Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced reader copy.

I hadn't read Natasha Brown's debut book, so I was curious to see what this one would be like, especially given the premise--a man assaults another man by beating him with a gold brick, and then a journalist unearths many of the cracks in society when she writes about the incident. To some extent, this felt like a book jacket that didn't really encapsulate what the book was about. The idea of someone committing such a violent offense with something that stands for wealth and class (especially in that the gold is a literal brick) was interesting, but the execution was much more subdued and slower than what I was looking for. I think if someone is looking for a more messy, circumspect novel about ideas, then this will probably be a good literary fit.

Universality will be out March 4, 2025

Where to begin?

Universality is a deliciously brutal little book. It's centered around both an event and an object. The object in question is a gold bar, and the event is a person using the bar to harm someone else.

When the book opens, we follow a journalistic account of an illegal rave, during which someone was bludgeoned with a gold bar. The scope widens, panning out until we can see it in its entirety. Everyone involved, and how their actions and beliefs affect everyone around them, until the first smash of the bar into the skull.

And then the story shifts. And shifts. And keeps shifting.

It's addictive and effective- I found myself pulled in a million directions. Ultimately, it's an examination of classism, racism, sexism (to name a few) and how these topics affect us all.

I loved it.

What a smart, darkly humorous and timely novel.! My first read from Natasha Brown but I will be going back to check out her debut. This almost reads like a short book of stories, though they are each connected through one or two characters. Very sharp quick read.

I haven't read Brown's debut, but I'm interested to go back and do so now after the opportunity to read Universality. Brown accomplishes quite a bit in such a short novel. This was structurally interesting as it opens with a long-form article investigating a strange incident where an individual is found bludgeoned nearly to death with a gold bar during an illegal rave. The article is seemingly an exploration of class, but then the novel transitions to following several of the individuals involved in the article and what follows is the novel's real exploration of the power of words and language. This novel investigates the power of how we tell stories - how we tell them to others and how we tell them to ourselves. I found the author's use of very flawed characters manipulating language and story-telling to be a compelling way to explore the subject.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

For me, this book solidified Natasha Brown's place on my list of powerhouse authors. Universality is split into four parts- first, we have an extended article following an illegal rave in which one person is struck by a large gold bar. Secondly, we meet Hannah, the Author of the aforementioned article as she hosts a dinner party following her article being optioned to adapt to film (heavily fictionalized of course, and you'll see why). In part 3 we meet Richard, the owner of the large gold bar and amoral banker as he recounts how (unfairly- according to him) his life has been destroyed by the publishing of Hannah's article. (though he gets little sympathy from me as I am a true believer that if you don't want people to find out about your bad behavior, don't behave badly). Finally, we meet Lenny, Lenny is Richard's parter and her section of the story takes place during an interview where she is questioned about her stance on politics and her book about "woke capitalism" (which I would LOVE to read if it were a real book). This novel starts with a bang and ends with a louder, more devastating bang. While there is no clear "hero" in Universality, I do think that the readers of this delicious novel will find themselves sympathizing with the character they most relate to. For me, personally, Hannah and Lenny's parts resonated with me so strongly. My hats off to you, Natasha. This was an obvious five star read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. This novel opens in the form of a journal article, describing an incident during an illegal-pandemic era rave in which an individual beats another man with a solid gold bar. The article continues on to describe the circumstances leading up to this rave, introducing a whole host of characters involved; the novel continues on in sections from there, with focus on the aforementioned characters, and exploration of many themes including race, class, etc.

This book was an interesting one and outside of the initial journal article, much of the book is centered on conversations or expositions about topics like wealth, class, racism, etc. in capitalist societies. There were many questions raised in this book and many thought provoking issues raised. I appreciated the structure of this book in that it utilized the first part of the story and the novel’s primary event to center the book, with the remaining sections providing different backgrounds and perspectives from the characters involved. I did struggle sometimes to “get” the point of these different sections and was unsure if the author was leaving questions open-ended or encouraging the reader toward a specific answer, which is likely on me as a reader.

I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy books with lots of social and political commentary, along with those who enjoy less plot heavy and more contemplative fiction.

With her second book Natasha Brown has become one of my “if she writes it, I will read it” authors. She’s an incredible writer especially when you consider how much gets done in so few pages.

