A Brief History of Seven Killings

By: Marlon James

Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Johnathan McClain, Robert Younis, Thom Rivera

Length: 26 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Winner, The Man Booker Prize, 2015

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 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.

©2014 Marlon James. Recorded by arrangement with Penguin Books. (P)2014 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Just Brilliant!

I've been an Audible member for the past 10 years and this is simply, without a doubt, the best written and the best . . . well, narrated doesn't really do the character acting justice . . . the best read audio book I have listened to in all that time.

It's poetic and historic. It's vulgar and violent and beautiful. It's tragic and comic. But most importantly . . . it's so damned interesting and engaging.

Wow!

A Tough Read

I’m finally finished. Whew. Much of A Brief History of Seven Killings used a heavy Jamaican dialect. It took so long to read and listen to it (way too long, in my opinion) that I am thinking in that Jamaican dialect now! I’m afraid I might now burst out with a, “Me no like when you do dat ,” or worse, “ bombo pussy r’asscloth,” or , “fuckery,” or “pussyhole.” Oops.

I will never think about Jamaica in the same way again. Ocho Rios? College parties? Sandals resort? Forget it. This book embodies the Jamaica behind those scenes – at least from the 1960’s through about 1991. My biggest question remains: what is Jamaica really like NOW? Are the gangs still in power? The JLP? The PNP? Is the violence, poverty, illiteracy, and hopelessness as bad as it was in this book?


The characters in A Brief History had no redeeming qualities, but their circumstances do have to be considered. The gang members portrayed grew up in horrendous circumstances, so how else would they turn out but violent, amoral, and psychopathic? The only character who is sympathetic at all is Kim Burgess. Her story is also the most coherent, easy to follow, and is somewhat redemptive at the end. Other than gangsters/thugs and Kim Burgess, well , there were CIA characters and government officials, and they are evil as well. The only other character is Sir Arthur Jennings, a ghost of a murdered politician who acts like a Greek chorus commenting on the events of the novel from the grave.

I don’t mind evil characters necessarily; they were interesting in the book. The main problem with the novel for me was how very, very difficult it was to understand what was going on. There are 75 characters, and the story is told from these characters alternating points of view. Events are not examined directly, but are fractured and referred to much later. The reader has to keep the characters straight and remember events from earlier in the book so that when they are tied in to other, related events later on, things finally begin to make sense. Clarity is elusive.

SPOILER ALERTS:

One example of this is the death of Josey Wales at the end. We see Dr. Love, a CIA consultant, talking to him in his prison cell. Dr. Love gives him some kind of pill that puts him to sleep or kills him, ostensibly to save him from the pain of his coming assassination? Or ? not totally clear. Then, a couple chapters later, we hear that Josey Wales was burned in his cell. I found that resolution somewhat unsatisfying. I suppose Dr. Love or the CIA or … someone… burned him. It’s like the main event is skipped after a big build up, and then only referred to later. The same method is used for the death of “the singer.” The whole first half of the book builds up to that event, but then the actual event itself is very foggy, muddied, and unclear. Then it is referred to tangentially through many small revelations later in the story. Again, clarity remains elusive. This technique seems overused throughout the book.

Another big problem with the book for me was the dialect and the language. The dialect and sometimes the character’s syntax is really hard to understand. One chapter was completely incomprehensible. I was reading AND listening at the same time, and it was just hard going the whole way through the book. Even when the characters were white men without a dialect, the method of writing only from that character’s point of view and usually as an interior monologue was often really difficult. Sometimes a character would have a conversation with another character, but you, the reader, only got to hear one side and wouldn’t get to know the other character’s name for many pages.

The writing was powerful at times. For example, hearing the inner thoughts of one of the very young assassins who is being buried alive…. Wow, that was horrendous and powerful at the same time. And the chapter where Weeper is having sex with a man and trying to convince himself that he is not a “faggot” was extremely graphic but interesting in a voyeuristic way.

The name of the book seems to derive from the seven men who were killed over the course of the book after the they attempted to assassinate “the singer, “ as well as the name of the article that the journalist, Mark Pierce, was writing for the New Yorker at the end, which was “A Brief History of Seven Killings.”

