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Chain-Gang All-Stars
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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review
Cortg
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This is kinda like hunger games but they put inmates, mostly black, into the colosseum to fight to the death for the enjoyment of others on a television show. It‘s disturbing but an in your face way to highlight the American prison system that you can‘t look away from. Clever.

41 likes1 stack add
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JenReadsAlot
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Wow what a book! #aardvark

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Donna1980
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Book Spa today and look at this book stack of dreams chosen for me after the most wonderful hour long discussion all about my reading tastes. Katrina at MrBs in Bath is a book wizard for sure. ❤️😍❤️

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marleed
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Along with how we‘ve normalized hate as free speech I think it was the incorporation of actual stats of our American way of life that made this near-future dystopian look at the prison system particularly brutal. …Pic pulled from author‘s instagram. I do enjoy following authors I enjoy on Instagram - mostly because it‘s fun to. See their joy after putting their work into the world.

66 likes3 stack adds
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Creadnorthey
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This was a good read with the current US prison system, our use of its resources (inmates), the train wreck of reality TV, and our society‘s willingness to rubber-neck enough to slowdown but so rarely stop, all rolled together. Love when speculative fiction rubs up against contemporary politics… put this next to Handmaid‘s Tale and wait until November.

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mjtwo
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

21 Jul-13 Aug 24
Set in a near future of high security prisoners becoming reality TV gladiators fighting to the death for a distant promise of freedom.
Adjei-Brenyah develops many engaging characters in a narrative that questions the purpose of incarceration, the dubious ethics of privatising prisons and our appetite for pitting humans against each other in the name of entertainment.
Apt given the vast hours of Olympics I watched in this period.

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DebinHawaii
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

#ReadAway2024

My June #Roll100 pick (#7) carried over & I‘m really glad I finally read this brutal but moving dystopian novel. The audiobook narration was top notch & while I finished it over the weekend, I‘m still thinking about it. The brutality, corruption & injustice of our prison system today only makes this story more chilling.

I borrowed the background of the collage from Esquire & I‘m using the cover as today‘s #Weapon for #CoverLove

Eggs Brilliant ⚔️🖤🔪 3mo
DieAReader ❤️‍🔥Fantastic 3mo
PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 3mo
49 likes3 comments
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LadyCait84
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This book will break your heart while it opens your eyes.

44 likes1 stack add
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DebinHawaii
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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I‘m late in getting my June TBR up but I did figure out my #Roll100 books:

#7 Chaingang All Stars
#24 Resistance Tori Amos
#66 Any library book (I chose Clear-it‘s also for #CampLitsy24

I‘m excited about these 3, plus I still want to read May‘s 3rd #aRoll100 book Butcher & Blackbird that I couldn‘t get to. 🤗

PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 5mo
44 likes1 comment
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Jilly6183
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

The true test of a great dystopian novel is when that world feels like true reality waiting around the next corner. Our prison system is brutal and in our neverending quest to punish "the bad," we lose sight of the widespread harm it causes. I loved that this novel used current law and real cases to highlight the deeply flawed and horrifying state of "justice."

35 likes1 stack add
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REPollock
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Best novel of the year for me. A difficult and disturbing book. Audiobook highly recommended for keeping all the plot threads and characters straight via several narrators. I think it would have been harder to follow if I‘d read it as text.

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Pretty 😍 7mo
Tamra So jealous of your flower pots! 7mo
REPollock @Tamra thank you! I just put them out this past week. 7mo
21 likes4 comments
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behudd
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was stunning. It‘s the first book that I‘ve had to make myself take breaks from because the story and characters, the brutality and reality were so pervasive that I could not stop thinking about it.
I listened to the audiobook & read hard copy and both were great reading experiences. There are *many* points of view but I felt he expertly navigated them and the way all the stories weaved together - what a masterpiece.

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behudd
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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“She felt their eyes, all those executioners.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

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heyitsMacall
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This book has to be top 5 of the year for me! It was well researched, the changing perspectives really gave so much to the world building, the characters were realistic. I felt like the world was similar to idiocracy with the plot of hunger games. I recommend!!

15 likes1 stack add
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Mary_Reads
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

2024: 10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Theres no doubt in my mind why this book was named one of NYT best 10 books of 2023. The author uses real case law and the 13th amendment to paint a picture of a world where American prisoners are pitted against each other in gladiator style death matches for the viewing pleasure of the public. It uses violence to make the reader reflect on heavy themes such as punishment, redemption, rehabilitation, the commodification of...

