Chain Gang All Stars

A Novel

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Narrated by: Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE

“This book is so good. Brutal subject matter, beautiful writing. This one is from the heart.” —Stephen King

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews

“Like Orwell’s 1984 and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah’s book presents a dystopian vision so…illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we’re capable of doing.” —The Washington Post

She felt their eyes, all those executioners…

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are com­peting for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thur­war and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE’s corporate own­ers will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alli­ance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).

Good story, annoying woke

The story, I really liked. I did get a little annoyed with the woke she would stick in there. Maybe if she would’ve stuck to the story instead of social commentary, it would’ve been a little better.

Amazing

What a debut! I look forward to reading more from this very talented author. This book is eye opening to some very real injustices in our justice system. The characters are so wonderfully written. It’s just a great book. Read it!

Groundbreaking

it is heartbreaking, relevant, fast moving and very entertaining. I will definitely be thinking about this book for a while. You can tell he is a PHENOMENAL short story writer, I've never read a book like this and likely never will. Very thought provoking. Already recommending to everyone!

Heartwrenching

I just finished this and i’m a little stupefied with awe. This book is so human - beautiful brave and horrifying all at once. Another review called it hunger games for adults (or something similar) and that’s pretty spot on…except this near future is frighteningly present.

I loved the narration but the footnotes were a little distracting. Important, but hard to separate from the story until the last half when the narrators change more often. Sometimes makes the story seem more didactic than it actually is, which is off putting. I wish they’d done the small sound cue + specific narrator approach to signify a footnote. If you think the “make it part of the text” style of audio footnotes will bother you, the written will be a better fit.

Devastating and Phenomenal

I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. This book is not for everyone, but if you have any experience with or want to learn more about our broken criminal justice system it’s a must read.