A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James
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On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years. Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of show more characters--assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts--A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s. Brilliantly inventive and stunningly ambitious, this novel is a revealing modern epic that will secure Marlon James' place among the great literary talents of his generation. show lessTags
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This book is a glorious chaos of different voices. It takes a little getting used to between the multiple narrators and the use of patois but is worth persevering to get into the rhythm of it. The character list at the start was indispensable. It is described as being about the assassination attempt on Bob Marley, but really it's about so much more - the lives, the gangs, the drugs. Some sections are violent and horrible (Seven killings is by no means an accurate count), others are dreamlike and confusing. In the end I found it impossible to put down.
In this riveting novel, James deftly combines actual historical facts with imagination to tell the story of the events and characters surrounding the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1976. The mood is unrelentingly dark and violent with only one hint of redemption when Nina Burgess, who witnessed one of the murderers leaving the scene, flees Jamaica for New York; changes her name several times and eventually becomes a nurse. The story is narrated by a host of interesting characters and follows the ripples of the crime to Miami and the slums of New York. James uses stream of consciousness to explore the putative thoughts and motivations of the people involved to invent a new reality from the limited historical facts. Since most show more of the characters are poor Jamaicans, James needs to use dialect that can sometimes challenge understanding, and expose the reader to multiple Jamaican idioms for blue language. Despite the challenges, these dialects and phrases lend an important strength to the novel.
The Marley Smile Jamaica Concert coincided with a dangerous and politically unstable time in Jamaica. Both political parties (JLP and PNP) were vying for power using gangs as enforcers. Marley’s motives were suspect. The CIA feared a move toward pro-Cuban communism. Poverty was rampant in the slums of Kingston. Out of this toxic stew arose a violent drug culture that spread over the next few decades from Columbia to Miami and New York. Meanwhile Marley passed away from cancer and a freelance writer—Alex Pierce—possibly modeled after James himself, tenaciously pursues the story with particularly negative personal consequences. Although hypothetical, the story James and his alter ego tells makes for a compelling read. show less
The Marley Smile Jamaica Concert coincided with a dangerous and politically unstable time in Jamaica. Both political parties (JLP and PNP) were vying for power using gangs as enforcers. Marley’s motives were suspect. The CIA feared a move toward pro-Cuban communism. Poverty was rampant in the slums of Kingston. Out of this toxic stew arose a violent drug culture that spread over the next few decades from Columbia to Miami and New York. Meanwhile Marley passed away from cancer and a freelance writer—Alex Pierce—possibly modeled after James himself, tenaciously pursues the story with particularly negative personal consequences. Although hypothetical, the story James and his alter ego tells makes for a compelling read. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.As I've said many times before, I'm a sucker for a big sprawling novel (see: Wolf Hall, The Corrections, The Goldfinch, etc) and James delivers with style. There's a list of characters in the front of the book that spans over three pages - and their voices are as polyphonic as a real-world assemblage might be. While the pivotal moment in the novel is ostensibly the attempt on the Singer's life (a shooting that's still shrouded in mystery to this day) - and while that moment and the relationship between the folks who know about it (Nina/Alex/Josey) defines a lot of the near-interactions - the novel is really just about a slice of the world over the course of fifteen years. A slice that I've never visited before, not in real life and not show more really in literature. James drops this novel like a double album full of life and all its messiness. It might not be for everyone and it can be a struggle at times - but the fullness and vividness of the final picture is one that ranks right up there with some of the best.
More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-15y show less
More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-15y show less
So here we are, 35 years after his death, and Bob Marley is still the only bona fide rock superstar to ever come out of a so-called third-world country. (Nothing against Fela, but how many times have you heard football crowds spontaneously sing "Zombie"?) Legend (and you'll never be able to not see that title as ironic again) is one of the best-selling Greatest Hits albums of all time and it is, of course, conspicuously free of songs like "Crazy Baldheads", "Rat Race", "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)", "War", "Concrete Jungle", "Burnin' and Lootin'"... The Bob Marley of popular Western culture, the decontextualized "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Buffalo Soldier" notwithstanding, comes across as a non-threatening teddy bear singing about birds show more and love, his rastafarianism as Woodstock hippyisms, and Jamaica as a tropical paradise of beaches and gentle stoners with funny accents who are only too happy to serve any white tourists.
That’s what happens when you personify hopes and dreams in one person. He becomes nothing more than a literary device.