Mary_Reads the human body and its suffering, detachment and the othering of people we deem not like us. Highly entertaining and beautiful prose that is visceral and at times heartbreaking. Definitely a must read. 8mo
20 likes1 comment
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AlizaApp
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Convicts are given a chance to get out of prison early if they compete in a brutal reality show where they fight to death in arenas. A striking commentary on the prison industrial complex in America, and also on race and the justice system. Very highly recommended.

34 likes1 stack add
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Branwen
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Wow. This book absolutely blew my mind! I know it's only february, but I think this might end up being one of my favorite reads of 2024! 💕📚

I'm so grateful for Scott's glowing review about this one, because it caused me to move it right up on my TBR! And I'm so glad I did because it was absolutely amazing! Thanks, @vivastory !!!

vivastory I'm so happy that you loved this! I'm always worried when I rave about a book, but a month & a half later I still feel as strongly about this book! 🙌 9mo
Branwen @vivastory I know exactly what you mean! I often worry about the same thing, especially when recommending books that I really really loved! In that respect, I'm very very curious to see what you end up thinking about those Paul Murray books I keep raving about! 🤭 But for real, Chain Gang All Stars is one of my favorite reads of the year so far! 💕📚 9mo
50 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Karisa
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Tough but important fiction. Set in the near future, prisoners are given a chance at freedom—Hunger Games style. It is filled with footnotes giving insight into our prison system which is clearly its own blunt weapon disproportionately hurting people of color. This book does not let up the intensity. Whew!

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amyrohn
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Mehso-so

I was so interested in the concept, the world, and the themes, which is why I‘m so disappointed I didn‘t love this as much as I was expecting to. The writing itself is where I struggled, and this took me 2 whole weeks to get through. There were way too many POVs, and they switched between 1st and 3rd person and that bugged me. I also wasn‘t sure what I was supposed to take away from the ending. I wished I loved this as much as everyone else does.

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BkClubCare
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Put me in the camp of being FOR this book; style, drama, footnotes ❤️, characters, etc. Capturing the pics of books “recommended” at the conclusion of the ebook so I can reference for adding to my tbr. (And always curious, WHY THESE?) I am having such conflicted motivation to read right now, not really a slump, but, the “is it me?” Question on why I can‘t seem to get into Wellness, for example? And The Bee Sting? 😩
#ToB2024

BkClubCare No pie, book 2 of 2024, ebook. 10mo
LeafingThroughLife I‘ve been having that “Is it me?” feeling a lot lately, too. I keep reading books that I recognize as well written but they‘re still leaving me a little cold. Definitely starting to get a complex about it. 😬 10mo
BarbaraBB They are both such chunksters and both family dramas. I‘d choose a weird short book if I were you! 10mo
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BkClubCare @BarbaraBB - I am craving a funny romance! 💘 10mo
BkClubCare @LeafingThroughLife - let‘s start a club 😂 10mo
BarbaraBB Have you read this one already? It could do the trick 10mo
BkClubCare @BarbaraBB - 😉 TY, have yet to get/find a copy. 10mo
BkClubCare No pie, book 2 of 2024, ebook. 10mo
38 likes8 comments
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Pinta
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Mehso-so

^^^Killer opening, throwing the reader in with an adrenaline bang. Convict-gladiators in the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE) program fight for their freedom in bloodthirsty televised battles. Violence & spectacle. Love & sacrifice. Amazing Pynchonesque names: Hurricane Staxxx, Melancholia Bishop, Gunny Puddles. Satirical critique of prison-industrial complex in energetic prose, but maybe also gives in to a dehumanizing excess? 2023

BkClubCare Great review/description 10mo
15 likes1 comment
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perfectlywinged
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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At first I found all the different character povs a little confusing but now I‘m oriented and it makes this story of inmates forced to fight to the death more gripping.

14 likes1 stack add
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BkClubCare
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Up next #eBook #ToB2024 #WiaN2024 Category: Shoes 👟

30 likes1 stack add
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Lauredhel
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Mehso-so

Overhyped.

A near-future dystopia with biting critique of the racist prison-industrial complex should be my jam.

But for me this was both plodding and meandering, as well as dry and unsurprising. It elevated message over characterisation, pacing, and plot. It could have been a tight novella or a deeper more focused novel, but instead it was this mess. I ended up feeling like I'd been hit over the head with the MC's hammer a few too many times.

Chelsea.Poole I agree. 😬 10mo
Lauredhel @Chelsea.Poole thankyou - feeling mostly alone on this one! Which is fine, people can like what they like. I was wondering if I was failing to “get“ something, but I don't know what.

