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Chain-Gang All-Stars

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Chain-Gang All-Stars
AuthorNana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
PublisherPantheon Books
Publication date
May 2, 2023
ISBN9780593317334

Chain-Gang All-Stars is the 2023 debut novel by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. It was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, as well as other awards.

Plot

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Chain-Gang All-Stars is set in a dystopian near-future America where prison systems have been transformed into a brutal, televised blood sport called the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE) program. This system pits inmates, known as "Chain-Gang All-Stars," against each other in deadly gladiatorial combat for the entertainment of the masses and potential freedom for the surviving victors. The story centers around Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker, two of CAPE's most famous combatants and partners in life and battle.

Loretta is close to securing her freedom, having only a few more fights left, but she is deeply entangled in the moral and emotional complexities of CAPE. Torn between the desire to escape and her loyalty to her partner Staxxx, Loretta faces the harrowing decision of leaving or resisting the system that has commodified and dehumanized her. Throughout the novel, other fighters' perspectives reveal the extent of the system’s cruelty and manipulation, as well as the resilience, resistance, and trauma of those forced into this deadly game.

Adjei-Brenyah tackles themes of systemic racism, the prison-industrial complex, exploitation, and the spectacle of violence in media. Through a blend of speculative and social critique, Chain-Gang All-Stars offers a chilling reflection on society's capacity for both dehumanization and resilience, challenging readers to examine where entertainment, profit, and justice intersect in harmful ways.

Development

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Adjei-Brenyah originally conceived Chain Gang All-Stars as a short story in his collection Friday Black.[1]

Reception

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Chain-Gang All-Stars was generally well received by critics,[2] including starred reviews from Booklist,[3] Kirkus Reviews,[4] Library Journal,[5] and Publishers Weekly.[6]

Kirkus Reviews compared the novel to "a rowdy, profane, and indignant blues shout" version of The Hunger Games.[4] In The Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks also compared the novel to The Hunger Games, as well as to Squid Game, Battle Royale, and Invisible Man, though Sacks' review was more mixed, noting that "since the novel assails the exploitation of black prisoners for entertainment, it cannot be freely entertaining itself, and a dampening sense of shame and reluctance permeates the scenes, which are often interrupted by footnotes dispensing sobering statistics about the prison system—not the one in the novel but the real one." Sacks concluded: "A straightforwardly realistic novel about prisons would be infinitely more damning—though, paradoxically, it would never be selected for book clubs."[7]

Contrary to Sacks's review, Booklist's Terry Hong said that "Adjei-Brenyah's reality-adjacent tale could ultimately, terrifyingly, prove prescient." Hong explained: "What might seem to be a dystopian nightmare is even more terrifying because Adjei-Brenyah brilliantly broadcasts such irrefutable truths as the U.S. having the world's highest rate of incarceration, with disproportionate numbers of Black and POC prisoners. His chilling footnotes shrewdly interrupt his fiction with real names and stark statistics, exposing racism, inequity, corruption, suicide, and abuse." Hong concluded: "Given the rampant, explicit brutality, all should heed a character's warning, 'I'll tell you and I can't untell you, you understand?'"[3]

Similarly, Publishers Weekly highlighted how "the author delivers insightful critiques of the prison-industrial complex, capitalism, and the ways in which Hollywood and celebrity culture exploit Black talent," while also indicating that "both the political allegory and the edge-of-your-seat action work beautifully."[6]

Library Journal's Sarah Hashimoto called Chain-Gang All-Stars "an unforgettable book reverberating with alarming truths and providing an uncomfortable look at an all-too-imaginable future".[5]

Jennifer M. Brown, writing for Shelf Awareness, called Chain-Gang All-Stars a "powerful, imaginative debut novel" that "pulls no punches in the parallels he draws between incarceration and slavery, unpaid labor and power imbalance". Brown concluded, "The story may be fiction, but Adjei-Brenyah delivers the truth."[8]

Bidisha Mamata, writing for The Observer, called the novel "crushingly painful" with "loaded and on-the-nose commentary on racism, exploitation, inequality and the legacy and loud echoes of slavery in the US." Like Sacks, Mamata felt that

the richness of the conceit makes it tiresome to read [...] Even though the ideas are big and bold, the novel is a slog. In its characters’ endless cycle of violence, misery, trauma and rumination, all light and shade is lost. There is action in spades, but little real plot; dialogue, but little psychological nuance. We are told many of the condemned characters’ tragic backstories, often in poignantly throwaway footnotes....we do not feel them or feel for them. The main characters glower like video game characters and talk like CGI bounty hunters.