A Brief History... is not about Bob Marley. He's a constant presence in it, although never mentioned by name (he's "The Singer", too mythical to even need a name, a huge whale shark in a small pond of hungry piranhas; there's a difference between the stars and the superstars, between those you remember and those who shape an entire narrative), but he's not the subject of it. It's the failed assassination attempt against him in December of 1976 that provides the centre of the novel, but James uses it as a lynchpin to tell a much larger story. Several times I find myself thinking of The Wire, both in terms of scope and in terms of characterisation; this is praise, in my book.
And killing don’t need no reason. This is ghetto. Reason is for rich people. We have madness.
Really, the sheer ambition of A Brief History (which, to make the obvious point, is 700 pages long and covers several decades, arguably centuries, of history) is staggering, but not nearly impressive as the ease with which James pulls it off. Watch the way he shifts narrators (some of whom are long dead, others who die along the way, and some, miraculously, who survive). A dead politician, the boss of a Kingston ghetto, the local CIA operative, a Rolling Stone journalist born 10 years too late, a woman who just knew Marley for a night and now has to spend her life running, various hitmen and dealers and slum kids who are all part of a bigger story but also have their own lives to save or lose. Watch the way he paces the story, it's been a while since I read a literary novel with such great command of the humble cliffhanger, yet every chapter here adds to the depth of the story, tells us something new, shows us a new angle, even if it's just that a character is refusing to see something new. Watch the patois; no empty sacrifice on the cheap altar of authenticity, language shapes the world and vice versa. James not only lets his characters be eloquent in a mother tongue that most of his readers (it's an American novel in the sense that all expat novels are) will automatically think of as "broken" English (much like the CIA operatives in Kingston don't see why the Jamaicans can't see that they have their best interest in mind), and when they shift from one dialect to another, watch out because something is shifting with them.
People stupid. The dream didn't leave, people just don't know a nightmare when they right in the middle of one.
Nothing is allowed to lie still here. Every concept of class, race, gender, nation, sexuality, faith is turned over and smashed into each other. The good-natured reggae music are both rebel songs and homophobic screeds. A religion that promises exodus and freedom, but expects women to serve. (Much like some other holy texts you could mention.) I find myself wondering if this is an American novel or a Jamaican one; on the one hand, there's both Faulkner and DeLillo and Morrison lurking between the lines... On the other hand, few American novels would be so painfully aware of the influence of America on others. The question is, would it be possible to write the Great Jamaican Novel without Marley? Then again, why on Earth would you want to do that, when you'd have to forego things like this?
Three girls from Kashmir sling on bass, guitar and drums, fresh faces brimming out of burkas, propped up and held together by a backdrop of the Singer streaked in red, green and gold stripes, thick like pillars. They call themselves First Ray of Light, soul sisters to the Singer smiling with the rising sun. Out of a wrapped face comes a melody so fragile it almost vanishes in the air. But it lands on a drum that kicks the groove back up to where the song lingers, sweeps and soothes. Now the Singer is a balm to spread over broken countries. Soon, the men who kill girls issue a holy order and boys all over the valley vow to clean their guns, and stiffen their cocks, to hold down and take away. The Singer is support, but he cannot shield, and the band breaks away.
But in another city, another valley, another ghetto, another slum, another favela, another township, another intifada, another war, another birth, somebody is singing Redemption Song, as if the Singer wrote it for no other reason but for this sufferah to sing, shout, whisper, weep, bawl, and scream right here, right now.
There's so much passion in this novel, so much anger and love and grief and beauty. And James makes it all sing. show less
That’s what happens when you personify hopes and dreams in one person. He becomes nothing more than a literary device.
A Brief History... is not about Bob Marley. He's a constant presence in it, although never mentioned by name (he's "The Singer", too mythical to even need a name, a huge whale shark in a small pond of hungry piranhas; there's a difference between the stars and the superstars, between those you remember and those who shape an entire narrative), but he's not the subject of it. It's the failed assassination attempt against him in December of 1976 that provides the centre of the novel, but James uses it as a lynchpin to tell a much larger story. Several times I find myself thinking of The Wire, both in terms of scope and in terms of characterisation; this is praise, in my book.
And killing don’t need no reason. This is ghetto. Reason is for rich people. We have madness.
