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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.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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.

“She felt their eyes, all those executioners.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

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!!

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...

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.

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 !!!

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!

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.

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

^^^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

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.

Up next #eBook #ToB2024 #WiaN2024 Category: Shoes 👟

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.

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!

#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 !!🎊🎊👏😍

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 ❤️

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.

#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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My 2023 Best book of each month reading bracket.

#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

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

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.

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.

Sunday plans.

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.

#weekendreads

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

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.🙂📚🩵

I read a lot of great books in July, but Chain-Gang All-Stars was the best.
#bookbrackets #2023readingbracket

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!

Every book in the long list added to my TBR!
Take a look: https://centerforfiction.org/book-recs/2023-first-novel-prize/

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.

Very intense.

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!

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!

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.

So excited to read this!! Which means I‘ll either read it next week or in the next 2-3 years! 👍

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.

“She felt their eyes- all those executioners.”
#firstlinefridays

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.

🫨🥰

Original, brutal, informative, thought-provoking, impressive…all the good adjectives. A really engaging look at human life and the prison system, the way some lives may be valued more than others, how easily humans forget what life means, and what is given up for the sake of entertainment. The scene at the farmers market—wowza. This one will stick with me. 🏆🌟💫

Im not sure I can do this book justice ( no pun intended)😜Set in the not so distant future, the US penal code now has prisoners signing on to participate in a gladiator/ survivor reality tv show where they fight to the death to earn their freedom back. It‘s brutal and gruesome but tender and insightful. The author uses footnotes to convey the true horrors of incarceration, policing practices and what it means to be a POC in America. BRILLIANT

Started this last month on audio and couldn‘t get into it at all. Picked up the print copy today and could hardly put it down!!! On page 260 and I‘m enthralled 😁Gladiators meets The Running Man. @TrishB I think this one is up your alley!!!

A reality tv show that showcases prison inmates who fight to the death in gladiator fashion for a chance at freedom. Just a step beyond Survivor, the death penalty, Hunger Games. Brutal, engrossing, extraordinary footnotes, well-written. Commentary on our judicial system, what is justice, what is entertainment, is well-played. One of the best books I‘ve read this year- highly recommend!

#2023ReadingBracket
I had three 5 star reads in May - Chain-gang All-stars, The Shadow Cabinet, and The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Of those three my absolute favorite was Chain-gang All-stars.

Brutal right from jump. 🫣

This book is brutal. Set in a near future dystopia, where prisoners compete in gladiator type games for the teensiest chance to leave prison. It's streamed and extremely popular. The main character is Thurwar, who is two weeks away from freedom. She's a complicated hero. A favorite part for me are the reference notes, some fake and some true info and stats that make you realize how our present could reach that future. 5⭐️

"How comfortable are you in your uncaring?"
Listening to Nana Kwami talk about his new novel that I loved.

What I loved about this book was Adjei-Brenyah's use of footnotes throughout the novel, drawing us into this world by using real world facts about the US prison system to drive home how brutal it truly is. What I also found interesting was how easily I could see our country falling into accepting this as a form of punishment for people. The retribution and judgement that we see on a daily basis could easily become what this novel describes.