Lidia + Lachie

Assembly / Natasha Brown

“Generations of sacrifice; hard work and harder living. So much suffered, so much forfeited, so much–for this opportunity. For my life. And I’ve tried, tried living up to it. But after years of struggling, fighting against the current, I’m ready to slow my arms. Stop kicking. Breathe the water in. I’m exhausted. Perhaps it’s time to end this story.”

A short book with a lot to say, Assembly was a solid dissection and evisceration of capitalism, misogyny, racism, class and the fundamentally fucked up society we live in.

Presented through the perspective of an unnamed narrator, a young, upwardly mobile Black British woman deeply entrenched in corporate life and an unsatisfying relationship with a generationally wealthy white man, Assembly is disjointed, fragmented and often confusing, but – oh my, so compelling. One of those books where you know with each reread (as it’s totally worthy of one) more and more will fall into place.

Unnerving, uncomfortable, and quite remarkable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

#assembly