Great speculative short stories centered around race, The writing is sharp and powerful, and pushes for reflection and a reckoning with racism and capitalism

I'm not normally a big reader of short stories, but I'm so glad I picked this up. I couldn't put this down, it's very hard to believe that these are debut stories. Don't wait on reading this one!

I so enjoyed this little book of short stories. Two that stood out to me were The Finklestein Five and the title story, Friday Black. Having worked in retail, Friday Black resonated with me. Although the retail locations I've worked at the customers weren't as rabid as the Friday Black customers, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have been far off. Definitely would read something else from this author.

Loved this story, and the writing was superb. I can’t wait to read what this author puts out next. Would certainly gift this book to a friend.

This is an amazing debut collection of science fiction stories. It is a series of Black Mirror type stories where racism continues in the future in horrifying circumstances.

When a man kills a black child out of "self-defense" due to how he was dressed, a vigilante group of young black men dress in their best outfits and take their revenge on society. In a metaphor for school bullying, a young child increasingly needs a drug called Good so that he can get through the school day. When his dependence becomes too heavy, horrible things result, but hope in knowing who you are and what you can do.

Mind-bending science fiction and I look forward to future works.

A collection of raw short stories that will have you yelling with fists raised, trying to figure out how to change the world.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC.

(Originally read Jan 13-18 2019, review on Goodreads and Instagram)

“People say “sell your soul” like it’s easy. But your soul is yours and it’s not for sale. Even if you try, it’ll still be there, waiting for you to remember it.”

First volume of short stories for the year and I’m off to a roaring start! What an electrifying collection of stories. I enjoyed some more than others, as is usually the case with story collections, but each one of these were told with verve and ferocity. Reading the stories felt like you were dangled over the edge, being careful not to fall on the knife that’s a hairs breadth away from your back. Or like you were living in endless Black Mirror episodes. Dealing with a myriad of topics lived by today’s America such as racism, gun violence, consumerism etc, these stories were uncomfortable, original, full of truth and rage. A unique, compelling voice that demands you to pay attention. How else would we force change? Listen to Roxane Gay and ‘READ THIS BOOK’! 📖

Short story collections can be tricky but this one is evenly good. Adjei-Brenyah sets his sights on relationships in ways that don't let the ugliness of reality get in the way of his critiques of consumerism and capitalism. An acute self-awareness of black identity also pervades each story in a different way which makes it a very faceted collection.

An extremely vivid, dark and satirical collection of stories. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

Friday Black is a collection of jarring and thought-provoking speculative short fiction. Several short stories left me with a sense of unease overshadowed by a feeling of, "Oh, /wow/." I really, really enjoyed these.

I didn't know much going in but WOW. This book was intense and amazing. Not for the faint of heart but a very powerful commentary on our society.

I realize I'm in the vast minority as I'm writing this review, however, FRIDAY BLACK was not for me. I was able to grasp the concept and mostly agreed with them or was a very thought-provoking concept. It was the abrupt endings that caught me blindside or needing to feel closure. I ended most stories with a feeling of "what did I just read?" Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah has some things to say, but his delivery needs some honing.

One story was "The Finkelstein Five" where a white man is being prosecuted for the massacre of five African American adolescence that he claims self-defense. The portrayal was highly accurate and something a lot of us really need to wake up and pay attention to. While the white man's defense was dramatized to a degree, this conveyed the posterity of the situation. I struggled to get through this because of the absurdity. I have to give the author kudos though. I wanted to share this story with a diverse group of friends and get their opinion on it. The fact that I wanted to talk about it, proved to me that while I didn't seem to like the style very much, the author did a phenomenal job of getting his point across.

As a big fan of short stories, I was intrigued by the reviews of this debut collection by Adjei-Brenyah, so picked up a copy at my local bookstore in Mountain View ahead of a flight. I have to say it's a mixed bag, but when he's good he's AMAZING. I think my main issue was that the first story "The Finkelstein Five" was in my opinion by far the strongest one in here, and left me with all kinds of thoughts in my head.
I struggled to connect with the author who has sold his soul to a many-headed god, but then got drawn right back in again by the consumerism-gone-mad tales of work in retail (“Friday Black” and “How to Sell a Jacket as Told by Ice King”).
All in all, this is worth buying just for the first story, which is a truly outstanding piece of writing. Recommended.

