A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (2014)
A Brief History of
Seven Killings by Marlon James
The
Singer was planning a peace concert in the middle of Jamaica’s current
political turmoil. The gangs in Jamaica weren’t sure how to feel about the
peace concert, especially when the Singer was conversing with the two opposing
parties. On December 3, 1976 someone tried to kill the Singer. He was struck in
the chest, in a shot that just missed his heart. The peace concert would have
to be postponed and the Singer would leave Jamaica, not returning for a few
years. A Brief History of Seven Killings
is not the Singer’s story. It is the story of those affected by the attempted
assassination of the Singer, and the lives taken, changed and ruined after that
day.
If you
are looking for a quick easy read about Bob Marley, then keep looking because
this is not that book. I was actually surprised by how little of this book
actually involved Bob Marley. He was the tertiary character that this story
talked about but he was never in the forefront of the story. Those characters
were the drug dealers, the writer, the woman and the CIA agent whose characters
we meet and see throughout the novel. The first part of this book was a trying
experience. I love a richly narrated character driven plot and I have no
problem with changing point of view characters, but I would not have survived
if James had not added his “cast of characters” that stated who the characters
were. Without that introduction I would have been blindly going into each
character, because once a character’s narrative began there was very few clues
provided on their given situation. If you read beyond part one of this novel,
then I would recommend going forever because all of James’s characters are
really well developed and have a strong voice and presence.
I’m
giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. I found this novel to be really well written
but extremely dense. At well over 600 pages this story seemed to go and on and
on. I had no idea how James’s planned on pulling it together and the ending
still has a lot of loose ends. But this novel was really interesting, with
original characters, a complicated plot and really great world building. A Brief History of Seven Killings probed
into the topics of drugs, gangs, rivalries, Jamaican politics, government
conspiracies and murder. After adjusting to his writing style, I began to
really enjoy the story but there were moments throughout this novel where my
interest waned.
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