Having adored 'Assembly', I was very excited to read Brown's latest book, and I greatly enjoyed how she is able to hold up a mirror to the various corruptions and complications of modern political life and discourse. In this book, her ability to focus on the logical flaws and inconsistencies in various political arguments and movements, as well as characters who can exploit all ends of it, was riveting.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 out of 5

This was my first Natasha Brown novel and I’ll certainly be picking up Assembly in the future.

Universality is centred around journalist Hannah’s viral longread, exploring an attack with a mystery of a solid gold bar at the fore. After the success of her work, the novel then branches off to the various perspectives of those caught up in Hannah’s piece and the subjects of her research. The characters are revealed as rather complicated and often unlikable, yet it feels necessary for Universality’s story, where truth and personal opinion is under scrutiny. The novel offers a sharp yet humorous exploration of UK society, politics and the class divide, through the lens of the constantly-shifting British media. It’s short but packs a good punch and will leave you with a lot to think about.

Thank you again to @netgalley and @faber for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

This didn't quite stand up to 'Assembly' for me, but still a lot of enjoyable and interesting aspects. The journalistic style of the first act was great fun to read, but I felt that the sort of pulling apart of the various threads of the story and its characters afterwards didn't follow on quite as strongly, particularly as it wasn't quite clear to me why Hannah was involved at all, or why Lenny had approached her to write the article in the first place. The conclusion also felt a bit rushed. There was a lot of interesting social commentary though, both in what Brown's especially conservative characters say and how she writes them.

I enjoyed this novel, it was interesting and different. I liked the setting and main characters, and found the style and way the story was told.

This was a phenomenal book - a powerful and impactful read in a short amount of pages. It was a great look at class in British society and I thought that the multi-person viewpoint throughout the book worked really well and made it a wonderful way to examine the characters and their actions throughout the book. I did really enjoy Assembly, her first book, but this one was on another level - incredible!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

**Universality** is a smart and well-constructed novel with sharp commentary on language, media, and identity politics. Natasha Brown’s writing is impressive, and the way she layers different perspectives is clever. But I have to admit, some of it went over my head. I appreciated what it was doing, but at times I wasn’t sure if I was fully getting it. Still, it’s a thought-provoking read that sticks with you.

I'm left with decidedly conflicting feelings after reading Universality. I know how highly regarded Natasha Brown is, and how much love there was for her debut, Assembly. And without doubt, the abiding sense you get from her latest is that this is a very talented author. Her musings, via her characters, on the state of the nation and the growing imbalance of the classes is impassioned and painstakingly considered. But at times it felt as though I was reading non-fiction.

Various personalities and arcs are patched together which results in a cluttered reading experience. And owing to the shortness of the book, it was all over before I really had a chance to get properly invested in things. I am certainly keen to see what she does next, but considering my expectations were high going into this, it left me feeling quite flat.

This is an impressive follow up to the character study that was "Assembly".

In an interview, Natasha Brown referred to this as an “ensemble novel”. For a book that is just 176 pages long that sounds absurd, but in this case it isn't.

Her unique gift for language means she can distill more nuance in a broader range of characters than most novels achieve in four times the length.

A gripping read about the power of language, privilege, and "truth".

Thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd and NetGalley for the eARC.

I've heard so much about Natasha Brown and I can understand the hype after reading this unique book. The different forms and perspectives added a lot of detail and covered a lot of ground. A really sharp and thought provoking investigation into British media and wider society.

I loved Assembly and already had this book on preorder since last year. When there was a chance to read an eARC I had to request.

The start of the novella is an article written by a journalist, Hannah, about a gathering on a Yorkshire farm where a man was attacked my a gold bar.

We then follow the people linked to this story through Hannah as a journalist as their stories unfold.

Natasha Browns language plays with your perception of the situation, with twists along the way, as the people share their side of the story. With themes of class, power and politics, stereotypes are challenged and questions around do we really know people or do we only know what they show us.

I love how Natasha Browns can build such complex characters in a short narrative.

Thank you NetGalley & Faber for the eARC for an honest review

⚜️ REVIEW ⚜️

Universality by Natasha Brown
Release Date: 13th March 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

📝 - On a Yorkshire farm, a man is brutally bludgeoned with a solid gold bar. A plucky young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but her viral longread exposé raises more questions than it answers. Universality is a twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power. Through a voyeuristic lens, it focuses on words: what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean. The follow-up novel to Natasha Brown’s Assembly is a compellingly nasty celebration of the spectacular force of language. It dares you to look away.