Mamata indicated that "Adjei-Brenyah is clearly a writer of substance, with something to say" but thought readers should "skip" reading Chain-Gang All-Stars "and wait instead for pop culture to eat itself, shed all irony and churn out the inevitable Netflix adaptation".[9]

Awards and honors

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The New York Times named Chain-Gang All-Stars one of the top ten books of 2023.[10] Kirkus Reviews[4] and Shelf Awareness[11] also included it on their list of the year's best books. Booklist included it on their list of the top ten debut novels of the year.[12]

Year Award Result Result Ref.
2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award Fiction Finalist [13]
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize — Longlisted [14]
Goodreads Choice Awards Science Fiction Nominated [15]
Debut Nominated [16]
Gordon Burn Prize — Longlisted [17]
National Book Award Fiction Finalist [18]
Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize — Shortlisted [19]
2024 Alex Awards — Finalist [20]
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Longlisted [21]
Arthur C. Clarke Award — Finalist [22]
Aspen Words Literary Prize — Shortlisted [23]
Chautauqua Prize — Shortlisted [24]
International Dublin Literary Award — Longlisted [25]
Locus Award First Novel Finalist [26]
Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award — Longlisted [27]
Publishing Triangle Awards Ferro-Grumley Award Finalist [28]
Young Lions Fiction Award — Finalist [29]

References

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  1. ^ Seymour, Gene (April 2, 2023). "Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, High-Concept Satirist". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "Book Marks reviews of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah". Book Marks. Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Hong, Terry (May 1, 2023). "Chain-Gang All-Stars". Booklist. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Chain-Gang All-Stars". Kirkus Reviews. January 24, 2023. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Hashimoto, Sarah (June 16, 2023). "Chain-Gang All-Stars". Library Journal. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah". Publishers Weekly. February 14, 2023. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  7. ^ Sacks, Sam (May 12, 2023). "Fiction: Emma Cline's 'The Guest'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  8. ^ Brown, Jennifer M. (November 28, 2023). "Chain-Gang All-Stars". Shelf Awareness. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  9. ^ Mamata, Bidisha (July 9, 2023). "Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah review – a big and bold dystopian satire that lacks nuance". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on January 25, 2024. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  10. ^ Schaub, Michael (November 28, 2023). "'NYT' Names Its 10 Best Books of 2023". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  11. ^ "Shelf Awareness's Best Adult Books of 2023". Shelf Awareness. November 28, 2023. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  12. ^ Bostrom, Annie (November 1, 2023). "Top 10 First Novels: 2023". Booklist. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  13. ^ "2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, Books". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  14. ^ "2023 First Novel Prize". The Center for Fiction. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  15. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Science Fiction!". Goodreads. Archived from the original on December 25, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  16. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Debut Novel!". Goodreads. Archived from the original on December 25, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  17. ^ "Longlist announced for Gordon Burn Prize 2023-24". Press Office. December 7, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  18. ^ "The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Fiction". National Book Foundation. July 17, 2023. Archived from the original on September 15, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  19. ^ "Waterstones debut fiction prize shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. July 17, 2023. Archived from the original on July 23, 2023. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  20. ^ "YALSA announces 2023 Alex Awards". News and Press Center. ALA American Library Association. January 22, 2024. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  21. ^ "2024 Winners | Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence". www.ala.org. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  22. ^ locusmag (May 13, 2024). "2024 Clarke Award Shortlist". Locus Online. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  23. ^ Schaub, Michael (March 14, 2024). "Aspen Words Literary Prize 2024 Finalists Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  24. ^ 2024 Chautauqua Prize Shortlist. May 9, 2024.
  25. ^ "2024 Longlist Revealed". Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  26. ^ locusmag (June 23, 2024). "2024 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  27. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  28. ^ "The Ferro-Grumley Awards". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  29. ^ "Announcing the 2024 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists". The New York Public Library. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
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