Chain Gang All Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah --------------------- 3.5 Stars

Chain-Gang All-Stars has received some wonderful accolades after its release last year. After hearing about a few of them, I thought I'd give this book a read. And, while it did feel repetitive and a bit arduous at times, the plot and focus was unique.

In a dystopian future in America, a private prison system exists, and criminals are pitted against one another in death matches as they seek their freedom. This book is focused on two exceptional woman gladiators who are excellent killers (and characters) who struggle greatly within the system they are forced to kill  The book follows them along with some secondary characters who both question the structure they exist in along with others who work to keep it in place.

I found the book fascinating when I started. Once I understood the set up the novel and how things were different in this fictional future, I was pretty interested. The set up and start of the novel really was excellent. The author did a great job also introducing the key characters and explaining the major players that would be important as the book went along. I also thought the last 10% of the novel was great too. While they set up the final battle, and you kind of knew what was coming, there was well written enough, with enough of a surprise, to make the ending really satisfying. 

Unfortunately, I found the middle third of the book a bit repetitive and slow. I almost felt like the author knew how the novel would start and how they wanted to end it and then had to figure out the middle mid-writing.  For me, it was simply too long with too many side stories and details provided that were really unnecessary. I felt the author couldn't decide if she wanted to round out and really introduce and provide great stories about these secondary characters or just wanted them to existed generally. Unfortunately, she split the difference and did neither well.  

What was perhaps most welcome, surprising and noteworthy about this book was how well the author leaned into describing and educating the reader about all the ills and problems of our modern prison sentence. Offered as one of the worst democratic countries in the world in this regard, the litany of footnotes shared real facts about the horrors that is our prison system for so many individuals. Besides clearly humanizing those behind bars, the author also does a great job of showing how similar they are too so many others. I was amazed by a number of the facts about individuals throughout American history who were unfairly treated and prosecuted (of course, most are people of Color). It left me doing more than a few deep dives to research more. 

While I didn't find every page of this book fulfilling, and it suffered from some slow chapters, I do recommend this book strongly. This book is different, entertaining, and has a perspective and viewpoint about something. While it's violent and may push people out of their comfort zone, more books are needed like this.

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy -------------------- 1.5

Well. I'm clearly a fool.  Here are words I wrote upon reviewing Cormac McCarthy's The Road on February 22, 2009., "...but after two books I think I am done with him."    Ugh, why didn't I remember that and listen to myself? Instead, here I am, 15 YEARS LATER, giving the same review I gave then.

To give myself some credit and grace, Blood Meridian, has been on my list for so long I probably forgot about my negative feelings about McCarthy. And, perhaps more importantly, in the last decade or so critics opine that Blood Meridian might one of the greatest American novels in the past fifty years. Even, one of my favorites, David Foster Wallace wrote that. So, there was/is a huge amount of people heaping praise upon this book. That, along with it's focus on the Old West made me think I had to give it a try... and what a colossal mistake.

As you can probably tell, I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. I gave it a shot, at the start, even when I wasn't digging it. I wanted to give up half way through but figured it might have a great final half. And I wanted to drop it with about 100 pages left but I had come so far. Unfortunately, it never really got better or changed or did something new.

So why? Why all the hate? Well, mostly because it's just a miserable read. It's not entertaining, its' not funny, it's not really interesting, and if that wasn't enough, it's super dark. Like, I can't believe how many times he uses the "n" word or describes, in great detail the scalping of a Native Americans. The violence is just over the top. And the sense of nothing is incessant.  

If curious, here's Amazon's summary "Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, Blood Meridian traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving."

I mean, that's about it.  For like, 400 pages. And, to make it even harder, he really doesn't use many structural tools. So no quotation marks for people speaking, very few commas, god forbid he uses a semi-colon. 

I could go on and on about how much I struggled with this book. And, to be fair, there were some parts that were interesting but I'd say 90% of it nothing of substance happens and you have to really wade your way through McCarthy's dense writing. Don't get me wrong, he's a genius with words and describing nature, but don't ask him to shape a character's motivation or offer
a great piece of dialogue.

As you can tell, I really can't recommend this novel. It was truly one of my least favorite books I've read, and I feel so bad about that. But, it's how it felt to me and perhaps you might have a different view of it.