Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

37 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Blood, Death, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Self harm, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Cursing, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

Minor: Racial slurs and Religious bigotry

aleyajo's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So enthralling! Excellent critique of the prison industrial complex. You cannot truly love if you have ownership over another. Masterful blend of the real with the almost-real, akin to the Handmaid’s Tale.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Mental illness, Police brutality, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Murder, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

reaperreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicide, Confinement, Violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Self harm

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Rape

akapaldo's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, and Police brutality

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Lesbophobia

sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word to describe my experience with this, as it was a rollercoaster, with some very intense scenes at times, but I thought this was a very interesting book that was well-constructed and made the points it was aiming to make well. Just make sure to check content warnings before reading.

There were some very good and interesting conversations and points throughout this book on the prison system (in the USA, specifically) and the treatment of incarcerated humans, as well as demographics of people more likely to be subject to these things. As a non-American, I thought the footnotes were useful to provide context and outline some of the hypocrisy in the system and judgements made. They were also used sparingly so didn't interrupt the overall flow of the story.

There were many points of view, but I found I followed them all well and I liked how we got the intersection of all these stories by the end. I have seen people say they got confused listening to the audio, but personally, having read the book with my eyes, I thought it was easy to follow who the character of interest was each chapter. I think the multiple POVs gave a lot of context to the dystopian world and really hit home the shocking nature of the death games, and how involved the community is.

The characters in here were really interesting. I appreciated how we saw them as human, but their crimes were never pushed to the background. It was a really good way of showing that even people who have committed crimes are human and have the ability to think, feel and change in some circumstances. It was a good way of furthering some of the points made in the book, particulalry about the death penalty and solitary confinement.

The only real thing I wanted more from was the ending. I read it and was like "that's it?", though I did go back and reread the last chapter and it did feel a little more solid of an ending the second time when I knew I was on the last chapter. I'm just not a huge lover of an open ending, so I personally would've liked to see a little more resolution, particularly in the other storylines. But part of me also thinks maybe the point was that, as much as the others fight, it's not going to nicely resolve in such a short period of time. I think I'll be pondering this ending for a while, either way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Domestic abuse

xoxochannychan's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is incredibly well-written and delivers a powerful message about the intersection of capitalism and the US prison system and was packed full of facts. I highly enjoyed these aspects of the narrative. However, I felt that the futuristic qualities of the world took me out of the story - this could happen within just a few years of now, but is set in a much more distant dystopian future, which felt unnecessary and reduced the message I think the author was going for. Additionally, the choice to use "thee" instead of "the" and the switching between narrative perspectives also took me out of the story. Overall, a good book, but flawed. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't like graphic violence or extremely dark content. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Confinement, Self harm, Death, Murder, and Racial slurs

Minor: Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Suicide

jgrant512's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Speculative fiction has always been a favorite genre of mine. Here we see what could happen when the private carceral system meets with sports entertainment. The US carceral system is incredibly unjust in reality, and those injustices are magnified in this novel. We follow multiple characters, from the famous Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker, who fight to the death as part of the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment program, to those who are rabid fans of this new sport, and also to groups of protestors who are trying to remind everyone that they are cheering for humans to kill each other for sport. 

There are so many levels at which this novel works so well for me. The writing was really well balanced, both describing the horrors that the prisoners have to go through as well as diving into the psyche of each character. I'll be thinking about Simon J Craft for a long time. 

This novel also gives the reader snippets of the reality that people in the carceral system have to go through. From the abuse of guards and torture by isolation to signing documents that seal their fate without having proper defense. Adjei-Brenyah is one author that I'll be following closely and I definitely want to read his short story collection as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Grief, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

rei_reads's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Racism, Violence, Self harm, Body horror, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Torture, and Suicide

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Grief, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault and Transphobia

dale1997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Torture, and Confinement

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Transphobia