One thing I didn't mention above was the terrible choice to have the footnotes a mishmash of fiction and fact. The audience for this book doesn't need that sort of spoon-feeding, and it kept jerking the reader out of the story. Put them in an author's note.
(edited) 10mo
Chelsea.Poole I wanted so badly to like it. I appreciate the concept but I really did not enjoy actually reading it. I also thought it was me until reading some reviews which echoed my feelings, as yours does. 10mo
Lauredhel @Chelsea.Poole yes, I usually like dystopias and obviously agree with the message, but a worthy message does not always make for a successful novel 10mo
63 likes4 comments
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nitalibrarian
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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My #aardvark special edition of Chain-gang All-stars is here. The cover is the same I believe. But the hardcover is all new. I think I'm going to shelve without the cover. I love the blue and gold. And it's signed!

vivastory Whoa! I didn't know they had special editions!! 10mo
nitalibrarian @vivastory I believe this is their first one. Members voted it as 2023 Member's Choice and Aardvark put it out as a special edition this month. 10mo
27 likes2 comments
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HOTPock3tt
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

#Auldlangspine Man, this book blew me away! It‘s so unique that it‘s hard to describe... but it deals with serious issues in a way that‘s readable and relatable. It has characters I grew to love and a riveting storyline. I know it‘s early, but I‘m pretty sure this book will be on my fave books of 2024 list! Thanks for the amazing book rec from your list @Zuhkeeyah !!🎊🎊👏😍

monalyisha What a win! ✨ 10mo
HOTPock3tt @monalyisha Girl! It was AMAZING! 💜 🎊 Thanks so much for the great auldlangspine match up! 🤗 10mo
HOTPock3tt @Zuhkeeyah So in the ending, Thurwar won right? And did she kill Stacks? Or did stacks let her kill her? And she was going to participate in the movement against the chain gang fights? 10mo
See All 8 Comments
AvidReader25 @HOTPock3tt It was SO good! I took it as Stacks let her kill her so Thurwar could continue the movement. I had to reread the ending because it happened so fast! 10mo
HOTPock3tt @AvidReader25 I think you‘re right!!! I had to listen to the ending again too because it was split second lol, but that DOES sound like what happened. What a great book! 10mo
Zuhkeeyah @HOTPock3tt I agree with @AvidReader25 about Stacks letting Thurwar kill her. The movement needed Thurwar to win. I'm so glad you loved it! It's such a bold way to highlight real-life issues in our justice system. 10mo
HOTPock3tt @Zuhkeeyah it really was! And the author showed how close something like this is to becoming reality. It was so well written! 10mo
AvidReader25 @Zuhkeeyah Yes! She blended fact and fiction so well and the characters were so compelling. 10mo
43 likes8 comments
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staci.reads
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This ended up being my last finished book of 2023, and what a book to end on! It is definitely one of the best books I read in 2023! Also, I'm showing off the blanket my daughter made me for Christmas ❤️

dabbe It's beautiful! 🤩🤩🤩 10mo
staci.reads @dabbe thank you! She's pretty talented with needlework of a few kinds. She sure didn't get it from me 😂 10mo
67 likes2 comments
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nitalibrarian
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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January #aardvark books are up. I made sure to set my alarm this morning as I really wanted the signed special edition of Chain-gang All-stars. It was one of my favorite books of 2023.

23 likes1 stack add
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Eggbeater
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

#20in4 @Andrew65
#OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew
#readathon
Book 1

This is an incredibly powerful, brutal, scathing commentary on the justice system in the United States. In a startlingly realistic dystopian future, the government has taken death-row prisoners and pitted them against each other gladiator-style. The book is peppered with footnotes of horrific facts about real incidents of people executed and tortured while incarcerated. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 10mo
37 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Julsmarshall
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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My 2023 Best book of each month reading bracket.

