Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Enter a world where, watched by millions, prisoners fight like gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid's Tale, Squid Game and Watchmen 'Electrifying' GEORGE SAUNDERS 'Awe-inspiring' JESSAMINE CHAN 'A revelation!' TOMMY ORANGE Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the popular and highly controversial programme inside America's prison system. In packed arenas, watched by millions of live-stream viewers, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom. Fan favourites Loretta Thurwar and Hamara 'Hurricane Staxxx' Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is nearing the end of her time on the circuit, free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares for her final encounters, as protestors gather at the gates, and as the programme's corporate owners stack the odds against her - will the price be simply too high? '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 **A MOST ANTICIPATED TITLE OF 2023 from The Independent, Elle, The Millions, Salon, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Oprah Daily, The Week, Book Riot, Lit-Reactor, Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus AND MANY MORE**

‘An awe-inspiring novel that will be read for generations’ JESSAMINE CHAN

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Lindsay

I thought of how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it’s this.

He was killed by a lot of things. He was offered a hole instead of help. So this was the last of many deaths for him.

Prisons haven’t deterred the harm they’re meant to deter. They’re a failed experiment.

“I mean that all those issues that you’re talking about are symptoms of our current system. Rampant poverty, a lack of resources for people suffering from addiction and mental health issues— those are difficult problems, but ones that can be addressed. But they aren’t. Because criminalization dehumanizes individuals and implicates them rather than a society that abandons them in times of need.”

“We aren’t asking for an erasure. We aren’t trying to forget the pain of victims. For us, abolition is a positive process. It means creating new infrastructure, new ways of thinking about reducing harm. That’s what we’re saying. I’m not saying there isn’t something to be afraid of. We’re saying the thing we fear is already here, so it’s wrong not to try to do better. And I can’t say that any one of us has the perfect answer of what to do, but we might be able to figure something out if we consider it together.”

and the people wondered if this feeling was salvation.

The thing he did not like was happening: He was seeing what he was.

Sabrina D. 

It was all death, slow or fast. Painful or sudden. Nothing more. The culture of Chain-Gang was death. 

kylie harrison

A starving man knows the price of food best. A glutton spills his portion to the floor. 

Billie Fogarty

Does disappearing one person from the earth clean it some? I seen men I knew were a danger to the world and they too deserve better than this. A shame for me to hope for better, but I know it's better that can be done. Ain't no magic potions for these bleeding human hearts. Ain't no building full of hurt gonna save the masses.

Chain-Gang All-Stars quotes

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