are Emily in this narrative.
Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a long time. And I was really grateful for the facts included as side notes, they made me want to learn more and be more involved. But check the content warnings, some of the chapters were very intense and I had to put the book down for a couple of days.

Content Warnings

gruntledflamingo's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

trking's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book is GREAT. the way Kwame uses the footnotes system is so fantastic and the writing is SO GOOD. It's like the Hunger Games if Suzanne Collins were an abolitionist. I think it would make a great paired text with Are Prisons Obsolete? or another piece of abolitionist theory for a book club.

Content Warnings

ladybeldaran's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is not a book to "enjoy". Its a hard book, full of hard people and hard truths. I was already on board with the message of the book and yet I still found it devastating. It is the only book I've found myself wondering if I could finish it because of how emotionally hard it was to read. I found myself tossing and turning in bed after finishing it, distraught and tearing up.

Content Warnings

remark18's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

ribbenkast's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book is not subtle. It blends harrowing real live statistics about the (American) prison system, racism and general bigotry with extremely well done speculative fiction of where this might lead us in the future. It makes its point loud and it makes its point wel.

On top of this, the book is just so well written. The characters are lifelike and complicated, the plot fits tightly together, the prose is strong. Everything is just done right.

Content Warnings

angelaainnes's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

theliterarymess's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I likely never would’ve picked this up had Vintage not sent it to me, but omg it’s amazing. It’s dark and gritty dystopian. The Hunger Games but the contestants are criminals and it explores how the death penalty isn’t always a fair justice and how it’s often those from minority backgrounds who get the worst treatment in America’s prison system.

Chain-Gang combines dystopian world-building with real-world stories and data. I loved the switch between the narrative and footnotes, finding it worked smoothly even with the audiobook. I don’t think Adjei-Brenyah is trying to shove the message down anyone’s throat, he’s just telling it how it is.

The characters are so nuanced, you never really know if you’re really supposed to be ‘rooting’ for any one of them given their grey backgrounds and not all of them are reformed or repenting.

I removed a star from my rating only because I felt unsatisfied by the ending. I do wonder if this is purposely left ambiguous by the author but I would have liked a few more clues to the outcome of the events in the story and what would become of the characters.

It’s one of those books where I found the audiobook narration worked best to really give you a feel for the tone of the characters. I listened to the audiobook alongside reading where narrators Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, Aaron Goodson did a fantastic job.

It’s a dark and violent read, but a much needed one. I didn’t expect to like this at all but I truly recommend it to everyone.

Content Warnings

motypeandroid's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

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