Soubhiville This was definitely in my top 3 as well! Such a powerful book. 🩵 11mo
JuniperWilde Im reading Hello Beautiful right now. Just about 30 pages in and enjoying it. 11mo
41 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Julsmarshall
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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#WinterGames questions:
1. Favorite read is so hard! A few: the tagged, Last Devil to Die, Demon Copperhead , Shark Heart, Fourth Wing, the Huntress.
2. . The Sanatorium, Archer‘s Voice.
3. Stay in, cook dinner with my hubby, read.
4. Not really though we did pop over to Barnes & Noble for the sale.
5. Green and muddy here in Texas. Chilly but pretty nice once it stopped raining. Sharing a pic of a nearby small town courthouse.
#RestingGrinchFace

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NikkiCureton
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Excellent book, very timely. The narrators were very good. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Lindy
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Bailedbailed

Normally I‘m up for dystopian fiction with important social commentary, but I gave up on this after 3 hours (22%). My tendency is to place myself within characters as I read. In this case I found it too traumatic to be a queer incarcerated gladiator, forced to kill others in order to survive, all in the name of entertainment. My emotions are close to the surface these days & the visceral quality of audio jacks up the story‘s intensity.

Suet624 Completely understand. 12mo
Lindy @Suet624 😘 12mo
35 likes2 comments
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Chelsea.Poole
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Mehso-so

Started at the shore, hibernated, finished last week. I‘m ashamed but I totally wasn‘t into it 😔 Such high hopes too. Again, the slumpy reviews continue, so take this with a grain of salt! What I didn‘t like: too many characters/back and forth (who‘s this again?), seemingly repetitive dialogue and violence, and too long. What I liked: the narration 💯, the concept, and the main character.

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wen4blu
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Sunday plans.

37 likes1 stack add
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BC_Dittemore
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Mehso-so

This sits right on the border between a Pick and So-So for me. For all the things I liked about it, there were an equal number of things I didn‘t like.

Due to the high praise and the dystopian nature I was pretty excited to read this; maybe my expectations got the better of me. The basic premise is enticing, and I do love the social commentary, but ultimately this novel is all commentary and metaphor, dropping any real plot to the wayside.

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mrp27
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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#weekendreads

Reading Lady Chatterly for the first time and Charlottes Web for the millionth time. Slow going with Chain Gang.

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Soubhiville
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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July was a great reading month for me. I enjoyed discovering Maggie O‘Farrell for #AuthorAMonth.

The only one of these that wasn‘t a pick was Witches. Best of the month was definitely the tagged.🙂📚🩵

TrishB Some great ones there 👍🏻 1y
JuniperWilde I finished The Marriage Portrait last night. Exquisite prose and an often infuriating story. I absolutely loved it. 1y
66 likes2 comments
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Soubhiville
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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I read a lot of great books in July, but Chain-Gang All-Stars was the best.
#bookbrackets #2023readingbracket

Soubhiville (Best fiction I should say…) 1y
ChaoticMissAdventures Yes!!! Chain-Gang All-Stars I read in January and it is still one to be this year. Amazing book. 1y
AmyG Ah Fresh Water for Flowers. ❤️ 1y
Soubhiville @AmyG yes I finally settled on Fresh Water as the best for the first half of the year. It‘s a truly beautiful book. 🩵 1y
52 likes4 comments
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sakeriver
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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New episode! Today on Keep the Channel Open, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah joins me to discuss his novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars!

Topics discussed:
• Sadboi satire and what working in dystopia allows him to do
• The seductiveness of the fictive dream
• Prison abolition and the inalienable humanity of all people

Subscribe to Keep the Channel Open in your favorite podcatcher, or visit keepthechannelopen.com for full eps, transcripts, and show notes!

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Tonton
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Every book in the long list added to my TBR!
Take a look: https://centerforfiction.org/book-recs/2023-first-novel-prize/

28 likes1 stack add
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Larkken
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Super emotional and thought-provoking. And this near-future really doesn‘t feel far enough away.

Definite similarities to the graphic novel series Bitch Planet, but with modern prison policies and statistics highlighted to horrific effect.

This was my #bookspin for July.

23 likes1 comment
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Jen2
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Very intense.

49 likes1 stack add
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Julsmarshall
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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My anti-prime day haul from Bookshop.org last week. I love their service, they are an online store with slight discounts (less than amazon but worth it) and the books are sold/shipped from an indie bookstore. Ease and selection of online but you are benefiting an #indie. Match made in heaven!

Texreader Thanks for the public service announcement. I‘m going to have to check it out. 👍🏻 1y
Suet624 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I do the same and my indie bookstore owners say it helps them quite a bit. 1y
56 likes2 comments
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Soubhiville
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

When I saw that Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah had a new book I knew I‘d read it right away. Friday Black is one of the best SS collections I‘ve ever read.

This was so incredibly good. I loved the factual footnotes and the ones that were essentially obituaries of the fighters. I loved the characters and the emotional battles that were as difficult if not more so than the physical ones.

This author is a voice for the times, he‘s an auto-buy for me!

