{"id":10663,"date":"2023-07-09T10:38:08","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T08:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/09\/chain-gang-all-stars-by-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah-review-a-big-and-bold-dystopian-satire-that-lacks-nuance\/"},"modified":"2023-07-09T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T08:38:08","slug":"chain-gang-all-stars-by-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah-review-a-big-and-bold-dystopian-satire-that-lacks-nuance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/09\/chain-gang-all-stars-by-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah-review-a-big-and-bold-dystopian-satire-that-lacks-nuance\/","title":{"rendered":"Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah review \u2013 a big and bold dystopian satire that lacks nuance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US author\u2019s violent tale of death row inmates starring in gladiatorial contests for mass entertainment is an intriguing conceit, but its execution is heavy-handed<\/p>\n

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah\u2019s Chain-Gang All-Stars<\/em> comes to publication freighted with hype because of its stark envisioning of American death row prisoners forced to fight one another to the bloody end, with the bouts televised. The prisoners are mainly Black and they become stars in the entertainment industry on the \u201coutside\u201d, with gimmicky names and basic, almost caveman-like signature weapons. Instead of the Norse god Thor\u2019s hammer Mj\u00f6lnir, here there\u2019s a hammer called Hass Omaha, a scythe named LoveGuile and a mace labelled Vega. The inmates have the chance to move up the fighters\u2019 league and finally be free \u2013 if they kill enough of their fellow prisoners. A giant fighter called Barry Harris \u2013 fight name Rave Bear \u2013 \u201clooked like he\u2019d been pulled from a woodchipper\u201d by the end of a match. Other characters are called Hurricane Staxxx, Gunny Puddles, Ring Ya Bells \u2013 an overripe blend of gamer IDs, B-movie love interests, prison nicknames, wrestling monikers and pure grand guignol.<\/p>\n

The novel is a crushingly painful, loaded and on-the-nose commentary on racism, exploitation, inequality and the legacy and loud echoes of slavery in the US. The prison system, big business, the entertainment industry, local policing, tech surveillance and the military have all fused into one hellish mega-complex: the fighters are pushed around by \u201csoldier-police\u201d, their every move recorded and broadcast, both for security and to scintillate their reality TV audience; their magnetised restraints made from the latest tech, their fights sponsored by food and beverage brands and trumpeted as family entertainment. Indeed, as one character reflects: \u201cAll other sport was just a metaphor for this.\u201d Yet the result is that millions of viewers worldwide are \u201cconsuming poison, no matter how savoury the package\u201d.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nThe US author\u2019s violent tale of death row inmates starring in gladiatorial contests for mass entertainment is an intriguing conceit, but its execution is heavy-handed
\nNana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah\u2019s Chain-Gang All-Stars comes to publication freighted with hype because of its stark envisioning of American death row prisoners forced to fight one another to the bloody end, with the bouts televised. The prisoners are mainly Black and they become stars in the entertainment industry on the \u201coutside\u201d, with gimmicky names and basic, almost caveman-like signature weapons. Instead of the Norse god Thor\u2019s hammer Mj\u00f6lnir, here there\u2019s a hammer called Hass Omaha, a scythe named LoveGuile and a mace labelled Vega. The inmates have the chance to move up the fighters\u2019 league and finally be free \u2013 if they kill enough of their fellow prisoners. A giant fighter called Barry Harris \u2013 fight name Rave Bear \u2013 \u201clooked like he\u2019d been pulled from a woodchipper\u201d by the end of a match. Other characters are called Hurricane Staxxx, Gunny Puddles, Ring Ya Bells \u2013 an overripe blend of gamer IDs, B-movie love interests, prison nicknames, wrestling monikers and pure grand guignol.
\nThe novel is a crushingly painful, loaded and on-the-nose commentary on racism, exploitation, inequality and the legacy and loud echoes of slavery in the US. The prison system, big business, the entertainment industry, local policing, tech surveillance and the military have all fused into one hellish mega-complex: the fighters are pushed around by \u201csoldier-police\u201d, their every move recorded and broadcast, both for security and to scintillate their reality TV audience; their magnetised restraints made from the latest tech, their fights sponsored by food and beverage brands and trumpeted as family entertainment. Indeed, as one character reflects: \u201cAll other sport was just a metaphor for this.\u201d Yet the result is that millions of viewers worldwide are \u201cconsuming poison, no matter how savoury the package\u201d. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US author\u2019s violent tale of death row inmates starring in gladiatorial contests for mass entertainment is an intriguing conceit, but its execution is heavy-handed Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah\u2019s Chain-Gang All-Stars comes to publication freighted with hype because of its stark envisioning of American death row prisoners forced to fight one another to the bloody end, …<\/p>\n

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah review \u2013 a big and bold dystopian satire that lacks nuance<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10663"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}