In this stunner of a short debut novel - sparsely written in vignettes - the unnamed protagonist, a young black woman, finds success in all that she strives for. Making her way to the top of her London finance firm while on her way to a garden party at the home of her (white) boyfriend with his politically well connected parents and their old-money privilege, she reflects on a life recently and starkly contrasted by a cancer diagnosis.
Assembly is not only a poignant, thought-provoking account of what it means to be a black woman in Britain, it also draws an all important line to the strong legacy and heavy weight of British colonialism. No matter how well our protagonist does, how hard she works, how successful she is, it is never good enough.
'This is how I've been prepared. This is how we prepare ourselves, teach our children to approach this place of obstacle after obstacle. Work twice as hard. Be twice as good. And always, assimilate.'
As described in this slightly genre defying novel, it doesn’t matter how much success she achieves, be it in her personal life or at work, nothing escapes the assumptions people make on the basis of her skin colour.
'It's disorienting, prevents you from forming an identity. Living in a place you're forever told to leave, without knowing, without knowledge. Without history.'
Assembly is smart, painful, truthful and important. While it isn’t always possible to walk a mile in another person's shoes, here is an opportunity to understand and to hopefully become smarter about our own assumptions.
Happy Reading!
Expertly reviewed by Daniela Gram. Thanks Dani!
‘Ellie Pillai is a brown girl living in a town in eastern England. She’s trying her best to navigate being a teenager like every other 15 year old but Ellie can’t help but stand out no matter how much she wants to be invisible just because of her skin tone. And she just so happens to live in a predominantly white town that has its fair share of racists.
She’s also keeping one rather large secret from her parents about her GCSE. Ellie has chosen drama, something she really wants to do, while her parents think she is taking a computer programming class. While trying to navigate her secret she is also trying to navigate friends, crushes and loss.
I really enjoyed this book. The thing I loved the most is how it managed to stay light hearted while also dealing with some heavy subjects. The book talks about loss and grief, mental health, coming out and difficult relationships with family, all while containing great dry humor and sarcasm which made me audibly laugh while reading, which rarely happens for me.
I also couldn’t put this book down. I just kept reading and reading and by the time I actually put it down I had read nearly 100 pages at a time. It was heart warming and fun while still tugging at my heartstrings.
I also believe that it’s really important to read book written by people in minorities so we are able to widen the spectrum of story telling, especially in the young adult genre. Teenagers and young adults need to know that flying through high school without a single issue isn’t the norm, far from it actually, and that it’s ok not to be popular, or white, or straight.
I really loved this book and could easily read it again which is why I would give it 4/5 stars.’
RESERVE YOUR COPY OF ELLIE PILLAI IS BROWN
Another thought provoking review by Books & Co regular, Dani Gram. Thank you!
‘I want to start by mentioning a trigger warning. This book has graphic depictions of police brutality and detailed anxiety. It also has scenes which could trigger survivors of self harm.
Bitter goes to Eucalyptus, a school for the gifted whether it be in music, science or art like Bitter. Eucalyptus is the first place Bitter has ever felt safe after being tossed through the foster care system until Miss Virtue picked her up and brought her to Eucalyptus. She has found a home in Eucalyptus, something she clings to for dear life, scared of the outside world, which is riddled with discrimination and corruption. So much so that people who’ve had enough have started a revolutionary group called Assata, who demonstrate and fight for a better world with more equality.
Little does Bitter know that her world is about to change. She will be forced to decide whether she should stay inside Eucalyptus’ safe and secluded walls or if she should go out into the city and join the fight. And behind it all is a creature of Bitter’s own creation.
This book is an incredible job of showing what Gen Z go through in this world where discrimination’s voice has been allowed to grow. The book takes place in a fictional city but it’s so reminiscent of the big cities of our world. It also makes me think a lot about the Black Lives Matter protests in the last few years along with all the outrage over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida and what is happening to trans youth in Texas right now.
The book is really good but you have to be in the right headspace to read it. Even so it took me over a month to get through it. I kept having to put it down and really think about what I had just read. Even though I have plenty of praise for this book there was one thing I really didn’t like. That was the phonetic dialog. I believe it was there to show difference in class and upbringing but all it did was pull me out of the story since I had a hard time understanding it. Considering all this I have decided to give this book three out of five stars’.
Happy Reading everyone!
RESERVE YOUR COPY OF BITTER
‘Madeline Millers’ Galatea A Short Story is a modern take on Ovid’s tale of Pygmalion and how he created his wife from marble and then prayed to the god Venus to give her life. Miller does something completely new with the tale by showing it from Galatea’s perspective instead of Pygmalion and uses this unique narrative to give us a compelling, tragic and at times humorous story.
I already love Madeline Miller, Song of Achilles being my favorite book, so when I saw this beautiful little book pop up on Books & Company’s Instagram I knew I had to ask them to save me a copy. This short page turner took me about half an hour to read and I was already ready to re-read it as soon as I finished the last page.
The reason I loved this book so much is because of Miller’s writing style. She manages to give extensive detail without making the story too heavy. She also starts in medias res which makes me as a reader quickly invested in the story, which is a great tool to use when the story is so short. We get all we need to know about the characters from the way they interact with each other, no need for lengthy descriptions of their personalities. Miller also manages to bring humor to the story with Galatea’s matter-of-factness which can be found when she contemplates on how to describe her existence. Was she born, no that didn’t feel right. Woken, no. Hatched, no because she was not an egg.
The book also includes an afterword, something I actually rarely read. But since Madeline Miller’s books are based on stories from the ancient world I decided to read it and I’m very happy I did considering the fact that she calls Pygmalion a prototype for the term incel, which made me laugh out loud.
This book is 10/10, I would definitely recommend it. It’s beautifully written with detailed, flowery descriptions and witty quips. Also it’s short, like really short, so why not?’
Reviewed by Daniela Gram
Happy Reading everyone!