A review by joanna_banana
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’d give this 6 stars if I could! It’s a work of genius. To wrap abolitionist principles and facts about the prison industrial complex in a novel with powerful characters you grow to love is an incredible feat. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah paints gruesome scenes with his words that are just one step further down our current reality of extractive late stage capitalist economy and torture factories that are American prisons. The commercialization of death and the “influencer” status the Links have is not surprising but such a skewering of corporate America. The Board room scene! Ah. The contrasting relationships and chapters from different perspectives added so much. He challenges what you may think about incarcerated people. The violence made me squeamish but it’s a wake up call to realize the violence exerted on primarily BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people every day by soldier-police and the prison system. This is a must read. 
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