Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2019
Racism,but "managed" through virtual reality
Black Friday,except you die in a bargain-crazed throng
Happiness,but pharmacological
Love,despite everything.
Friday Black tackles urgent instances of racism and cultural unrest,and explores the many ways we fight for humanity in an unforgiving world. In the first,unforgettable story of this collection,The Finkelstein Five,Adjei-Brenyah gives us an unstinting reckoning of the brutal prejudice of the US justice system. In Zimmer Land we see a far-too-easy-to-believe imagining of racism as sport. And Friday Black and How to Sell a Jacket as Told by Ice King show the horrors of consumerism and the toll it takes on us all.
Fresh,exciting,vital and contemporary,Friday Black will appeal to people who love Colson Whitehead's TheUnderground Railroad,the TV show Black Mirror,the work of Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders,and anyone looking for stories that speak to the world we live in now.
Publisher: Quercus PublishingISBN: 9781787476004Number of pages: 208Weight: 190 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 17 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'An unbelievable debut,one that announces a new and necessary American voice...In Friday Black,the dystopian future Adjei-Brenyah depicts - like all great dystopian fiction - is bleakly futuristic only on its surface. At its center,each story - sharp as a knife - points to right now.'- TheNew York Times
'This pitch-dark,brutal,occasionally - mercifully! - funny collection of stories takes on the insidious nature of racism and the horrors of capitalism in equal measure and somehow ends up hopeful on the other side.'- Vogue
'Adjei-Brenyah skewers the ways we brush past racism and injustice,making the absurdity of the rhetoric around both impossible to ignore.'- Buzzfeed
'Like Kurt Vonnegut,the debut author introduces readers to worlds adjacent to our reality. They're familiar enough for us to recognize ourselves within them - until Adjei-Brenyah takes the tough-to-stomach parts of humanity to extremes,like Black Friday shoppers turning into violent,materialistic murderers. The stories wrestle with racism,mob mentality,police violence,and unrestrained consumerism. They're quick to read,and incredibly hard to forget.'- Elle
'Imagine a cross between Get Out and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man,and you'll have a sense of what awaits readers of this audacious debut: darkly absurdist tales that take the horrors of racism to surreal new levels.'- O,the Oprah Magazine
'An absolutely unmissable debut.'- Stylist
'A surreal,startling debut collection... where everyday storylines are pushed,as in episodes of Black Mirror,to darkly funny extremes... Composed with brio and rare imaginative power,Friday Black recaptures the strange fear and excitement we first feel as child readers,when we begin to learn that Grimms'fairytales are approximations of the real world.'- The Guardian
'An excitement and a wonder.'-George Saunders
'The writing in this outstanding collection will make you hurt and demand your hope.'- Roxane Gay
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the bestselling American author of short fiction collection Friday Black and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2023-shortlisted Chain-Gang All-Stars.
Visit the Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah author page
Kommentar