Her sophomore novel Universality tackles a number of themes such as classism, right wing politics, left wing politics, cancel culture, success, failure, Occupy Wall Street, the media and the role it plays in the greater world, the power of the written language, the power of the spoken language…the list goes on. And yet the book is only 176 pages! She seamlessly intertwines these themes with story and characters without being preachy. Even if her characters are preaching to an audience, the book itself, to me at least, did not preach to its readers.

My one issue with the book is that I didn’t form strong emotional connections to the characters. Many of them are purposefully unlikable (or at least that’s how I read them), so it may just be the nature of the novel’s content that made me have a hard time with its characters. Not anything about the author’s writing abilities.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

There is certainly a lot going on in Universality, and at times I got a bit lost. The book touches on timely themes, and is darkly humorous. I am interested in reading more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of Universality by Natasha Brown. This book was not for me. I wasn’t able to get interested in the story or even care about the characters and I wish I had been able to because every so often something in the story would start to interest me. If you’re looking for a short read with lots of social commentary woven in you might love it. 3 stars

It’s quick and stimulating. It’s capitalism, consumerism, climate change, politics, equal rights -- and is there anything else?

The story started when Jake grabbed a solid gold bar worth a half million just sitting on the mantel. He used it to strike an activist down. He had enough of Pegasus who formed a self-sustaining farm community: the Universalists. This leader was striving to create change with equal rights for everyone except he was in control.

The characters made it seem like a TV series with the billionaire, Richard Spencer, the journalist, Lenny Leonard, the interviewer, Marin Bass, and the runaway with the gold. I could see similarities with politics and greed.

The story touched on real-life news stories related to class divisions and racism with the power of words. This short book had a lot to say. It was set up to send readers into a storm of thoughts.

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of March 4, 2025.

I had read Brown’s debut, Assembly, and enjoyed it, so I was excited going into Universality. It’s definitely a whirlwind of a book. The first part of the story opens with an article detailing a crime that took place at a seemingly abandoned farm that had been taken over by a hippie commune. One of the members had been bludgeoned, nearly to death, by a gold bar. From there, Brown introduces the readers to some of the worst people one could know, and I say that positively. The characters are all very real. While at times the story seems outrageous and overly complex, it’s grounded in the reality of its characters. I will say that I enjoyed the first part of the story more than the rest, and I’m still not too sure how I feel about the ending. I do think some of this went over my head, which is not at the fault of the book, and definitely my problem. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this book overall, and it was a nice quick read for the end of the year. 3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for this Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for my honest review!

Similar to Brown's debut novel Assembly, Universality explores morality, politics, race, class, and the meaning of success.

The story opens with a hilarious depiction of a small anarchist collective during quarantine, with our journalist learning about this group and its characters after an evicted member bludgeons another with a gold bar. They had been squatting on a billionaire's abandoned farm property, courtesy of the now-evicted guy's mother sleeping with said billionaire and asking if her son could stay somewhere. This mother is a controversial figure herself, having created a name for herself with a book titled "Woke No Mo", a screed against identity politics in defense of working class whites.

Each section of this book presents a different piece of a story - the journalist's take on the gold bar incident, the journalist latter ruminating on this experience while with her friends, the billionaire banker's own experiences of upward class mobility and strained relationship with his wife, the mother's attempts to publish a second book and her remarks at a book festival. In this aspect, the book reminded me of Hernan Diaz's Trust, which also used various perspectives on a single experience in order to tell a story in its plurality.

What always impresses me about Natasha Brown is how her books are so short, yet pack so much punch. 4.5 stars, rounded up.

I really enjoyed the first part of the story quite a bit. The storytelling of the gold bar and all the characters associated with it kept me flying through the book. The ending and last bit of the story seemed to drag a little bit. I was still engaged with the story but didn't find the characters and storytelling voice as interesting as in the previous part of the story. The book is heavy with social commentary and unlikeable characters which I usually enjoy reading from. I think this book would have benefitted from a longer story and fleshing out the characters and their relationships just a little bit more. I would definitely read more from Natasha Brown in the future because the conversations that the author engages with in the book were very interesting.

