Assembly cover art

Assembly

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Assembly

By: Natasha Brown
Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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?

©2021 Natasha Brown (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature

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Critic reviews

"Natasha Brown's exquisite prose, daring structure and understated elegance are utterly captivating. She is a stunning new writer." (Bernardine Evaristo, author of the Booker Prize-winning Girl, Woman, Other)
All stars
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Black feminism that is rarely touched upon. This book is rare read, it’s beautiful crafted not a word is wasted in a narrative of life experience that is only truly understood by those who have lived it.

Beautifully written

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Astonishingly moving. It breaks my heart to read these struggles still present among such success.

Heartbreaking Read

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Very basic narrative. In the end I wish it had been longer with more structure because I think the author is so powerful in her writing

Beautifully read, powerfully written

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Beautifully written. Beautifully read. Feels like an important read. I am beyond moved. Thank you.

Beautiful and important

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Beautiful reading by Pippa Bennett-Warner of a brief moment in the life of a high-achieving black woman whose sensitivity to the everyday racism and misogyny around her are finely tuned anyway but heightened by a huge decision she’s making. I don’t want to spoil it so can’t say more, but it’s fantastic.

Short and oblique but so powerful

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An interesting take on the issues of women, race, class, and other important issues but I didn’t feel they were integrated into a good story and found some of the stereotypes very cliched.

Rather disappointing

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As a Black person born and bred in the UK, this short book is a sobering, eye-opening and accurate portrayal of the often unseen challenges. The book grapples with identity and the assumptions underlying living in the UK amongst an atmosphere of policy and norms which relegate black and brown people to being ‘other’.

Incredible view into Black British identity

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this is such an excellent, painfully beautiful book. I can see myself reading/listening to it many more times, and I will recommend it.

incredible

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People who have had experiences like Natasha’s will love this. And for those who haven’t, I expect the perspective given in this book will be eye opening. Beautifully written, wonderfully read, highly recommend.

100% worth reading

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I really wanted to know what it could be like to be a highly educated black person, a minority in a sea of whites in an atmosphere of 'diversity'. My reaction is one of recoil against the indirect sarcasm of a girl expecting not to be treated as different. She is after all different in so many ways that wallowing in her outrage against pretty much everything seems to me ridiculous. Caught in trap of moral indignation against not belonging, being an outsider, being the odd one out , when inevitably, she actually is. Her way of dealing with it is to become contemptuous of those around her naturally treading on eggshells trying to avoid the race, class, privilege barrier. I felt no sympathy and am left angry that the tone of this whole story, though brilliantly conceived, is plain mockery.

A bit of a shock

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