Really, the sheer ambition of A Brief History (which, to make the obvious point, is 700 pages long and covers several decades, arguably centuries, of history) is staggering, but not nearly impressive as the ease with which James pulls it off. Watch the way he shifts narrators (some of whom are long dead, others who die along the way, and some, miraculously, who survive). A dead politician, the boss of a Kingston ghetto, the local CIA operative, a Rolling Stone journalist born 10 years too late, a woman who just knew Marley for a night and now has to spend her life running, various hitmen and dealers and slum kids who are all part of a bigger story but also have their own lives to save or lose. Watch the way he paces the story, it's been a while since I read a literary novel with such great command of the humble cliffhanger, yet every chapter here adds to the depth of the story, tells us something new, shows us a new angle, even if it's just that a character is refusing to see something new. Watch the patois; no empty sacrifice on the cheap altar of authenticity, language shapes the world and vice versa. James not only lets his characters be eloquent in a mother tongue that most of his readers (it's an American novel in the sense that all expat novels are) will automatically think of as "broken" English (much like the CIA operatives in Kingston don't see why the Jamaicans can't see that they have their best interest in mind), and when they shift from one dialect to another, watch out because something is shifting with them.
People stupid. The dream didn't leave, people just don't know a nightmare when they right in the middle of one.
Nothing is allowed to lie still here. Every concept of class, race, gender, nation, sexuality, faith is turned over and smashed into each other. The good-natured reggae music are both rebel songs and homophobic screeds. A religion that promises exodus and freedom, but expects women to serve. (Much like some other holy texts you could mention.) I find myself wondering if this is an American novel or a Jamaican one; on the one hand, there's both Faulkner and DeLillo and Morrison lurking between the lines... On the other hand, few American novels would be so painfully aware of the influence of America on others. The question is, would it be possible to write the Great Jamaican Novel without Marley? Then again, why on Earth would you want to do that, when you'd have to forego things like this?
Three girls from Kashmir sling on bass, guitar and drums, fresh faces brimming out of burkas, propped up and held together by a backdrop of the Singer streaked in red, green and gold stripes, thick like pillars. They call themselves First Ray of Light, soul sisters to the Singer smiling with the rising sun. Out of a wrapped face comes a melody so fragile it almost vanishes in the air. But it lands on a drum that kicks the groove back up to where the song lingers, sweeps and soothes. Now the Singer is a balm to spread over broken countries. Soon, the men who kill girls issue a holy order and boys all over the valley vow to clean their guns, and stiffen their cocks, to hold down and take away. The Singer is support, but he cannot shield, and the band breaks away.
But in another city, another valley, another ghetto, another slum, another favela, another township, another intifada, another war, another birth, somebody is singing Redemption Song, as if the Singer wrote it for no other reason but for this sufferah to sing, shout, whisper, weep, bawl, and scream right here, right now.
There's so much passion in this novel, so much anger and love and grief and beauty. And James makes it all sing. show less
This is a dark and immersive recounting of the political events both governmental and criminal surrounding the assassination attempt of Bob Marley in December 1976 in Jamaica. Constructed as an oral history, the book follows a wide cast of characters as they navigate the historic moments before, during and after. Viscerally, unflinchingly detailed, this book refuses to cut away during terrifying scenes of torture and death.
As a complete neophyte to these events, I found myself bewildered but captivated. The various narrators all have powerful voices that command attention. Although many of the nuances escaped me, I'm sure, I found this to be a story I couldn't look away from even as it twisted my gut into knots.
I often struggle with show more oral histories because I can't remember all the character's names or how they fit together. This book was no exception to that difficulty, but I still found it compelling and meaningful to consume nonetheless. show less
As a complete neophyte to these events, I found myself bewildered but captivated. The various narrators all have powerful voices that command attention. Although many of the nuances escaped me, I'm sure, I found this to be a story I couldn't look away from even as it twisted my gut into knots.
I often struggle with show more oral histories because I can't remember all the character's names or how they fit together. This book was no exception to that difficulty, but I still found it compelling and meaningful to consume nonetheless. show less
This is a hard book to read, not least because of the Jamaican patois and the numerous point-of-views. Reading the last chapter, it's like playing 'who is the one speaking' game. And there is so much verbal violence, I find myself cursing more when reading the book. Nina Burgess also gets reinvented three times. Marlon never explicitly tells you it's the same person but you can guess with the clues littered around. Finally, she gets to the U.S. and finds a stable employment. Her story is an interesting interlude amidst the crime-fest and gangsterism.
High praise for a incredibly engrossing book. James gives us a set of arias by characters involved in the power struggles in the slums and government of Jamaica in the 1970s, and the fallout from the gang wars, political corruption and CIA involvement of the time, bringing the era forward to track the participants in the aftermath. The narrative is structured as overlapping monologues that don't hide the truth, but do provide different points of view so that the reader can piece together the action.
These monologues give the characters amazing clarify, whether in Jamaica, in the era of Bob Marley, or New York or Miami. in the years that follow. Central are the characters of Josey Wales, brilliant and vicious, and Nina Burgess, a woman in show more the wrong place at the wrong time, scrambling to stay alive. As the political struggles, the fate of the slums, begin to fade into the cocaine and crack epidemics of the 1980s, we learn the fate of each of the people we have come to know.
