This book is short and packs a powerful punch
The story is told in vignettes. It is a very insightful read.

This felt poignant to me but at the same time I was distanced from it, if that make sense?
I feel like I learned a lot but I couldn’t necessarily engage with the protagonist, as much as I wanted to. I was especially bewildered by the medical plotline where I couldn’t understand the connection to the rest of the book. It’s very short and certainly worth reading but I feel like I won’t remember it in a week.

Captivating and thought-provoking. Inhaled this in half a day. Will definitely be recommending to family and friends. I loved the characterisation and the writing; sharp and knowing.

A short sharp novella on race and privilege, truly eye opening read.
Can not wait to read more Natasha Brown.

I liked this. It felt so important and very well written. I think some of it went over my head and would like it to have been longer. Impressed.

Assembly is a short, yet complex book. At roughly 100 pages, depending on which copy you read, it’s barely a novel at all. Not much really happens in the plot, but what does happen, the things that are discussed, are deep and important and complicated.

This isn’t the kind of book I would usually love. It’s not my normal 5-star read material. It’s not really a story. Instead, it’s a character’s musings upon her life, upon life as a black woman in Britain with all the complicated history that entails.

The central character is never named. She remains an elusive ‘I’ for the entire novel, and in doing so, she represents all black British women. By leading her central character as anonymous, Brown leaves her open to represent anyone who falls into that demographic. Leaving her without a name also deepens the ideas in the novel around the ‘token black person’ and diversity without any real intent behind it.

To add to this sense of her anonymity and powerlessness, she also never has any dialogue of her own. Other characters speak within the usual dialogue tags, but the main character doesn’t. She remains silent except for her inner monologue which only we, as the reader, can hear. This then emphasises the thematic lack of having a voice that Brown keeps coming back to in Assembly.

The main character’s job includes doing talks in schools and other institutions, being the ‘diverse face’ of her organisation. She muses a few times within the novel that she would like speak her ‘truth’ to the children she speaks to, rather than telling them what she knows her employer wants her to say. She states that she has no ‘platform,’ no ‘voice’ without the power of her employer behind her, and so she has no way of speaking truth. So she must continue as she is.

The two main broad themes the book discusses are race and class. The central character has found herself, having come from a working-class background, in a middle- to upper-class world. She struggles to fit in both because she comes from a different financial background, and because of the colour of her skin. Brown shows the boyfriend’s family as accepting the main character almost begrudgingly, and she describes herself as being almost a ‘footnote’ in her boyfriend’s life. Again, the token diverse face, but not the girlfriend who will become the wife.

As Assembly goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that this is a story about being tired of fighting, being tired of imitating, being tired of trying to be acceptable to white, upper-class society. This is where the anonymity of the central character is at its strongest as a literary device. Because this character really stands for all black British women, we feel a sense of collective exhaustion coming through the pages. They are tired of the long march through history, the fight they’ve had to fight in order to get to where they are now, and even now it isn’t over. The fight continues against the everyday racism, the casual remarks and insults that they have to endure day after day. Assembly stands as a testament to that tiredness.

I could talk about this book forever. The ideas around, racism, social mobility, the history of Britain in relation to black people, as well as the subtle critiques of contemporary work culture… Assembly says so much in such a short space. It also says it well. The writing is brilliant, and Brown keeps up the melancholy, thoughtful atmosphere for the entire novel. Assembly isn’t a book about character development, or a complex plot, it’s a book about ideas. And a moment in a character’s life where they are looking inward and considering just what their life means in the context of the world around them.

I loved Assembly, so I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes quiet, thoughtful fiction. I will most definitely be looking out for more by Natasha Brown.

The story started off well as told by a successful woman with black and British background/culture. It discusses sexism and racism as well as mental health and illness. There’s not much of a story here. It’s basically about this woman’s experiences and the struggle to fit in to the culture that she doesn’t feel quite appreciated in for various reasons. I think this would have been better with more of a story and less self-loathing.

A story of race and class. And everyone should read this and take a good look at themselves. Very, very good.

This short novel follows the meandering thoughts of an unnamed narrator of black Jamaican heritage. It's the kind of novel that speaks quietly, but powerfully, and that you have to listen to carefully, or else miss something important. Whether that's about this woman's background, or her thoughts, feelings and reactions to her experiences.

She is trapped in the banking industry, caught between potentially being a diversity hire and the weight of Oxbridge prestige. Past events - harassment and microagressions - are almost glossed over, as she forces herself to aspire for the next big step.

Her boyfriend was born not just into white privilege, but also into wealth and the comfort of a sense of 'belonging' and she fears that, even if he feelings are genuine, she is just a trophy of liberal intentions.

And with her health comes a choice. To rebel against the requirement to keep striving, and surviving in a country that demands she returns home to a place that she has never experienced.

This was the kind of novel that requires you to read it a second time, but more closely.

4.5 stars

Written as a stream of consciousness from the protagonist, we see her attending a party for her boyfriend’s parents’ anniversary. This book covers her thoughts on life, love, career, health and race and all of them enlightening to read about.

This book almost reads like poetry, especially as it is short in length and easy to read.

I think this is a book that you could read time and time again and take something new from it!

