The novel blends “autofiction” with critical argument, referring to Claudia Rankine’s long poem “Citizen” and bell hooks’s essay “Postmodern Blackness”.
Ms Brown evokes, but does not merely imitate, the ironic language typical of millennial literary fiction: her sentences are sharp and rhythmic and she uses suffocating imagery to create a sense of dread. Even as she begins to privately disavow her bourgeois aspirations, her public mask of composure never slips-though the character’s dissociation is suggested by the physical fragmentation of the text on the page. Yet a party at his parents’ country estate only highlights the limits of her hard-earned social mobility. Where she confers liberal credentials on her white partner, who harbours political aspirations, he gives her establishment cachet. Then comes a promotion at the same time as an important medical diagnosis.Ī boyfriend is another asset, a chance to optimise “social capital” (the novel is steeped in the lexicon of finance). She feels no satisfaction, only dread, about her career. She feels pressure to make good on her “opportunity”, given the personal and economic sacrifices of her forebears, but she’s weary of the ascent up the ladder. She endures daily “micro-aggressions”-digs about quotas, her boss’s ego trips-but tells herself that she is fine. With a steely, unfaltering gaze, Natasha Brown dismantles the mythology of whiteness, lining up the debris in a neat row and walking away.As the enlightened face of banking, Ms Brown’s protagonist is often dispatched to school assembly halls where she delivers inspirational soundbites to recruit future intakes. And it is about one woman daring to take control of her own story, even at the cost of her life.
As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can't escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?Īssembly is a story about the stories we live within - those of race and class, safety and freedom, winners and losers. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend's family estate, set deep in the English countryside. The narrator of Assembly is a black British woman. Go to college, get an education, start a career. A blistering, fearless, and unforgettable literary debut from "a stunning new writer." (Bernardine Evaristo)Ĭome of age in the credit crunch.
"Slim in the hand, but its impact is massive."-Ali Smith "Mind-bending and utterly original."-Brandon Taylor "The electrifying fiction debut that has been called 'a modern Mrs. FINALIST FOR THE 2022 LA TIMES ART SEIDENBAUM AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION.
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