Soubhiville “Me and You.” “You and Me.” “Us.” “Us.” ✊🫶🏼🥹 1y
britt_brooke SO GOOD. 1y
SheReadsAndWrites ❤️🐶 1y
See All 8 Comments
TNbookworm Great review! Excellent book. 1y
dabbe I want to play with those adorable puppy feet! 🖤🐾🖤 1y
Gissy 🐶🐾🐾❤️❤️❤️ 1y
Hooked_on_books I loved this book! It‘s actually not only my favorite of the year, but on my all-time favorites list. It‘s so good! 1y
Soubhiville @Hooked_on_books it‘s definitely a lasting impression kind of book! I can see it being on my best of all times lists too. 1y
88 likes8 comments
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Soubhiville
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Reading the tagged with Venkman on my lap this morning. Looks like someone doesn‘t like his photo snapped before caffeine. (JK, no caffeine for kitties.)

Y‘all this book is so good! I have stuff to do today, but I‘m thinking it might all have to wait until tomorrow… tbc.

AmyG Sleepy Venkman. ❤️ I am dying to read this book. I just have so many challenges going on. 😩 1y
Soubhiville @AmyG It‘s always a case of so many books, so little time! Story of our lives. 😆📚 1y
RaeLovesToRead Ahh, Venkman, I know the feeling well 🤣 1y
dabbe Oh, Venkman, what a face! Those eyes! 🖤🐾🖤 1y
Bette Best. Face. Ever. 😂🐱❤️ 1y
71 likes5 comments
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Caroline2
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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So excited to read this!! Which means I‘ll either read it next week or in the next 2-3 years! 👍

Ruthiella Yup! Bookworm time is different from normal time! 😂 1y
LaraReads 🤣🤣 1y
RaeLovesToRead 2-3 years is still pretty recent. I have hardbacks from a decade ago 😬😬😬😬 1y
See All 6 Comments
Caroline2 @RaeLovesToRead me too! 🤦‍♀️ 😆 what are we like?? 1y
Caroline2 @Ruthiella I like that! 👍 1y
RaeLovesToRead We are terrible, neglectful readers! 😆😆 1y
90 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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Christine
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

This is a very good book and an excellent audio production but was also a tough read that took me a while to get through. All of the violence and darkness and sadism + the just-barely-beyond-our-current-reality of it all, I suppose. Loved the footnotes (I'm a weird fan of footnotes in audiobooks). The best thing about this book, IMO, is how it emphasizes the humanity of/generates empathy for people who have done/keep doing terrible things.

britt_brooke My favorite read of 2023 so far! I‘m so glad to hear you liked the audiobook.I tried listening but was super confused at the beginning with all the names, so I switched to print. 😂 1y
Christine @britt_brooke OMG yes, it did give my brain a workout in the beginning! 😆 No mind-wandering allowed with this one. The narrators are so great, though, and 100% worth it just to hear the singing. 1y
MallenNC I felt the same with this one. I thought it was great, but I didn‘t look forward to picking up my book because it was so tough to read. The footnotes were a great touch to bring in more detail and real life info. 1y
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vivastory I picked this one up yesterday. 1y
britt_brooke @Christine That makes me want to go back and listen to the whole book. Maybe I will! 1y
britt_brooke @vivastory I want to know what you think! 1y
vivastory @britt_brooke I plan on reading it either this week or next week 📚 1y
Christine @MallenNC Yes - the footnotes were really grounding and definitely added a lot. 1y
Christine @vivastory What @britt_brooke said! Look forward to your review. 1y
Christine @britt_brooke I could see that being the optimal reading experience for this one - first print, then audio. 1y
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quote
Soubhiville
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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“She felt their eyes- all those executioners.”
#firstlinefridays

AmyG I wish I had the time to read this one…have heard great things. Let us know what you and Venkman think. 1y
dabbe Hello, Mr. V! 🐾🖤🐾 1y
Soubhiville @AmyG it‘s great so far- 40 pages in. I loved Friday Black, so knew this would be good! 1y
LibrarianRyan There are your beautiful cats again. They are so fun. 1y
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review
rachelsbrittain
Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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Pickpick

Like Hunger Games meets the American Prison Industrial Complex. Incarcarcerated individuals sign up for Hard Action Sports, televised arena death-marches that can win them their freedom-- if they live long enough to see it. It reveals the horrors of the prison system through a dystopia that doesn't feel altogether outside the realm of possibility. Took me a minute to follow all the characters, but what a book to finish on the 4th of July.