Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings

Only read a dozen pages but KNOW it's going to b stunning. Thanks for the passionate recommendation CA KM

August 21st

Well finally finished ( a while ago but have had little matter of moving to Budapest which has taken up some time...!) and, WOW, just WOW!!! A stunning, thrilling radical and amazing piece of writing. It's a tough read that makes big demands on the reader. There are multiple narrators with each chapter being written in their own very distinctive voice...Jamaican yardies, rogue CIA agents, Rolling Stone journalists, the ghost of a major politician, a cleaner....you name it, they were there.

It gives a kaleidoscopic impression of Jamaica over many years, dealing with politics, corruption, post-colonial results and aftermath and is lifelike in that we see parts, glimpses of lives and events which sometimes are completed and connected, other time, like life, are not.

The central event is an attempt on the life of Bob Marley when he was giving a concert in Jamaica...but this is to diminish the power and scope of the novel. It is really a device to explore, with wit,humour, passion and anger, the spirit and soul of Jamaica...if I can presume to say that. At some stage will/ must re-read to get even more from it. I am sure I have only skimmed the surface but it was one of the most impressive. And powerful books I have read for a very long time. My next choice is going to have a lot to lineup to(I am fairly sure it will not,to be honest?)

Would love to hear from others what they thought of it...