Why Do You Like This? Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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[kel]

Agreed, just finished and all the reviews I see are glowingly positive. I would give it 2.5 stars, the story feels so disjointed and so many different characters that only connect towards the end once you've basically forgotten about them. I think this book would work well as a tv series and it would it hit a lot harder. I mainly didn't like how a lot of the systems and relationships were just stated and not explored, you never meet sunset alive, you don't fully understand the relationships between the main characters. And it finishes after her final win, you dont see the consequences of her being Freed and dealing with the trauma or the political stance of letting a killer, who's now trained to be a killer out into society. It felt too long and also the ending was so blunt.

[kingkai]

Im gonna read the whole thing but i agree with everything you said, you are one of very few people who have given this book criticism its gotten so much praise, from all that ive seen.

[SoulofPimpC]

Feels like a collection of short stories.

[tijanakovac]

I think the fragmented style suited the story and found a lot of poignant passages throughout. This is definitely more a study than a straightforward story which I found refreshing and a lot of the characters do entwine in the end. Form is content with this one - loved the footnotes where characters were literally footnotes in someone else's story and there are a lot of overlooked invisible people suffering in the world. Even Thurwar as a character isn't your typical hero and the novel really plays on drawing empathy on criminals and the ethics of forgiveness and progress.

[glennbarrow]

Great stuff nick! I find your read-alongs to be about the best ive viewed online...good voicework and general demeanor is spot on dude...good luck with your channel

[michaelglasser]

I had to look up reviews for this book, I usually don’t like too much information before I finish a book. But you explain my frustration very well.

[robertmorawe]

I think you might have read it in a different mindset than the author intended. This is an American Political Satire book first instead of a dystopian book first. The author uses the story as the vessel for political satire and each character portrays how America acts towards the prison system. The solitary confinement isn't just a chapter in that, it's about how prisoners are neglected although the neglect is obvious. The protesters are there to enhance the ideology that the mass majority of Americans don't really care about the negatives of the prison system, Americans just want to enjoy their own personal lives even if others are suffering. Also the main female protestor starts to enjoy the reality show which shows the hypocrisy of "Americans actual do care" but don't care enough to do something. The 2 main female characters are there to show that murderers (or people in general) but the system is rigged where they are forced into bad situations. I do think it has flaws but I think it also does a wonderful job of being american political satire

[JONNYxBOYxFRESH]

I could not agree with you more. I just finished the book today and the ending is what you would expect except there are still a ton of questions left unanswered. I’m guessing there’s a sequel in mind?

[CraigReadsBooks]

I am so glad I have come across this video as I am 140 pages in and decided to DNF. I don’t get why it is getting so much praise either I was shocked to see so many 5* reviews for a book that, although the themes are interesting, in my opinion is not well written and I agree it just doesn’t feel cohesive. I also agree that if the author wrote a nonfiction I would be interested but I just don’t think this worked in this format.

[ArtBookshelfOdyssey]

This book has been on my TBR… and now I’m even more curious to read it 😂. Thanks for the review though. It’s good to have balanced opinions I think.

[bookssongsandothermagic]

This is really interesting - I know you said you weren't enjoying it when we chatted....and clearly it felt like it wasn't worth it. I have it, and will read it....i'll keep your thoughts in mind.

[TomOrange]

I think I know people in my life who would love this book so I can see why its getting such high praise. From what you said about it though I do not think this would be a book I enjoyed. Also the picture made me laugh pretty hard lol

[mt]

Got this book because of the glowing reviews but feel baffled. I just don’t find it compelling or interesting. I’m 1/3 of the way through and have had to force myself to read every page. I find it really average and boring, so I started searching for different reviews to see if there is something I am missing. Thank you for helping me to articulate why this novel doesn’t work for me. I think I am going to stop reading it now, without fear that I am missing out.

[choco]

What did you expect when this kind of book has a female protagonist. Its kind of insulting.