A Brief History of Seven Killings

By: Marlon James

Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Johnathan McClain, Robert Younis, Thom Rivera

Length: 26 hrs

Publisher's summary

Winner, The Man Booker Prize, 2015

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 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s. 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.

©2014 Marlon James. Recorded by arrangement with Penguin Books. (P)2014 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Read the hard copy book. The performance sucks

How could the performance have been better?

The performance detracts from a good book. The people reading have very fake Jamaican accents and its very distracting and sounds foolish. This problem is detrimental to an otherwise great book.

Nothing Brief About It

This book is basically about an immersion into some Jamaican culture. It's a very good character study, and each chapter is told from one of about 10 main characters points of view. But, it really drags on. There is very little plot. It's a good listen, well performed. But seriously, this could have been a five hour book and I'd have gotten just as much out of it.

Perfect for Listening

What made the experience of listening to A Brief History of Seven Killings the most enjoyable?

The way in which it was "performed". I got the hardback from the library but as soon as I got to the first chapter that was written in Jamaican patois I knew that I was not able to do that in my head and I was going to miss a lot

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alex Pierce - I'm old enough to remember the times and his perspective was close to mine

Which scene was your favorite?

Josie Wales in Bushwick

If you could rename A Brief History of Seven Killings, what would you call it?

Who Shot the Singer?

Any additional comments?

Wjile this is fiction it is based on fact and I had a vague memory of the Marley attempted assination and later the Tivoli Garden massacre so I feel like I learned something - also I didn't know (silly me) that the CIA was in Jamaica - but if the Cubans were there it makes sense

Phenomenal

This is probably one of the best audio book I have ever listened too. I kind of got stuck on it and listened to it 3 times and each time gleaned a bit more understanding of Jamaica and the life of the people there back in the 70's. A bit more understanding of the "Singer" Bob Marley and his music. The narration was phenomenal... The description of some of the deaths was so well done that you almost felt as if it was happening right in front of you.! Truly a book that has to be listened to as opposed to read.This writer is so wonderful that I can't get enough of him. I had to listen to another one of his books which was very good as well, but this is probably one of the best book I've ever listened too and I am an avid reader since age ten there is not a time that I'm not reading something...so with 100's and 100's of books under my belt this one will be added to my top 3 favorite books of all time.

Fantastic book and audiobook

Really fantastic book made even better by a superb audiobook. The characters being read by different actors made it very enjoyable. All the actors were really good and added to the incredible story.

Deserving, so deserving. Violent, epic, glorious.

This book is violent enough to make me blanche more than once, and yet compelling. I read it for many weeks, as I could develop an appetite for more, and throughout twine a number of storylines and unforgettable characters that together forever change my ideas about Jamaica, it's blackness and my own seemingly endless whiteness. A grand ride.
As an aside, I read this as I do many books, flipping back and forth from the book to the audio book. The performances in this audio book go beyond the usual idea of excellence, for their having an unmistakably deep rehearsal calendar behind them that better befits a big budget film. These actors have both the intricacies of their varied accents - out to the heaviest patois, as well as very well directed acting. The only thing holding me back from recommending the vocalised work over the printed one is that the writing of the dialect is beautiful too, and it is fun to read in the face of some struggle, until the accents 'pop' in your mind, and you are hearing voices from the text. Not reading. Wonderful work. Deserving of its prize. Has much-in its scope and feel- in common with other Man-Booker prize winning works I have also liked.

Fantastic Read

Incredible
Interesting
Intriguing
Fascinating
Exciting
informative
Excellent
Fantastic
Action Packed
Full of Excitement
Powerful

A must read

Where does A Brief History of Seven Killings rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

To say this book is powerful would be an understatement. Words like riveting, all consuming, genius comes to mind. I believe that this will rank in my top 5 books I have ever listened to or read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Josey Wales and Kimmie's characters were my favorites because both characters were smart and danced to their own drummers. They were bold, unrepentant and took control of their own destinies. I had a lot of empathy for Wimper and Bam Bam and I was praying for a miracle so they wouldn't die.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

My favorite narrator performance was Whimper and Bam Bam - they had the true Jamaican accent and I really felt for them when they spoke.

If you could take any character from A Brief History of Seven Killings out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I could only see myself sitting down with Alex the writer and the singer - the rest I would be too scared to meet.

Any additional comments?

Buy this book - it is destined to be a classic. It is disturbing but riveting; the characters jump right out at you and you know them. Marlon James is a genius.

Good but a little hard to follow

I liked the story and the depiction of Jamaica. The history of the CIA and the drug trade were new to me so good information. Some of the passages were a little long and some of the characters hard to keep track of if just listening, not reading. Would recommend.

Good read!

The characters in this are super developed. And it made me review all the history I knew about Marley around the time—historical fiction at its best!