Fiction, General Fiction
Assembly

Assembly

Hardback Published on: 03/06/2021
£12.99
11 reviews
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
Not available
This product is currently unavailable
Make and edit your lists in your account
No stock available in any shop.
Not available
This product is currently unavailable
No stock available in any shop.
View other formats and editions

Bookseller Reviews

View all
Assembly
Thought-provoking, confronting and captivating
This is an intense, confronting and undeniably necessary exploration of racism, sexism, abuse and classism. In short staggered prose, Brown has managed to ... READ MORE
Tamara Paine
Assembly
Thunderous
Natasha Brown manages to state obviously and with crystal-clear conviction the vast, infuriating injustices which perpetuate and depend on Britain's coloni... READ MORE
Benny at Barnet
Assembly
One Hell of a Reflection x
This book may be small, but its punch and bite are incredible. Starting with the fact that it is well written and has a unique layout, this book leads you ... READ MORE
Brena Newnham
Assembly
Just survive it; march on into the inevitable. As our mothers, and our fathers, did. Our grandparents before them. Survive
Assembly was a sobering read and felt very personal to me. Growing up black with immigrant parents, much of the inner dialogue felt very familiar. Assimila... READ MORE
Karen I
Assembly
A wonder of a book
Natasha Brown captured my attention from the very first line. I found myself feeling very close to our main character whose inner monologue seemed to me li... READ MORE
Leana. B
configDetails.options.our_view_title_text

A young black British woman experiences a crisis of self after ascending to the upper echelons of an otherwise white, male dominated and insidiously hostile society. This is an assured, razor sharp and striking debut novel which, although brief, lingers in the mind long after it has been read.

Synopsis

Hatchards Signed Exclusive Edition. 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? Assembly is a story about the stories we live within - those of race and class, safety and freedom, winners and losers. And it is about one woman daring to take control of her own story, even at the cost of her life.

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
  • ISBN: 2001797002992

Customer Reviews

View all
Assembly
short read
This is a short book that tackles important issues such as sexism, racism and sexual harassment. The writing style wasn't my cup of tea at all, which made ... READ MORE
june.reads
Assembly
Essential Reading
A striking literary debut. Natasha Brown is undoubtedly a name we shall hear more from in the future. On this evidence, she is likely to be a role model fo... READ MORE
Richard Lewis
Assembly
Very powerful
Hats off to the Waterstones Islington assistant who recommended this to me, it’s amazing. I read it in one - and then started it again. Beautifully and cle... READ MORE
Anne Williams
Assembly
Experimental: how to live when you've given up hope
Having seen the author at an event, I decided I’d read her novel/novella. She’d described it as experimental which immediately made me think, ‘I might not ... READ MORE
Hikari
Assembly
Not for me
I couldn't get into this at all and didn't finish it - completely unlike me as I usually power through. Although I could feel the importance of the issues ... READ MORE
Suzanne
Assembly
Powerful
This is very short but quite powerful account of a young British black woman (unnamed) who is reviewing her life after a diagnosis of cancer for which she ... READ MORE
Annette Forrest