💭 - I’m going to be completely honest here… I’m not sure I’m smart enough for this book and did actually read some reviews after finishing it to get a deeper sense of what I had read. It delves deep into politics, truth, power, and class, with an interesting style of each part being told from another point of view. It is definitely a thought-provoking read, warranting reflection on how the truth of a situation can still be subjective through everyone’s personal interpretations, and how everyone loves to see themselves as a victim no matter their privilege or status. Natasha Brown is an evidently talented writer, as the book moves between journalistic styles and different points of view, interweaving discussion of race and class throughout. I do know that @lit_laugh_luv has also raved about this one and I can fully understand why - it is a provocative and as he’s said, warrants discussion. And, if you read it and do end up slightly baffled, well, you can join the club!

#universality #natashabrown #bookreview #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyreview #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #2025release

Universality is a good book: I'll get that out of the way first. It's well written, it's articulate, it's intelligent; Brown is obviously a talented writer. It just wasn't for me. I went in not really knowing what to expect, and while I stuck with it to the end, I was glad when I hit the last page.

If you're not familiar with Brown's work, you might, like me, be fooled by the book's description:

"Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, a man is brutally bludgeoned with a solid gold bar.

A plucky young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but her viral longread exposé raises more questions than it answers."

I expected violence, investigation, thrills - the trappings of a crime novel. There's none of that. The "bludgeoning" itself feels largely glossed over, with Universality flicking between multiple characters, all supposedly related to this crime at the centre of the book, but there's little real direction. Brushing on politics and ideology, most of Universality is surface level. There's little story here and there's little room to walk away with a meaningful message, either.

There are glimmers of greatness. Lenny is a fantastic character, and I'd have loved to learn more about her, warts and all. I enjoyed Hannah's section, too; perhaps the most grounded of all segments of the book. But everything here feels too fleeting. The first chunk of Universality, about 50%, reads like a journalistic essay about the event on the Yorkshire farm, although details are glossed over in lieu of the people involved. The rest of the book is split into several short chapters, each from the perspective of a key player. But to say anything cohesive and meaningful comes from it would be a stretch.

I'm glad I read this: it's nice to step outside of my comfort zone once in a while. But this wasn't for me; I feel like I've read something I shouldn't have, and now I'll tiptoe back over to my own bookshelf where I can get lost in the pages of a thrilling narrative.

A tightly written novella filled with sharply drawn characters and biting satire. Although this book didn't grip me quite as much as Brown's debut, Assembly, it's a timely and thought-provoking read that deserves to be widely read.

The first third of this novel is a news article, the rest of the novel is an exploration of all the characters who were mentioned in the aforementioned article.

I honestly don't know where to begin describing this novel. It's part critique of modern day journalism and it's focus on click-bait, another part discussion on the UK class divide, gender and race politics. And to fit it all into a 170 something page novella is extremely impressive, and jam packed. There's so much to unpack, it would be a fantastic book club discussion.

I feel like this will be one of those Marmite books. Some will absolutely love this but as with the food, Marmite is not my mate, and Universality and I never quite found common ground enough to make friends. There was the initial rush of infatuation with its journalistic style but sadly as it goes with infatuations, it is almost always the very thing we are at first infatuated with that ends up finishing the relationship. The initial pull of someone being bludgeoned with a gold bar had me seeing stars in my eyes, but quickly started feeling like swipe right clickbait, as the chat no longer sounded unique and it was hard to tie this slippery plot down to anything concrete or real. Universality started to feel like a fickle mistress that lacked any emotional maturity. I am trying to remember that words are my weapons and I don't want to unleash a brutal attack so I would like to end things here "It's not you, it's me".

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for setting me up with an advance reader copy of Universality in exchange for my honest review.

