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A review by citrus_seasalt
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
4.5
(Please let me know if I misspelled any characters’ names! I only read this via audio.)
Fast-paced, gorey, and engaging in a way that often juxtaposes the inherent bleakness of the narrative by placing you in the shoes of the Chain-Gang viewers. Those factors, and fantastic narration done by Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, and Aaron Goodson (but mostly Shayna, to be honest) made chapters easy to listen to in one sitting, but also left me with a lingering sick feeling, and a dread palpable enough to make me hesitant to pick up my Playaway again, despite how invested I was. This isn’t subtle and never tries to be. Yes, this led to it being very easy to see when inner or external monologues were mouthpieces for the points the story was making, but it also put so much emphasis on the theatrical, outrageous nature of the premise that I think it worked in a way. That’s, of course, subjective, but I didn’t dock many points.
There’s another major reason Chain-Gang All-Stars kept my interest from start to end, though: The cast is extensive, with tens of POVs of different roles. From the Links mentioned in the summary (and part of the titular show within a book), to viewers keeping themselves watching a real-life battle Royale with the power of cognitive dissonance, callous TV executives, and even a scientist I won’t reveal the plot importance of, every possible moral question and political aspect of this horrifically realistic dystopia is proposed and answered in the form of these characters’ thoughts. It was so incredibly easy to be immersed in this book’s futuristic America, and not just because it’s only a fictionalized continuation of current systemic racism. This was a mixed bag, though. Not only are some POVs less bigoted than others, and it gets nearly impossible to count how many there are after a certain point, but I sometimes felt detached from a character’s emotions. Particularly (I’ll be placing emphasis on them since they’re who I care about and is meant to be rooted for), some of the Links, and the resistance fighters. While I found Mari, Kai and Nyle’s POV’s compelling, and a realistic depiction of a grassroots movement, I didn’t feel a strong emotional pull towards them, despite how well-rounded their characters were. I think it was just the writing style? Only a few of the POVs are written in first-person. (But also, there were some moments in the first-person chapters where different emotions still felt spelled out?)
I feel like Hendrix and Simon were the two characters where it was easiest to feel their spirals, likely because of the first-person writing, but also how they were read: Hendrix’s narrator, Aaron Goodson, actually sang in the audiobook, and characterized him with a vulnerability and dry-sounding misery that was absolutely haunting. I’m still unsure how to feel about Simon, but his instability was also narrated very well by Michael Crouch and it was honestly disturbing to listen to. Of course, though, a bulk of the book’s heart is in Loretta Thurwar and Henrietta Stacks’ relationship. There are several points in the story where, in the hands of a less mature author, they could have easily turned on each other, or broken up over a misunderstanding. Instead, their security, and their precarious balance between being a tether for the other’s humanity and being a commodity of the public eye, offered a softness (and occasional reprieve) between the violence. (I also liked the poly aspect with Mac, and Thurwar’s thoughts around what both of her relationships offered her.) They were sweet, even until the heartbreaking end.
If I had to list my second favorite dynamic within the Angola-Hammond chain (and eventual found family), it would be Staxxx and Rico’s mentor-mentee dynamic. Staxxx’s motivations could definitely be a little dubious sometimes, but Rico was such a noticeably young, not-jaded Link within the group that it was both sweet and heartbreaking to see his earnestness, and his excitement at kinda being taken under her wing. And plus, Staxxx keeps her humanity intact throughout and genuinely cares about so many of her other Links. Ugh.
Unsure how to feel about the anecdotes? They grounded Chain-Gang All-Stars, at least in part, in reality. But I also felt they would sometimes break the flow of the story, especially narrated. (Worth noting that Shayna Small narrates every anecdote, so sometimes, her voice would pop-in during another narrator’s chapter.) And despite the heaviness of their subject matter, I thought that they sometimes made a characters’ experiences feel tied more to their statistics, instead of given weight.
But overall, I’d definitely recommend this. Though. I’d be a little pissed if it gets an adaptation, given… y’know.
Fast-paced, gorey, and engaging in a way that often juxtaposes the inherent bleakness of the narrative by placing you in the shoes of the Chain-Gang viewers. Those factors, and fantastic narration done by Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, and Aaron Goodson (but mostly Shayna, to be honest) made chapters easy to listen to in one sitting, but also left me with a lingering sick feeling, and a dread palpable enough to make me hesitant to pick up my Playaway again, despite how invested I was. This isn’t subtle and never tries to be. Yes, this led to it being very easy to see when inner or external monologues were mouthpieces for the points the story was making, but it also put so much emphasis on the theatrical, outrageous nature of the premise that I think it worked in a way. That’s, of course, subjective, but I didn’t dock many points.
There’s another major reason Chain-Gang All-Stars kept my interest from start to end, though: The cast is extensive, with tens of POVs of different roles. From the Links mentioned in the summary (and part of the titular show within a book), to viewers keeping themselves watching a real-life battle Royale with the power of cognitive dissonance, callous TV executives, and even a scientist I won’t reveal the plot importance of, every possible moral question and political aspect of this horrifically realistic dystopia is proposed and answered in the form of these characters’ thoughts. It was so incredibly easy to be immersed in this book’s futuristic America, and not just because it’s only a fictionalized continuation of current systemic racism. This was a mixed bag, though. Not only are some POVs less bigoted than others, and it gets nearly impossible to count how many there are after a certain point, but I sometimes felt detached from a character’s emotions. Particularly (I’ll be placing emphasis on them since they’re who I care about and is meant to be rooted for), some of the Links, and the resistance fighters. While I found Mari, Kai and Nyle’s POV’s compelling, and a realistic depiction of a grassroots movement, I didn’t feel a strong emotional pull towards them, despite how well-rounded their characters were. I think it was just the writing style? Only a few of the POVs are written in first-person. (But also, there were some moments in the first-person chapters where different emotions still felt spelled out?)
I feel like Hendrix and Simon were the two characters where it was easiest to feel their spirals, likely because of the first-person writing, but also how they were read: Hendrix’s narrator, Aaron Goodson, actually sang in the audiobook, and characterized him with a vulnerability and dry-sounding misery that was absolutely haunting. I’m still unsure how to feel about Simon, but his instability was also narrated very well by Michael Crouch and it was honestly disturbing to listen to. Of course, though, a bulk of the book’s heart is in Loretta Thurwar and Henrietta Stacks’ relationship. There are several points in the story where, in the hands of a less mature author, they could have easily turned on each other, or broken up over a misunderstanding. Instead, their security, and their precarious balance between being a tether for the other’s humanity and being a commodity of the public eye, offered a softness (and occasional reprieve) between the violence. (I also liked the poly aspect with Mac, and Thurwar’s thoughts around what both of her relationships offered her.) They were sweet, even until the heartbreaking end.
Unsure how to feel about the anecdotes? They grounded Chain-Gang All-Stars, at least in part, in reality. But I also felt they would sometimes break the flow of the story, especially narrated. (Worth noting that Shayna Small narrates every anecdote, so sometimes, her voice would pop-in during another narrator’s chapter.) And despite the heaviness of their subject matter, I thought that they sometimes made a characters’ experiences feel tied more to their statistics, instead of given weight.
But overall, I’d definitely recommend this. Though. I’d be a little pissed if it gets an adaptation, given… y’know.