Assembly by Natasha Brown

​   There have been so many books about race and racism lately. And because it’s such a loaded, difficult subject to discuss, these books don’t always succeed. This one does, though, stunningly.
    It’s such a slender volume, such a quick read that it’s surprising how much of an emotional punch the author managed to throw with it.
   The narrative is done through a stream of consciousness of a black British woman, a descendant of East Indies people who came to England when England needed them to recover from WWII and were met with great unfairness and racism, despite every attempt at assimilation. But this book’s narrator got it made, did all the right things, followed all the right roads to success, has done so in face of every cutting comment, every ignorant prejudice. Now she has a career, money, a white boyfriend from a well to do family…a precisely assembled life that no longer seems worth living. After years and years of struggling against the current, she appears ready to give in. Which is the saddest, most poignant thing of it all.
    So yeah, not an easy read by any means, but a powerhouse of a one. And a fine example of thought and emotion stirring entry into the conversation about racism. Thanks Netgalley.