Assembly

112 pages

English language

Published Jan. 16, 2021 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-241-51570-9
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5 stars (1 review)

Come of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Step out into a world of Go Home vans. Go to Oxbridge, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy a flat. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.

The narrator of Assembly is a Black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend's family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can't escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?

Assembly is a story about the stories we live within - those of race and class, safety and freedom, winners and losers. And it is about one woman …

7 editions

Beautiful prose about the horror of colonialism

5 stars

Content warning vague spoilers, particularly in TW at the end of the review

Subjects

  • English literature