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Chain-Gang All-Stars

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Start date: August 22, 2024

Finish date: September 12, 2024

Why we're reading this: Chain-Gang All-Stars is Reading on the Margins Book Discussion's September selection! This book club will…more
[close] Chain-Gang All-Stars is Reading on the Margins Book Discussion's September selection! This book club will be held in person at Franklin Avenue Library on Thursday, 9/12 at 6:30 PM. Visit our website or call 515-283-4152 for more details.

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What Members Thought

Aug 09, 2023 James rated it it was ok

Shelves: black, genre, dystopia, owned

I struggled to enjoy almost any of this. Maybe my expectations were too high: a writer friend bought this for me at Prairie Lights after a dinner where we talked about books we'd loved recently, it's a signed copy, I haven't read almost any new fiction. However, even though I like highbrow genre fiction, I read a lot of fiction by Black authors, and I'm interested in fiction about peoples and places that are not typical MFA lit, I don't think this is a good example of how to do this well.

The foo ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2023 Andy rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq, best-audiobook-narrations

I was a huge fan of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut short story collection, “Friday Black,” which paired horror and sci-fi plots with social justice sensibilities. He essentially sticks with the same formula in his first full length novel, turning the focus solely on state-supported neo-slavery.

Adjei-Brenyah weaves an array of topics – including capitalism, feminism, misogyny, systemic racism, mass incarceration and the value of Black bodies – into the pages, tackling the CAPE program, which al I was a huge fan of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut short story collection, “Friday Black,” which paired horror and sci-fi plots with social justice sensibilities. He essentially sticks with the same formula in his first full length novel, turning the focus solely on state-supported neo-slavery.

Adjei-Brenyah weaves an array of topics – including capitalism, feminism, misogyny, systemic racism, mass incarceration and the value of Black bodies – into the pages, tackling the CAPE program, which allows for opted-in prisoners to compete in gladiatorial combat for the masses, from multiple angles.

This was also the downfall of the story to some extent. Lots of characters and situations have no immediate connection to the core narrative – the Angola-Hammond chain, featuring lovers Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker – and it led to some confusing digressions, even with a stellar audiobook narration.

What kept me going was my investment in Thurwar and Staxxx and later Hendrix Young and Simon J. Craft from a rival chain. It’s through these four we experience the toll of this life and the slow loss of humanity. The last hour, which primarily featured them, was among the most thrilling I’ve read this year.

I always appreciate when an author is bold. The concepts and questions raised are endlessly fascinating and Adjei-Brenyah creatively plays with story structure and points of view to keep the reader off-balance. Still, the story stumbled under its own weight of endless characters.

With shades of “The Hunger Games” and “Survivor” this is an accessible work of speculative fiction that, even with its shortcomings, effectively pairs social commentary with macabre scenarios – a horror lover's dream. It will make you reassess the entertainment you consume, especially professional sports.

If you do tackle this, I highly recommend the audiobook. Easily one of the best I’ve heard this year with Shayna Small (main narrator), Aaron Goodson (Hendrix Young), Michael Crouch (Simon J. Craft), Lee Osorio (Gunny Puddles) each doing exceptional work.

Thank you to Pantheon, Penguin Random House, the author and Libro.fm for a gifted copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2025 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2025, library, fiction, audiobook, lit-prize, diversiverse

Completely bold and audacious in it's storytelling, this novel never lets readers get comfortable, but continues to challenge thinking from the first page to the last. Angry, uncompromising, and utterly unforgettable. ...more

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Apr 25, 2024 CL rated it really liked it

Shelves: future-dystopia-sci-fi, audiobook

Another dystopian story about prisoner death matches — this one with more satire of celeb culture & reality streaming; plus queerness, antiracism, etc.

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