I don’t really know if Jamaica has actually changed or not, but I like this quote from Kim Burgess in the book:

“Two years since the election,” she says. “Jamaica never gets worse or better, it just finds new ways to stay the same. You can’t change the country, but maybe you can change yourself.” Most of the characters in the book, however, don't ever think about changing… or think that they could change. They are victims as well: victims of their horrible circumstances. However, this possibility of change or movement is why, to me, Kim Burgess is the heart of the story. Only her character has any kind of positive resolution at the end, albeit only a hint of one.

one of the best audio books out there

This has jumped to my top 10 list. I have been a heavy Audible subscriber since 98, so that is something.
I tried to read this book after seeing some hype about it. I gave up due to not being able to get through the slang. I have a BA in literature so I have read some challenging stuff - so it is not easy. But I decided to use a credit on it. I am so glad I did. I am quite sure I could read it now as after the long book I feel much of the Jamaican slang is second nature.

Its dense. Its compelling. It is sprawling over time. It is true literature IMHO. I think it will be a college taught title in short order that will be called a classic.
It has offensive language (but a plus is you have a whole new arsenal to use when you are mad). It has violence, sex, drugs, etc. Just putting that out there is such things in a book prevent you from enjoyment.

The narrators' performance is outstanding. They bring so much to this book. As good as any book I have listened to. BUT. BUT. BUT. This HAS to be NOTED. The producer or editor should be fired. Its my only beef with this book. Audio books have redo's. Most have several. Meaning once they are going back through it they find the wrong words spoken from the text. I am sure when a narrator is going they say go through whatever was planned for this session and then we can go back and fix. The edits in this are MANY and they are jarring. They are so different than the first round. My guess is they were recorded in different studios with different gear many months later. The actor's accent is different, the volume is different, the ambient reverb is different. Ultimately I loved this book, but it bothered me so many times.

Me Bredren, a Lectrifyin Novel on Jamaican Mob

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS is a riveting novel -- the best novel that I can recall in the past nearly 50 years focused on organized crime, and it may be the best ever mob-centered novel in terms of literary structure and scope. It's destined to make all the lists for best books of this decade and probably for the best books since 2000. It's already been garnered for author Marlon James the 2015 Man Booker Prize.

I cannot recall a novel in the past two decades so powerful, so searing in its combination of unique voice, intriguing characters and captivating storylines, such as when it gives a number of thrilling and feverish first-person accounts for a December 1976 shooting of the character known as The Singer and the immediate, devastating aftermath, and later provides a fascinating, fictional (though plausible) explanation for Bob Marley's (I mean, the Singer character's) death in early 1981 from cancer.

The book is told almost solely in the first person narrative accounts of various characters. It follows the Greater Kingston, Jamaica gangs (chiefly, the one known as the Storm Posse) and related characters over 3 decades - in Greater Kingston for the first 2, then mainly in New York from 1985 to 1991.

The 2 complaints about this audiobook seem to be limited to: 1) difficulty in understanding the narration of some of the characters due to their broad Jamaican accent, particularly one (a teen from the slums) who slurs together his words; and, 2) too many characters to follow. Please allow me to answer each because I'd hate for anyone to miss such a treasure based on either of these two fears, both of which are simply resolved.

As to the first, I'll admit that I nearly gave up on the book with the narrative accent of the character Bam-Bam, a teen gang member. I decided that instead of abandoning the novel, I'd listen again to his first chapter. Shortly thereafter something funny happened: I began to comprehend all the Jamaican characters, including Bam-Bam, after that one re-listen and from listening to that of other Jamaican characters (maybe 90% of the book is in Jamaican accents, most of which are relatively easy to immediately comprehend). The way Marlon James wrote the novel, having multiple narrators was imperative and proved well worth it. Moreover, the accents tremendously enhanced the experience of the book.

By the way, this book has me searching for other Marlon James novels. What a talent!

As for the number of characters, I simply downloaded the kindle sample of the book which has a straightforward list of characters. With this list, I had no problem keeping up with the characters.

Also, I'll note that some females may be offended by the number of times they use the P word and the repetitive use of the derogative Jamaican slang term "bumbaclot." You don't wanna know what this means literally, trust me.

Aside from that, I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

An' one more ting me need you don fahget, me ute:

Don pess on da gorgon!

Roots Natty Roots Natty

I started reading this book right around the time the Man Booker Prize was announced and after 60 pages, I realized that the dialect was going to kill me, so I decided to do the audio. I spent a lot of time in Jamaica in the ’80’s and I felt I had enough of a handle on the Patois that the audio would be a breeze. It wasn’t.

The audio was brilliant though. I’m a little bit blown away. 26-hours long, and I had to listen at regular speed (which I never do). I’ve been entrenched in this book so long, I almost called somebody a “Pussy Hole” the other day. (That gives you an idea of the language in the book.) There were multiple narrators, and 95% of the time the performances were stellar. (There was a funky accent dude toward the end I almost couldn’t tolerate. It was like this Irish trying to be Jamaican thing.) I’ve listened to a lot of audio at this point, and this is among the best.

