Some of his best fight sentences sound as if Joe Rogan had fallen into a trance and assumed the diction and rhythms of Toni Morrison. It is an act of protest, but it does not straightforwardly preach … This book is not shy with its allegories … Adjei-Brenyah… bends the lurid into the lyrical-pretty words about hideous deeds. Adjei-Brenyah is so good at writing fight scenes that our moral disgust never definitively stamps out the primitive thrill of reading them … This is also why his book works. To enjoy the action is to share in the guilt of the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside at the live-broadcast death matches between prison inmates. “This is one queasy testament to Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s talent: You cannot applaud his debut novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, without getting blood on your hands. Our special reserve of stupendous reviews this week includes Giri Nathan on Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars, Audrey Wollen on Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X, Leah Finnegan on Ben Smith’s Traffic, Hermione Hoby on Max Porter’s Shy, and Jim Ruland on John Wray’s Gone to the Wolves.īrought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”
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