I'm reminded of the Schopenhauer curve described in The Naked and the Dead, as the drama and intensity climb through the narrative, and abruptly fall in the final chapters.
I did become impatient toward the end as each character still alive reached, in their own way, a point of release. But that really did not diminish the power of this story.
One thought about the language. James gives each character their own accent, dialect, and rhythm. I started reading the text, but decided to listen along to the recorded version to absorb the rhythm, pattern and grammar of Jamaican speech. Well worth the time. show less
These monologues give the characters amazing clarify, whether in Jamaica, in the era of Bob Marley, or New York or Miami. in the years that follow. Central are the characters of Josey Wales, brilliant and vicious, and Nina Burgess, a woman in show more the wrong place at the wrong time, scrambling to stay alive. As the political struggles, the fate of the slums, begin to fade into the cocaine and crack epidemics of the 1980s, we learn the fate of each of the people we have come to know.
I'm reminded of the Schopenhauer curve described in The Naked and the Dead, as the drama and intensity climb through the narrative, and abruptly fall in the final chapters.
I did become impatient toward the end as each character still alive reached, in their own way, a point of release. But that really did not diminish the power of this story.
One thought about the language. James gives each character their own accent, dialect, and rhythm. I started reading the text, but decided to listen along to the recorded version to absorb the rhythm, pattern and grammar of Jamaican speech. Well worth the time. show less
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If, like James, you’re from Jamaica, then recent history might suggest a gangster chronicle, and the central plot and metaphor of his novel is an intricate set of connections between the attempted assassination of the Singer and the rise and fall of a J.L.P.-connected crime boss called Josey Wales. The man who comes to kill the Singer, icon of peace, is a gangster whose export business is show more not reggae but cocaine. It doesn’t matter whether this hypothesis is factually verifiable. It isn’t. What matters is whether the story is persuasive and suggestive. show less
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Author Information
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Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1970. He studied literature at the University of the West Indies. He worked in advertising for more than a decade, as a copywriter, art director and graphic designer. He took a writing workshop in Kingston, Jamaica, and later enrolled in a writing program at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania. His first show more novel, John Crow's Devil, was published in 2005. His other novels include The Book of Night Women and A Brief History of Seven Killings, which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2015. He teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
The Guardian Book of the Day (2015-10-11)
Notable Lists
The Great American Novels (2014)
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
L'eclèctica (262)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Original title
- A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Original publication date
- 2014
- People/Characters
- Bob Marley; Nina Burgess; Arthur George Jennings; Bam-Bam; Barry Diflorio; Raymond Clarke (Papa-Lo) (show all 72); Josey Wales; Demus; Alex Pierce; Weeper; Tristan Phillips; John-John K; A-Plus; William Adler; Baxter; Betsy; Bill Bilson; Griselda Blanco; Orlando Bosch; Bullman; Buntin-Banton; Kim-Marie Burgess; Luis Hernán Rodrigo de las Casas (Doctor Love); Donald Casserley; Edgar Anatolyevich Cheporov; Chinaman; Chuck; Clark; Gail Colthirst; Gaston Colthirst; Kenneth Colthirst; Miles Copeland; Copper; Claire Diflorio; Dishrag; Eubie; Freddy; Funky Chicken; Funnyboy; Gael; Grant; Heckle; Louis Johnson; Junior Soul; Mark Lansing; Richard Lansing; Leggo Beast; Hernán Ricardo Lozano; Freddy Lugo; Tony McFerson; Peter Nasser; Nevis; Omar; Paco; Roland Palmer (Shotta Sherrif); Tony Pavarotti; Pig Tails; Priest; Sally Q; Ren-Dog; Renton; Sal Resnick; Romeo; Millicent Segree; Roger Theroux; Monifah Thibodeaux; Treetop; Ras Trent; Warren Tunney; Watson; Lindon Wolfsbricker; Dorcas Palmer
- Important places
- Kingston, Jamaica; New York, New York, USA; Miami, Florida, USA
- Epigraph
- Gonna tell the truth about it,
Honey, that's the hardest part.
—Bonnie Raitt, "Tangled and Dark"
If it no go so, it go near so.
—Jamaican proverb - Dedication
- To Maurice James
An extraordinary gentleman in a league of his own. - First words
- Listen.
Dead people never stop talking. Maybe because death is not death at all, just a detention after school. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)-Kimmy?
- Publisher's editor
- Morrissey, Jake
- Blurbers
- Banks, Russell; Welsh, Irvine; Salewicz, Chris
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.6
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