I don’t know how much of this story is true, and how much is fiction, but it is absolutely based on true events. Jamaica is a dangerous place, and has been for a long time. It’s impossible to think about this book and not think about my own time there. I remember being in Kingston in the mid-80’s and not having an inkling how dangerous it was. Only later learning that Kingston was the 4th most dangerous city in the world.

This book was filled with fascinating characters, with interesting philosophies and justifications. It was also filled with depravity. Deep depravity. It was a complex book, and circumstantially it was impossible to fully absorb it all. I almost feel like going back and reading it now. Jamaica was a country divided politically, (another sidebar, sorry: I knew nothing of these struggles when I used to go there. I’m embarrassed for younger me. She was oblivious.), corrupt and violent. This really is an historical fiction. This was a book with a high degree of difficulty, and Marlon James pulled it off. I was fascinated, I was engaged, I laughed, I cringed, and I cringed again.

I only have one issue, and it drove me to distraction and I don’t understand how it passed editing. People in 1976 did NOT speak in the way that these characters spoke. In 1976 people didn’t call each other dude, they didn’t use the F word every other word, and they sure as heck did not say “just sayin'” …. ARGH. It was so disappointing – all this brilliance, all this effort, all this greatness … and nobody edits out “just sayin'” ….? Incidentally, there were 1,100 F-bombs in this book.

For me it was 5 stars, dropped a half star for the baffling anachronisms and conditionally recommended to people who like really really dark books

Had to buy the hardcover book to accompany

What would have made A Brief History of Seven Killings better?

I am still listening to this book, but I have to admit I had to buy the hardcover accompany the audiobook. The book actually has a three page list of characters that I needed to track the story, especially in the beginning. Also, the chapters were titled by the voice of the narrator, so that made it a lot easier to track. I am really enjoying the performances, but don't think I could stay the course without the character list.

Oh boy where to start

This book started out incredible. The use of multiple views and narrators was great, some of the performers turning in phenomenal performances buuut once we actually got to the main part of the story - there was still another 12 hours left. I found this book completely lost its steam in the back half. It was a slog trying to get through and so four hours out from the end I've bailed on it. Waaaaayyy too much additional stuff that is useless towards the actual story.

a Jamaican goodfellas.

this is one of the most intense, gritty, violent, and insane books I've ever read. it's also one of the most unique and brilliant. moves at a rapid fire speed and very suspensful. this book had some of the most vile characters I've ever heard/read/seen in anything, yet I was mesmerized and actually felt sympathy for some of them. the Jamaican dialect takes some getting used to and almost ruined it for me but I stuck with it and now I couldn't imagine the book being nearly as good without it. good narrators too minus a few frustrating chapters here and there. if you're looking for an epic read I highly recommend.

Killing don’t need no reason

"God puts earth far away from heaven because even he can't stand the smell of dead flesh. Death is not a soul catcher or a spirit, it's a wind with no warmth, a crawling sickness."
-- Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings

First, it is hard to push all that is into this novel into a bottle. So, I'll just say it felt like some weird hybrid of (here is my brief history of seven fathers/mothers): James Ellroy (think Jamaican Tabloid), Don DeLillo (think Libra), Zadie Smith (think Shiny Teeth), Elmore Leonard (think Get Singer), Roberto Bolaño (think Savage Possy), Gay Talese (Think Bob Marley has a Toe), and with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez.

Anyway, this novel seemed to grab me and I didn't want to let it go. There was power and pull in this novel. It attracted and repelled me at the same time. I wanted to read it, but I didn't want to finish. Just as I would fall into the mix of the dialogue, I would be pushed back out. It wasn't easy and wasn't always fun, but it was constantly amazing. It really did, emotionally, feel like I was reading one of Ellroy's best novels. It could have been Ellroy's Underworld USA #4. This was also a master juggling a bunch of themes and textual ideas. James framed this twisting story of violence, place, race, poverty, power, drugs, sex, language, and death in a funky way (but not too funky and I'm not going to give it away). It reminded me of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem 'Constantly Risking Absurdity':

Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience ..."

James puts it all out there. And he tends to hit most of his marks, and the ones he doesn't hit perfectly can also be excused because of the difficulty of what he is trying to pull of. This wasn't a perfect novel, but it was a perfect thrill.

A Disappointing "History"

Too many damn characters makes this a joyless and unrewarding read. Certain characters disappear, their storylines left out to dry, others that the author does focus on - "Weeper" comes to mind - are far less interesting. What happened to the female Columbian drug dealer? Nothing... We get a couple of paragraphs about her, and then she never appears again.

Oh, what could have been...