#my book photo

[wonkyreads]

[theunknownpen]

[starryvomit]

[meriahlatyar]

good luck, sixer

[vampbloodx]

What Is Goth?

-Aurelio Voltaire, 2004

[kmn7]

[belovedapollo]

bought this gem secondhand and can’t get over how stunning it is 🪐 reblog is okay, don’t repost/use

[redfirerai]

Bats in their natural habitat

[grapeperfume]

[n--m7]

[buckknived]

[wonkyreads]

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

5 “Suck my dick, America.”’s out of 5

I just finished Chain-Gang All-Stars and I don’t think I’ve ever had footnotes just punch me right in the gut like that.

The writing is utterly electric. In the beginning I felt the close third perspective wandering through characters was going to be its downfall because it’s so often done poorly and as a sign the author lacks control, but Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah pulls it off so beautifully. Every perspective has its own flow and rhythm in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever truly seen.

The message is necessary and so clear. It kind of just smacks you in the face over and over; every time I sunk back into the story of it all there was a new sick parallel to the current state of America. And how easy it is to see something this horrifying as not that far off. Some might find it a little heavy-handed, but I’d prefer to see it as just incredibly clear. At some point it feels wrong to read, like maybe you’re just another vulture finding entertainment in another’s hell. This book did an incredible job of making me physically ill.

And the ending. The ending. God, I could write pages and pages on that and still not work through the knot it immediately put me in. It’s perfect. I sat in shock for so long despite knowing, in some ways, what it would be. And it’s perfect.

I am not a reviewer to go to for trigger warnings because I miss some of the more obvious ones, so I’d suggest looking into those, but this is a book I think should be so widely read. Like, please. Please read this.

[theunknownpen]

[fragrantblossoms]

Chiro, My Love, Nobuyoshi Araki. Hardcover | Out of Print | 120 pages. Published by Heibonsha, Tokyo, 1995

[theshadeblindcolor]

They’re so cute I love them so much 🗣️🗣️

[beanbagbuddies4life]

Pounce at Powell's Books in Portland Oregon USA