A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Discussion at Hare & Hounds, Lansdown, 2nd June 2016

Neil opened the evening with a quick check on how many people had finished the book and a disappointing 3 out of 8 was the answer, this did not bode well, but surprisingly, despite that we still found a good deal to talk about, even if it was just the simple question of why so few had finished it.

Neil's own view was that it was clearly not the easiest book to read, partly due to the frequent use of Jamaican Patois, partly due to the punctuation and sometimes due to the way the author sometimes employed a stream of consciousness style to convey the thoughts of the protagonist being heard at the time.  Coupled with these factors was the sheer length of the book which would not have necessarily been an issue on it's own had it been an easier read (as someone pointed out, Somerset Maugham's book was much longer but everyone finished it).  However, he felt that a lot of the issue was with the prolonged first section of the book leading up to and dealing with the assassination attempt on Marley, which he thought went on much too long and included far too much unnecessary commentary.  For him for example the long sections with the CIA characters were superfluous and after this first chapter they barely warranted mention again in the rest of the book.  OK, include mention of them, but not all the detail that they brought with them.

After this first part Neil found the pace of the book picked up considerably and became more entertaining.  He did continue to find parts of the book which could have done with heavy editing, perhaps cutting out some of the graphic sex scenes for example, but the "chapters" based in the States whipped along much quicker.  A dichotomy were the parts featuring Dorcas (formerly Nina), where her escapades caring for a man who has a form of Alzheimers seemed similarly unnecessary, but Neil was happy to read these as he found them well told and a pleasant diversion from some of the darker gangland scenarios.

Richard had also finished the book and agreed that it could have been much shorter, but disagreed about which parts he would have cut. For him Dorcas's part being cut out would have been no loss. As we know Richard likes to discover characters with whom he can empathise, and here he found none, even though one or two of the characters were quite interesting, not least of which was Jamaica itself. He also enjoyed some of the historical detail.

However, for Richard the book was difficult to read, too long, too many of the characters were indistinct, there was too much physical and verbal violence and, despite that fact that he LOVES reading about sex, for him there was too much of it in this book. Overall, it didn't do it for him.

Chris B was only about half way through the book (51% in Kindle terms), but despite that was more positive about the experience.  He concurred that it had been hard to get into, but felt that the novel repaid that effort from the reader and became more and more engaging.  In particular he found the technique of giving an individuals POV right up to the point of death was fascinating and well done.  He also thought that the descriptions of how people were exploited and abused, both by gangs and by the politicians, were well done and convincing.  He has enjoyed it so far, maybe he will comment further when he's finished.

Mark T on the other hand hated the book.  He couldn't get into it and had only read 10% of it, feeling that he had got a pretty bad deal spending money on a book that he felt it extremely unlikely he would ever finish.  It reminded him of an experience in his NHS choir where they were singing African songs where he naturally didn't understand the words they were singing which he found incredibly frustrating and for him the language just made the book too inaccessible.

Chris W had got a bit further (21%) and had actually enjoyed the bits that he had read, but again had found it just too hard to get further with.  It simply required too much concentration when he was reading late in the evening, even though he liked the use of the vernacular language. Despite this he was immersed into Jamaican street life and found the insights into the gang culture and the oppressed role of women quite interesting.  He also enjoyed recognising all the cultural references which he remembers from the time, but it is debatable whether he will get around to finishing it.

Steve had got further still (30%) and suspects that with the next book promising to be a lighter read altogether, he may yet find the time to see it to the end.  He appreciated the skill of the author to talk in so many different voices.  He liked the humour that existed in it and although he has struggled with the book so far, still thinks that it may have the makings of a great book....watch this space for updates.

Mark W had asked to be the last to contribute comments on the evening and this was because he had quite a personal connection with the subject matter having been born in Jamaica.  Although he moved from there when he was still an infant, he still has numerous family connections and has made several visits back over the years.  Indeed his cousin was lawyer to the real gangster portrayed as Josey Wales in the book, and was married for some time to the mother of Bob Marley's son who Mark knows quite well.  Consequently the one thing Mark didn't find hard was the language and indeed he agreed to read a passage of Patois which he managed very successfully to a small round of applause.  So it was interesting that despite this Mark still found the book hard work and only finished it a couple of hours before the meeting.

Mark found the book interesting, but not enjoyable, and often found himself questioning what the point of the book was or who it was aimed at.  Even though he was familiar with a lot of the details, he couldn't see why they were fictionalised in the way they were and was also left constantly wondering which bits of the book were true and which weren't.  He also couldn't relate to any of the characters and was mostly just interested in the context and setting. He too also disliked the graphic gay sex (especially as he found it highly unlikely that this would have been tolerated in any way by the gang members fictionalised in the book) as well as with the fact that the book is marketed as being about Bob Marley when it patently isn't. He lost patience with the US section. On the plus side he appreciated the painstaking research that must have gone into it and found two elements noteworthy: firstly the section from Bam Bam's POV that is written in verse and secondly the use of the ghost Jennings to provide a unique perspective.

Rob had mailed in his thoughts before the meeting and had similar feelings to others.  Firstly that the language just slowed down the reading process.  Secondly he echoed Richard's comments that the misognyistic attitudes and inherent day-to-day violence were hard going to read.  However, what has kept Rob going (he was about 30% through at the time of his email) was his interest in the time and place, especially the personae of Bob Marley and Malcolm Manley and the different perspectives the book is giving him on them.  The reference also to a book (Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver) that may have passed many of the rest of us by, made a big impact for Rob as this was a seminal work of great importance to him at the time.

So far then Rob is enjoying the book for its social and historical comment and he is fascinated to find out what happens to the various players in the narrative.  Whether he will still be having read this blog remains to be seen!

Overall a lively discussion considering the few people who had finished the book which included an interesting debate about the Booker Prize and whether or not it's judges really work on literary criteria or just on box ticking for the purposes of proving how appreciative they are of diversity in all its various forms.