This book, a kind of speculative fiction about a decaying America, in terms of race, yes, but also families, consumerism, war, etc. was fun. I’m going to date myself as a one hundred and twenty year old here, but when I was a kid, I used to listen to very old reruns of 1950’s radio shows late at night with all of the insomniac seniors and X Minus One was a sci-fi one that had the same tone and pace as these stories for me, which made me almost nostalgic. I think some of the storylines were truly inventive, and I thought one or two stories could have been developed into standalone pulpy sci-fi novels of the old school variety, and I would be there for that. There were things I took issue with in the book too. Some of the stories were less well thought out then others and I feel should have been cut from the collection entirely. I found some of the stories to be provocative without being thought provoking, or sensationalist but not sensational (I’m thinking of the abortion story in particular). Sometimes I found the moralizing in the stories (the title story and the second one about the same topic especially) to be a bit heavy handed. I think the writing itself would either carry or hinder the story for you, depending on whether or not you were there for the bizarre campiness of the book itself. In the end, I was on board with it. My favourite stories were definitely the ones that were most developed and involved vastly changed and dystopic futures. I think if you’re going to go in this direction, you might as well transport the reader completely. I know that others disliked those stories the most for the same reasons. I think this was a polarizing book. Thanks Net Galley for the ARC, opinions are my own.

Last year was the year I got back into short stories. I actually read quite a few collections, most of which were excellent and therefore highly recommendable. For a while, I was reading like a mad person, cranking out reviews, and in my spare time, I went to work. Then something weird happened: work took over more and more of that precious time formerly dedicated to books! The truth is, I had “Friday Black” finished months ago, and here we are, only getting around to talking about it!

Let’s start with the summary: these twelve stories are compelling, thought-provoking, told from fresh, unique viewpoints that will send hooks into your brain and hang on long after you’ve closed the last page. Some stories are exaggerated accounts of events many of us have witnessed, like the absolute craziness during big sales., like in the title story or ‘In Retail.’ Others are social observations with a sci-fi twist, like ‘The Era’, ‘Zimmer Land’, or the closing story, ‘Through the Flash.’ These narratives get up close and personal with some uncomfortable situations and characters, which translates into requiring the reader to take time for proper digestion. This is an amazing collection, but you will not breeze through it in an afternoon, nor should you.

To learn more about the author and what inspired “Friday Black”, take some time to listen to this review podcast by the New York Times.

“Friday Black” is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I was lucky to snag an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions, as always, are entirely my own.

This book is intriguing and memorable. Every story sucked me into its world. Some scenes were disturbing, some heartbreaking. These stories matter. I'm eager to read more by this incredibly talented and fearless author.

This was a very hit and miss collection for me. The stories that worked REALLY worked; the ones that didn't were "meh" at worst and "good but not great" at best. As a whole, this is a really solid, competent collection of stories, but I do wish there was more cohesiveness of theme; Adijei-Brenyah is obviously a very versatile writer but the thread between the stories wasn't strong enough for my liking. Just personal opinion and I did like this one, but I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would have.

Fierce imagery, colourful description, and uneasy satire basically sum up this debut collection, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

This collection had me opening my mouth in shock and clinging to the hope that the beauty of humanity would somehow shine through.

I didn’t know what to expect when I delved into Friday Black, but it’s safe to say that the world Adjei-Brenyah created was nothing I could have imagined on my own, touching me in ways that were fascinating and disturbing all at once.

The issues and topics that the stories covered were real yet Adjei-Brenyah managed to put his own distinct twist on them, making them all his own which allowed the reader to see a current issue from a different lens.

Each and every story was fluid and well-written, and the words, as well as the feelings,4 stuck with me way after I put it down. The fierce imagery is what made the collection so compelling.

The opening story ‘The Finkelstein 5’ dealt with a white man’s trial following the murder of five black children with a chainsaw. When the man is acquitted we then witness what happens when the black youths seek revenge. This story gripped me in a way that felt so familiar yet uncomfortable.

The story ‘Lark Street’ was perhaps one of my favourites in this collection mainly because of the beauty of its brilliance and vivid simplicity. This story follows a man who is awakened by his ‘would be children.’ As the story goes on, he spends time with the twins as he walks the path of his decision to not have the children. The ending left me feeling so powerful yet weak in my womanhood at the same time; as I questioned the burdens we must bear as women. This story is one I think every man should read.

The title story, Friday Black does such a great job of exposing the greed and the true ugliness of humanity in the context of savings in particular black Friday savings.

The entire collection does an exceptional job of looking at race relations, the criminal justice system and consumerism in ways that make you think and question different aspect of your life and society as a whole. Although many stories seem exaggerated I think that’s also the beauty of them. The characters test their own personal limits and overcome obstacles that are beyond their control.

While the collection may seem apocalyptic at times I think Adjei-Brenyah does a great job at making us look at the things that are in front of us. At its core ‘Friday Black’ is a dystopian, reality that seems to be our present day truth.

Friday Black is a collection of very powerful short stories about race, society, culture. My favorites were The Finkelstein 5, the title story, Friday Black, Light Splitter. I’ve been surprised to find that these short stories have lingered with me since finishing this book. I highly recommend this book.

I liked the first half of the book more than the second. The title story was searing, ugly, but *so good*. It should be required reading in the US this time of year. The entire collection feels fresh, and has some of the most biting social commentary and clever scenarios I've encountered this year. I enjoyed the book despite some truly cringe-worthy scenes... cringe-worthy because of their truth.