A Brief History of Seven Killings

A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James, has some of the greatest dialogue I've ever read. At the same time, I understood almost nothing of what was going on. It's a long book, over 600 pages, but the vivacity of the writing kept me going even though I couldn't tell you much of the story.

I do know that much of it is either set in Jamaica of among Jamaicans, from the 1970s to the 1990s. The central event of the book is the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, known throughout the book as "the Singer." The criminal underworld of Kingston and its environs is prominently featured, as well as the CIA station chief there and a Rolling Stone reporter sent to cover the Rolling Stones 9who were recording Goat's Head Soup in Jamaica at the time time) who ends up deeply entrenched in the Marley shooting.

That's about all I can tell you. James writes great dialogue, but much of it is in Jamaican patois, which is difficult sledding. He needed to include a glossary, as I'd still like to know what "bombocloth" means. "Pussyhole" was a little easier to glean. He also writes dialogue without identifying the speaker, so I would end up in the middle of a great conversation but not knowing who was speaking or being spoken to.

The main characters are Josey Wales, who becomes the don of the city (and has taken his name from a Clint Eastwood character), Alex Pierce, the writer--one very entertaining chapter has him awakening to find a hit man sitting on his bed, and he tries to pretend he's still asleep, and Barry, the CIA guy, who exchanges insults regularly with his rivals. There is also a woman who moves to New York City and finds herself caring for an older white man with dementia. If I'm right, she takes on several different names throughout the book, but I admit I don't know why.

The opening chapter is narrated by a dead man, to give us the proper frame of mind. "This is a story of several killings, of boys who meant nothing to a world still spinning, but each of them as they pass me carry the sweet-stink scent of the man who killed me."

I made several notes throughout the book of the sterling prose of James. Here's an example: "I want to tell him he's not my friend, that I wouldn't befriend him if he was all that could stop me from being buttfucked raw by Satan and his ten big-dicked demons, but he's in that one mode where's he actually interesting." Or, "Josey Wales park him white Datsun and step out and the Singer look at him as him pass, then look through the office window straight at me. Brethren, lemme tell you, if eyes really did have beams like that boy in X-men comic, him would have have blast me to kingdom come and take the house with him."

The book is, as you might imagine, exceedingly violent, and has a graphic male gay sex scene that managed to make eyes wide open, and I don't shock easily.

So I give A Brief History of Seven Killings three stars. Wonderfully vivid, but exceptionally complicated.