Chain Gang All Stars Audiobook By Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah cover art

Chain Gang All Stars

A Novel

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Chain Gang All Stars

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Narrated by: Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio
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About this listen

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews

“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

“This book is so good. Brutal subject matter, beautiful writing. This one is from the heart.”—Stephen King

She felt their eyes, all those executioners…

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are com­peting for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thur­war and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE’s corporate own­ers will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alli­ance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).

©2023 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (P)2023 Random House Audio
African American Dystopian Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Suspenseful
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Critic reviews

*Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction*

*One of the New York Times' Top Ten Books of the Year*

*Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards*

*Longlisted for the New American Voices Awards*

*Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize*

*Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize*

*Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction*

*Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize*

Named A Best Book of the Year by:

New York Times Book Review, NPR, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Elle, Esquire, the New York Public Library, Goodreads, Book Riot, Polygon, Financial Times, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness, Readers Digest, Electric Literature, WBEZ's Nerdette, The Globe and Mail, The Messenger, Library Journal, and The Northforker

*May Selection for The Today Show’s Read With Jenna Book Club*

*Roxane Gay’s May Selection for the Audacious Book Club*

*A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice*

*New York Times Notable Book of the Year*

“This book will change you!...A masterpiece.”—Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show’s #ReadWithJenna

“An act of protest…in a voice that belongs only to Adjei-Brenyah, who bends the lurid into the lyrical—pretty words about hideous deeds. Some of his best fight sentences sound as if Joe Rogan had fallen into a trance and assumed the diction and rhythms of Toni Morrison. If you recoil at that unholy fusion, that’s kind of the point; and the author keeps pulling off this shock, page after page…There’s more than a little George Saunders in these high jinks…The novel is a thorough display of authorial control…As the plot careers forward, Adjei-Brenyah uses footnotes as tethers between fiction and reality, reminding us that his gladiatorial farce is just a little tragicomic leap from an extant American horror…The society in which [these characters] live defines them by their worst deeds, but the writer of this novel refuses to.”New York Times Book Review

“Like Orwell’s 1984 and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah’s book presents a dystopian vision so upsetting and illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we’re capable of doing…So raw and tragic and primal is Chain-Gang All-Stars that despite its futuristic elements, it has the patina of some timeworn epic…Shockingly intimate and moving.”—Washington Post

What listeners say about Chain Gang All Stars

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Stunning

This was a book unlike any I have read. I was completely lost and immersed in the world of the Chains, and I will be thinking about this for a long, long time.

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She’s a tear at the end.

A horrible system that encourages us to question how we use people in the prison system.

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I loved this book!

Great characters and excellent narration. The blend of facts and politics was well done. Loved it!

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Entertaining and thought provoking

Story sucked me in. Enjoyed the various narrators’ performances. The subject matter and perspective on it left an impression (social injustice, incarceration, violence as entertainment).

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Humanity

Terrific topic, character development with intricacies of hate and greed, no one’s humanity was ever forgotten

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Everything

I couldn’t wait to listen to this book everyday the connections in this story were amazing

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    4 out of 5 stars

It made me rethink my stance on prison and the death penalty. Not saying it changed me, but I had to revisit.

Overall I liked the story and found it hard to put down. I thought the bits of “facts” mentioned were interesting, but had to remind myself it was fiction. For example, it mentioned a law in 1996 (?) that prohibited people convicted of domestic violence from owning weapons and that it doesn’t apply to police or military. I don’t know about police, but I know that standard applies to military via the Lautenberg Amendment.

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BRAVO

Phenomenal. Thought provoking, dynamic and original. One of my favorite audiobooks of 2024. A truly outstanding novel.

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Eye opening

it was a little hard to get into with a different narrative style than I am used to . but once I picked up the rhythm it was great. Thought provoking.

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Profound Narrative

Chain Gang All-Stars” is one of the most powerful and unsettling narratives I’ve experienced, particularly in audio form. It masterfully unpacks the disturbing complexities of the U.S. carceral system, laying bare how our legal system has failed both criminals and victims of crime alike. The story paints a dystopian yet chillingly plausible future that feels less like fiction and more like a pointed warning—a deeply relevant and urgent cautionary tale for the trajectory of our country.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths lies in how it reveals the peculiar history of slavery’s legacy and its direct connection to the failures of today’s justice system. The author thoughtfully examines the 14th Amendment, exposing how its compromises—specifically its allowance for forced labor as punishment for crime—cemented 19th-century ideologies into our modern institutions. This historical context provides a haunting backdrop for the narrative, highlighting how deeply embedded these systems of oppression remain in our laws and practices.

The book also takes aim at the superficial responses to these systemic issues, such as the mainstream media’s reductive focus on slogans like “defund the police.” It underscores how such rhetoric often oversimplifies and distracts from addressing the profound failures of the carceral system. Through its vivid storytelling, the novel challenges readers to confront these realities with the seriousness they demand.

The vibrant, deeply human characters anchor the story’s larger themes, connecting to the profound nature of love, suffering, and resilience that defines the human condition. Their struggles and triumphs feel heartbreakingly real, brought to life through the audiobook’s exceptional narration. Every voice carries the weight of the story’s moral dilemmas, drawing the listener into the raw emotional core of the narrative.

Chain Gang All-Stars” is outstanding—brave, vital, and deeply relevant. It is a harrowing exploration of history, justice, and humanity, demanding reflection on the systemic injustices it exposes. This is not just storytelling; it is a wake-up call to address the urgent need for transformative change.

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