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A review by warlocksarecool21
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
4.5
I don’t know if I can fully articulate my thoughts on this, but Chain-Gang All Stars was a brilliant book and it gave me a lot to think about. This book is a reflection on the US’s carceral system and how it was (and is) rooted in slavery. Adjei-Brenyah uses a slightly futuristic setting to explore the current realities of prisons and institutional racism and how deeply embedded these structures are in our country.
I think this book does a great job at examining the various arguments around incarceration and the death penalty, and shows how the country is complicit as a whole in the violence that is meted out against Black and otherwise marginalized communities every day in the name of justice.
The book really highlights that under the current system, people cannot be rehabilitated due to the retributive violence they experience while incarcerated.
Additionally, I really appreciated how each POV character was humanized, that everyone in the story had fucked up and were complicit in horrible things to varying degrees, but they were still all written as human.
I think that’s such an important aspect of abolitionism, to recognize that this movement isn’t about denying the horrible things that people are capable of, but rather to build a new world led by love and liberation.
Adjei-Brenyah emphasizes this by maintaining the idea that hope and resistance are abolition is possible, that people are fighting against this current system.
I think Chain-Gang All Stars was an incredible book and think it is a must-read.
I think this book does a great job at examining the various arguments around incarceration and the death penalty, and shows how the country is complicit as a whole in the violence that is meted out against Black and otherwise marginalized communities every day in the name of justice.
The book really highlights that under the current system, people cannot be rehabilitated due to the retributive violence they experience while incarcerated.
Additionally, I really appreciated how each POV character was humanized, that everyone in the story had fucked up and were complicit in horrible things to varying degrees, but they were still all written as human.
I think that’s such an important aspect of abolitionism, to recognize that this movement isn’t about denying the horrible things that people are capable of, but rather to build a new world led by love and liberation.
Adjei-Brenyah emphasizes this by maintaining the idea that hope and resistance are abolition is possible, that people are fighting against this current system.
I think Chain-Gang All Stars was an incredible book and think it is a must-read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Classism