On a smartly written novel that explores the complexity of our sociopolitical issues and the way stories are interpreted by the media. I never actually read ‘Assembly’, Natasha Brown’s first book, but I’m aware of all the buzz it generated at the time, so when I saw Elizabeth Day talking about her new novel, for how much Brown has been able to pack in such a slim volume, I was very intrigued. Thank you for this ARC copy!
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It starts with a story of how a man was attacked with a solid gold bar on a farm in Yorkshire, during an illegal lockdown rave. Hannah, a journalist, tries to investigate the incident further, and soon we get to read about the connections between the characters, including the wealthy banker and his partner who writes about ‘woke capitalism’. As you would expect, the book goes to explore topics such as politics, class, privilege and so on. It makes you think about different versions of truth and how truth is so easily manipulated. A truly clever book, for sure.⁣
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I haven’t fully made up my mind about this book - I do agree that it’s incredible to be able to pack so much substance in 176 pages. There are a lot of twists and there’s so much about it that makes you think of modern British politics and capitalism - that’s probably why some people found it more relatable than others. I’m never too big of a fan of political satire, so perhaps you would enjoy it more. Thought-provoking writing nonetheless.

A fantastic follow up to her first novel Assembley, Natasha Brown has done it again, in this engrossing novel of power and corruption.

Universality by Natasha Brown is a thrilling exploration of language, power, and the complexities of truth, set against a dark and unsettling backdrop. The book begins with a shocking and violent incident on a Yorkshire farm during an illegal rave, where a young man is nearly bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar. This mysterious attack sets the stage for an ambitious young journalist to dig deeper and uncover the truth behind the event.

As she connects the dots between a morally questionable banker landlord, a provocative columnist, and a radical anarchist movement taking root on the farm, she unravels a story that raises more questions than answers. Her viral exposé of the incident not only exposes a tangled web of deceit and power struggles but also leaves readers questioning the authenticity of the story. Who truly wrote the exposé? Why was it written, and how much of it is rooted in truth?

Through a voyeuristic lens, Universality examines how we speak, what we say, and, more importantly, what we mean. Natasha Brown’s sharp writing delves into issues such as sexism, classism, racism, and other societal '-isms,' offering readers a chance to reflect on their positions and identities. Written with simmering power, the book challenges its audience to engage with uncomfortable truths, compelling them to confront the stark realities that lie beneath the surface of language.

As a bold and incisive piece of literature, Universality showcases Brown’s unique voice and daring narrative style. It is a compelling read that captures the spectacular, appalling force of language while raising profound questions about the nature of truth and representation in the modern world.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Natasha Brown's second short novel, Universality, challenges the status-quo-double-standards of media, politics and economy.

Written in multiple parts, we are transported through different grey areas.
Starting with an article that follows an illegal lockdown gathering and a gold bar injury-theft.

Then we follow the journalist, Hannah and uncover the number of opposed forces associated her article. Next, we see the banker who owned the gold bar and finally Lenny Leonard, an older woman journalist who wants to push her career and public image.

The whole novel is a back and forth, it's murky and intentionally difficult to digest as it hops from discourse to discourse, confronting the reader over and over, never concluding in a singular, simple position.

It'll warm to your perspective and then flip it, exploring sensationalism, capitalism, sexism, racism, class, privilege and all things sociopolitical. It presents both your own views and the opposite in the same breath and it's only possible to know where it or a character stands for a second at a time.

Brown is a viciously intelligent writer who leaves you turned upside down and inside out in the best way.

I found Universality a demanding read, it's enraging and powerful, walking the line between satire and complete sincerity, culminating in an impressive and exhausting examination of modern Britain.

A complicated novella that is divided into two parts. The first is a journalist article written by Hannah that investigates the bludgeoning of a man with a gold bar. The journalistic form, interviewing relevant parties, allows the author to bring into focus the current social climate; DEI, classism and capitalism, without having to offer an explanation or personal standpoint.
The second part is where the original article focuses on the journalist. The article is being adapted to TV and changes that are made; white people are now cast as black, the journalist now has a lesbian love interest with one of the interviewees etc. Hannah’s career trajectory is described linked to classism - her high-climbing aspirational friends all fall away as she finds herself trying to make ends meet before the film deal. The last few chapters shift to another character, who has written a populist anti-woke book and her rise in fame. The overall effect is to show the dynamics in play in today’s society and the playbook by which the “far right” influence without necessarily believing what they say.
Overall, on first reading, the novella is subtle with its tone and not overtly political in its stance. It may require a second reading and reflection to pick up on the messages but don’t expect excoriating discourse on the state of the world. More Amis than Coe.