Scan barcode
A review by megansoetaert
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-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
5.0
this is definitely one of my top books of the year, and is one i know i won’t stop thinking about. it hurt soooo much and helped me further my own abolitionist thinking.
the writing style was confusing and hectic and it worked so well- you felt so thrown in with the characters & i loved (almost) all of them so much, they felt real. the balance between storylines and character driven chapters vs action driven chapters was perfect. the footnotes made me cry.
i think the author did a perfect job at conveying what he sought out to & gave so much of himself in this book. i think people will get different things out of this whether you’re already a prison abolitionist or not. if you’re not already, i don’t know how you can come out of this not believing things must change. this had me angry and emotional and crying in chicago o’hare. read it, y’all.
the writing style was confusing and hectic and it worked so well- you felt so thrown in with the characters & i loved (almost) all of them so much, they felt real. the balance between storylines and character driven chapters vs action driven chapters was perfect. the footnotes made me cry.
i think the author did a perfect job at conveying what he sought out to & gave so much of himself in this book. i think people will get different things out of this whether you’re already a prison abolitionist or not. if you’re not already, i don’t know how you can come out of this not believing things must change. this had me angry and emotional and crying in chicago o’hare. read it, y’all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder