Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - A Brief History of Seven Killings

Loved this book. It took me a really long time to finish the first time around, so I read it again while listening to an audiobook, and that helped me fill in the parts where I was confused. I really loved that with a few simple google searches, most of the events that they talked about were true, actual events. There was a part in the book where Tristian Phillips tells Alex Pierce that he’s glad that he’s writing his book, and that no Jamaican is could’ve done it.
As a first gen kid of Jamaicans, I’m happy that Marlon James did write this. This is a level of attention to detail and skill that I think could’ve gone on for at least 1,000 pages. This is unlike any other book I’ve read before.

Also, it seems like a bunch of people think that Peter Nasser is Edward Seaga, but while talking to Josey Wales in 1968, he said ‘my party in power’ and the JLP wasn’t in power at the time. This just makes me think that this would mean that Peter Nasser isn’t Seaga? There are also times when they say Seaga by name, so that is kinda confusing.

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

At some point, I must have read a review of A Brief History of Seven Killingswhich intrigued me enough to buy the book, but I no longer remember it. A brief look online didn’t provide much in the way of clues as to why I thought this would be enjoyable. The historical context of an assassination attempt on Bob Marley was completely unfamiliar, and the phrase ‘crack wars in New York City’ not exactly promising for an entertaining read.

Marlon James’ style feels intentional; each character has a different voice, using 'the Singer’ instead of Bob Marley’s name elevates him to a mythic figure and the stream-of-consciousness changes to reflect the emotional and mental states of his characters. Unfortunately, going in with no prior knowledge of events combined with vast array of narrators and the overload of detail made it difficult to pick out which people and events would prove to be important. The narrative is hard work for an uninformed reader, especially the middle section where the chapters are long enough to feel exhausting.

A Brief History of Seven Killings is also, as is to be expected, incredibly violent. As well as the advertised assassination and drug wars, there’s a lot of background violence, both sexual and otherwise, which certainly didn’t lighten the emotional load any. The Gallows Pole was similarly violent, but A Brief History of Seven Killings had none of that poetic prose to ease the relentlessly miserable experience almost all of the characters were having.

What Marlon James did well was ratchet up the tension, especially just prior to the assassination attempt, but also before other explosive events. Even with no knowledge of what was coming, it was obvious that something was about to go down, which was emotionally engaging.

A reader who picked up A Brief History of Seven Killings because the blurb or real-life history sounded intriguing would probably enjoy it, this book just wasn’t for me, and I blame that more on whatever I read that interested me in it more than I blame it on the book itself.

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alisonburnis's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Marlon James is a masterful writer, and this is definitely on show in A Brief History of Seven Killings - I mean, it won the Booker. That said, I wasn’t as into this one as I would have liked. I appreciated the writing but the topic wasn’t one I would have gone for typically. So yay for James getting me to read about Bob Marley, Jamaica, and the crack wars, when I might not have picked this up otherwise.

This takes place over a handful of days spread across 15 years. It begins with the attempted murder of Bob Marley, referred to as the Singer, in Jamaica, and follows the characters through the aftermath of the attempted murder, to the drug wars of the 1980s, and then into the 1990s. It is a fictionalization of the attempted murder, though some real figures feature. This is a rich, suspenseful story.

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princessfabulous's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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eliasiexil's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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mattgroot1980's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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sunny_not's review against another edition

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Although the premise was interesting and I wanted to learn and read more, it was super complex there were too many characters and the story just kept on dragging and dragging. Since I picked this book up from a library I had to decide if I really wanted to continue on or get books that I'm a lot more excited about and I decided to get a new book. I might continue this someday but right now I'm not in the right headspace to read so much triggering stuff and it's such a long and challenging book. Overall probably wouldn't recommend it.

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