What a read, what a ride!! I read this book in one sitting, it's quick and packs a punch. Through the protagonist and the choices she faces in life, at work, in relationships, Natasha makes social commentary which is accurate and important. I am glad that this book was written and has been received so well, it's honest and brutal as it needs to be. The story telling style is quick, short sentences and moving quickly through events is very appropriate for this age of lower attention spans and short form story telling. Readers can fill in the blanks but the story is not incomplete or lacking and the characters are well developed. I would highly recommend this.

A brilliant book, I’m just sorry it took me so long to get to it. Despite being a lot shorter than the average novel, it feels the perfect length for her style and message. Perfectly expressed rage and sadness and tiredness.

A short, dark, stream-of-consciousness meditation on race and class and whether, in a white collar world that has increasingly co-opted the language of diversity as a marketing tool, it is possible to ever truly assimilate without being complicit in the very structures that made you have to work four times as hard for everything you achieved. Natasha Brown's prose is punchy, packed with little observations that will entertain and enrage - and the ending! I can't wait to see what Brown does next - particularly if she turns her hand to longer form.

A fascinating stream of consciousness documenting the inner thoughts of the narrator, their place in the world, and how the world is shaped around them and how it shapes those in it.

Found this book very difficult to get on with, I enjoyed the style and understand it had a lot to say but I found it unfulfilling as a novel. I wanted more of a story to get my teeth into.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to read this novel early. I was such a delight! I devoured the entire thing in one sitting! Definitely has 'Get Out' vibes and I highly recommend everyone gives this book a go! Thank you!

What a novella! I felt like the main characters from Luster and The Other Black Girl merged into one, with a pinch of Girl, Woman, Other.

Our unnamed main character seems to be on the breaking point, tired of the bullshit world we live in, and she has a point (or several points, actually). A short trip on what it means, and what it feels like, to be a black British woman. What more do people and society in general want from her? How many further micro-aggressions and not-so-subtle racist comments does she have to endure? Did she not do enough already, by succeeding against all obstacles, to Oxbridge, to a well-paid white-collar job and still, it doesn't seem to be enough. The diversity that companies like, but still it doesn't pay off.

I was blown away by this. I could never have imagined that so much was inside of this novella. It shook me, and I want to read it again already despite having finished it just last night. I cannot wait to see what else Natasha Brown is going to do in the future.

This was a very thought provoking read about the struggles of young people growing up in today’s world where everything is analysed and you are expected to act a certain way. It is also a statement of what it is like for a woman of colour. This novel covers many issues from race, class, freedom or the lack of and the winners and losers in the world.

It is about one coloured unnamed woman who has been living by the ‘rules’ for so long but now feels it is time to take control of her life and not let anyone get in her way or dictate who she should live. The social and political commentary lays bare every difficult topic from slavery, race, class, misogyny and british colonialism, she doesn’t leave anything out.

The first person narrative was perfect for this novella as it helps the reader to be placed in the main characters shoes and makes you consider your own place in society. Her unknown persona makes the novel that much more interesting as it symbolises how this could be anyone in the same position as her. Her lack of name makes her any person of colour and just one of the millions living like her.

This was only a short novella but the direct, no-holes-barred writing style brought the character’s life and actions to the forefront of the story.

Personally I didn’t like the ending as I feel like her decisions and the reasoning behind it were not a statement on freedom but a personal opinion and perhaps a weakness to some extent. But at the same time I can see what the character’s point was and how she was continuing to reject everyone’s expectations and make her own decisions to take full control of her life and gain that freedom that so many people seek. So from that perspective, it ended her story with the character in full control of her destiny, freedom being a core subject in this novella.

If you like thought provoking novellas commenting on life and discussing topics often thought taboo or rarely discussed then I recommend this novel.

This was a beautiful social commentary and I look forward to seeing what else Natasha has in store.

- a beautiful black history novella which opens your eyes to a variety of topics and makes you consider your own destiny and life and those around you.

The idea behind this book was a good one, but I found it quite a hard read, and I didn't warm to any of the characters. It was interesting though.

Assembly by Natasha Brown

Assembly is a striking debut novella from Natasha Brown.
The un-named narrator is a British black woman who has worked her way to a highly-paid career in banking. She has ‘assembled’ herself to not only fit into her professional world but to fulfil the quota of the ‘right kind of diversity’ in general society, and sadder still, with her friends and even her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend, who refers to himself as part of ‘the 1%’ comes from a wealthy family. Family money made from the compensation ‘earned’ from the abolition of Slavery.
He claims that ‘the best things in life are free’, but ‘free’ is different for the upper classes - to them, everything is free as they have the safety net of wealth to catch them if they fall.

The writing style is fragmented, and for this reason, I couldn’t give the book 5 stars, as for me, it was just a little too jarring.

The story veers between the narrators thoughts; her visits to a private clinic where she is discussing treatment (or her choice to forgo treatment) for cancer. And mainly about the visit to the wealthy boyfriend’s family estate for a family gathering.

Her experiences within a world which is already horribly odious, is made even more so by the endemic racism, nationalism and classism that she meets at every turn.
An uncomfortable read, but I still wanted it to go on.

* Thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for the ARC.