A review by ktrain3900
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

challenging dark funny informative reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

You don't read this book so much as you experience it. Within the first hundred pages, I almost put it down and added it to my DNF collection. It's a hard world to enter--poverty, misogyny, foul language, racism, classism, explicit violence, casual death, homophobia so omnipresent you feel like you need a new word for it--and for some, it won't be doable (and that's fair). But if you can do it, you'll be rewarded with a rich, layered, albeit brutal, journey through both time and place. You stay for the characters, none of them shining, all suffering in their way, as they try to survive with whatever generally poor hand of cards they've been dealt. Definitely makes me want to read more by the author - the writing is just so well-done. 
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