I need to read Assembly but I have only heard great things about Natasha and this cover was too attention grabbing for me to pass. I did really enjoy this! its very readable and the initial plot set up was so interesting and made me laugh. Touches on socio-economic, class, being a writer in the contemporary digital space and more. Multiple flips in POV which I did enjoy but I think the women at the end was my least favorite and I know she was created to be that way but the ending didn't land as strong as I wanted it to.

Lots of depth in this novella. Brown packs a lot of social commentary in Universality, and I admit some of it went over my head. I was really hooked in the first segment, which takes the form of an investigate journalism article, but I feel like the remaining sections lost some momentum. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

This one started so strong for me and I was so interested in where it would go. I can see what Brown was doing here and I think she managed to make her points. But something about the execution after the first part just didn't work for me.

A short and somewhat peculiar novel about the increasingly uncrossable chasm of rhetoric and political divide, Universality splits its time between an article about the heist of a gold bar from a hippie squatters' commune and the people who revolve around it. The cast of characters include: Hannah, the author of the article, a millennial freelancer desperate to make a living; Lenny, an tired and aging culture writer trying to make herself relevant by channeling right-wing rage; her son Jake, the drifter who steals the gold bar; Richard Spencer, the gold bar's owner, who is a typical middle-class white straight dude who can't figure out why everybody (deservedly) dislikes him; and Pegasus, the leader of the commune, an Occupy-inspired radical freegan dumpster diver who takes over Spencer's farm in the name of the people.

Natasha Brown gets inside each character's head to speak their voice and is largely successful - more so, interestingly and painfully, in the right-wing characters' heads than the left-wing ones. The hippies look to be caricatures, while the cynics like Lenny seem more sympathetic as they spout the racism that will lead to clickbait and Today Show interviews. I don't know whether that speaks to Brown's ability to inhabit their worldview, or that the author agrees. That's probably not the point. What the book does highlight is how we are all increasingly living in incommensurable thought-worlds, and how that is driven by the agenda of billionaires and their media conglomerates. Pegasus may be misguided, Hannah may be poor, Jake may be a loser. But I'd rather squat with them than with Lenny's "Britain for white people" or Spencer's womanizing and profligacy any second of any day.

Natasha Brown’s Universality, due in 2025, is poised to surpass even the brilliance of her debut, Assembly. While more stylistically conventional, this novel boldly interrogates the stories we tell—about others, ourselves, and the systems we inhabit. It’s a work of layered ambition, wielding narrative multiplicity to challenge both the literary and political status quo.

The novel opens with “A Fool’s Gold,” a sharply crafted, New Journalism-style essay exploring an illegal rave gone awry when a gold bar—worth nearly £800,000—renders someone unconscious. This incident spirals outward, connecting a journalist, a banker, and an anarchist collective in a collision of privilege, identity, and power. Each narrative thread complicates the central question: whose story is it to tell, and at what cost?

Hannah, the journalist, gains acclaim and opportunity, but at the expense of the truth’s integrity. Richard, the banker, wrestles with the fallout of public villainy, his professional life reframed into an archetype of late-capitalist greed. And Lenny, the iconoclastic columnist, weaponizes outrage to shape-shift into a crusader against “woke capitalism,” her interview a chilling masterclass in manipulating narratives.

Where Assembly offered a singular, razor-sharp perspective, Universality revels in its kaleidoscopic approach, daring readers to confront their biases. Brown’s brilliance lies in her refusal to moralize; instead, she places us within the contradictions of modern life, where victimhood and privilege coexist in uneasy tension.

A provocative, genre-defying achievement that cements Brown’s place among contemporary fiction’s brightest minds. A must-read.

Universality contains themes and thoughts on classism, elitism, racism, and sexism from characters varying in age and gender. The novel is short, character-driven, and structured in multiple parts. Admittedly, I enjoyed the first section, A Fool's Gold, more than the others and quickly lost interest in the characters and plot/mystery in the later sections. The author provides robust backgrounds and spins curious interrelationships among the cast; but it just didn't pique my interest enough to keep me focused. Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. A fascinating novel that starts with a reporter investigating a farmhouse that’s been taken over with a small radical group that get busted during a rave, at the heart of the pandemic. The rest of the novel pulls back the layers to show that the young reporter may have been manipulated to write the story by a woman who is looking to boost her own profile in the crowded media world.