A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon JamesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to this on audio. There were a variety of voice actors that did the narration for the chapters tied to their characters. The variety helped to keep the characters straight, but there are a lot of them in this book, and it can get a bit confused as you listen. I found the narration was excellent, with a combination of American voices and Jamaican voices, many in heavy patois. If you have difficulty dealing with a variety of accents and slang, you will have difficulty at times here. I found it was worth the trouble.
What did I enjoy the most? Strangely, this reminded me of how “Ready Player One” put me in a nostalgic mood. Unlike that book’s trip to the Eighties, this had many heavy references to pop culture – American pop culture – of the Seventies. Throughout the book you are in the character’s heads, hearing their thoughts. And what did they think about? Clint Eastwood movies, “The Dukes of Hazzard”, and lots of disco. I found myself chuckling many times along the way, recalling how TV, movies, and music were really common culture back then.
Sure this is violent. Sure it has characters that describe their own death and after death (shades of “Lincoln in the Bardo”). The characters mostly aren’t nice, or perhaps a better way to put it is that they don’t have a lot of nice thoughts. But it is great storytelling, with many interesting hooks to keep you involved.
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