A review by bookedupandbusy
Assembly by Natasha Brown

3.0

This story follows a black woman during a weekend trip to her wealthy boyfriend’s white family garden party where she will be the only black person present.

I enjoyed this story for three main reasons:

1. Even though the narrative was very different for me and it took me a while to get into that flow, it is lyrical and felt poetic at times, and the writing is beautiful.

2. The author explores race, gender and micro-aggressions in genius way. Natasha Brown is clearly a talented writer.

3. We are never told the name of the protagonist. I found reading a story and not knowing a person’s name to be quite eerie yet a powerful stance from the author.

The story is relatable in terms of the challenges a black woman faces in her career and relationships, however I would have liked to see more emotion from the protagonist when dealing with these issues. Her emotions felt flat.

A short and quick read (100pages) that is very powerful!