Chain Gang All Stars: A Read with Jenna Pick
Books | Fiction / Literary
4
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE“This book is so good. Brutal subject matter, beautiful writing. This one is from the heart.” —Stephen KingA Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews“Like Orwell’s 1984 and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah’s book presents a dystopian vision so…illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we’re capable of doing.” —The Washington PostShe felt their eyes, all those executioners…Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences. Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).
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More Details:
Author
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Pages
384
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2023-05-02
ISBN
0593317343 9780593317341
Community ReviewsSee all
"Truly as astounding as advertised. <i>Friday Black</i> displayed Adjei-Brenyah’s brilliant ability to reimagine racist violence as entertainment; here he develops this concept into an anguished howl of rage and despair. All of his characters have done terrible things, yet they remain deeply, passionately human, and their fates an unspeakable tragedy."
""I seen men I knew were a danger to the world and they too deserve better than this." <br/><br/>I don't even know what to say about this one. Brutal and honest, great character writing. A little bit of speculative fiction to shine a light on the horrors existing right now. In some places it feels a little "abolition 101" but overall the prose sings. Phenomenal."
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"3.5 stars<br/><br/>Very interesting take on a not so distant future critiquing the current injustices of America and our prison systems. Taking current and real statistics to make bold points was very interesting. While I would not say I was entertained, I was enthralled. I feel like I need to digest."