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A review by amyvl93
Assembly by Natasha Brown
challenging
reflective
medium-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
3.5
This is a tricky one as Natasha Brown is definitely a voice I'm keen to hear more from, but this specific piece wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be.
According to the blurb, Assembly follows an unnamed narrator, a young black woman who works in finance as she goes to visit her white boyfriend's incredibly wealthy family for his parent's anniversary weekend at their country home. In reality, it's more 100-pages of being inside the narrator's head, as she puzzles over her place in the office, in her relationships and in England.
For the first half of the book, I felt like this was going to be an instant favourite- Brown's writing at times reminded me a lot of Ali Smith in the way references to other texts and cultural points are made - but I did find it meandered a little more in the second half. Whilst many of Brown's points about the non-white experience in England are incredibly well described, there are moments when it feels the narrative voice is stripped away which takes you out of the character and feels a little like you're reading a non-fiction piece instead. I'll also say I felt the narrator, and perhaps Brown by extension, is a little overly dismissive of the role that class plays in society - it felt like the one misstep in the book.
Despite a somewhat confusing 'plot' - Brown is a writer I'm definitely keen to hear more from.
According to the blurb, Assembly follows an unnamed narrator, a young black woman who works in finance as she goes to visit her white boyfriend's incredibly wealthy family for his parent's anniversary weekend at their country home. In reality, it's more 100-pages of being inside the narrator's head, as she puzzles over her place in the office, in her relationships and in England.
For the first half of the book, I felt like this was going to be an instant favourite- Brown's writing at times reminded me a lot of Ali Smith in the way references to other texts and cultural points are made - but I did find it meandered a little more in the second half. Whilst many of Brown's points about the non-white experience in England are incredibly well described, there are moments when it feels the narrative voice is stripped away which takes you out of the character and feels a little like you're reading a non-fiction piece instead. I'll also say I felt the narrator, and perhaps Brown by extension, is a little overly dismissive of the role that class plays in society - it felt like the one misstep in the book.
Despite a somewhat confusing 'plot' - Brown is a writer I'm definitely keen to hear more from.