A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 4/5 |
First Sentence "Listen. Dead people never stop talking." |
Publisher's Description: From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes a masterfully written novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s. 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 70s, to the crack wars in 80s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 90s. 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. |
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Dear Reader, -What the bombocloth this is? -A review of this book called "A Brief History of Seven Killings" -What kinda batty boy business is dat? -I can assure you, I'm not a batty boy. Although, before reading this book I would have had no idea what that even meant. -Who the r'asscloth-you-talking-to? -The readers, they want to know how the book was and if they should read it. -Tell dem is no business of dem. This too big for you. -Excuse me? Too big? Now THAT is a challenge, haha. -Brethren, who the r'asscloth going care, eh? -Trust me, people will. Now leave and let me get down to it. Now where was I? Oh yes, the book. Wow, what a giant doorstop filled with an entire world I hardly knew existed. I was scooped right up into the tropical paradise of the ghetto, a great vacation spot. To be honest with you, no review I can do will ever do justice to this book. This must be experienced first hand, you'll have to struggle with the patios just like I did. Surprisingly enough, the first half was my favorite, the second part brought me out of the experience (when everything moved to NY). This would have been a five star read for me if it stayed native and felt closer to that feeling the first half of the book was chock full of. I'm not going to lie to you, this book is NOT easy... you will struggle BUT this struggle is completely worth the pay out. This book will probably be dropped by many who don't feel like wasting time with immersing themselves in the world/language... and as understandable as that is, it also saddens me. Those of you... will be missing out. So without spoiling things or attempting to review a book that is beyond words for me, I'll leave it up to you. Don't be a bombocloth, try it... you might like it. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - This book is also a contender for the Tournament of Books this year. |
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