A Brief History of Seven Killings

Last updated
A Brief History of Seven Killings
A Brief History of Seven Killings, Cover.jpg
Cover of the 2014 hardcover edition
Author Marlon James
Cover artistGregg Kulick
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Riverhead Books
Publication date
2 October 2014 (hardcover, e-book)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages688
Awards 2015 Booker Prize
ISBN 978-1780746357

A Brief History of Seven Killings is the third novel by Jamaican author Marlon James. [1] It was published in 2014 by Riverhead Books. [2] The novel spans several decades and explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in Jamaica in 1976 and its aftermath, through the crack wars in New York City in the 1980s, and a changed Jamaica in the 1990s. [3]

Contents

Synopsis

A Brief History of Seven Killings has five sections, each named after a musical track and covering the events of a single day. The novel is introduced by the one of its point-of-view narrators, the ghost of Sir Arthur George Jennings, a murdered politician based on Ken Jones, [4] a Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) cabinet minister.

The first part of the novel is set in Kingston, Jamaica, in the build-up to the Smile Jamaica Concert (called the Peace Concert in the novel) held on 5 December 1976, and describes politically motivated violence between gangs associated with the JLP and the People's National Party (PNP), especially in the West Kingston neighbourhoods of Tivoli Gardens and Matthews Lane (renamed in the novel as Copenhagen City and Eight Lanes), [5] including involvement of the CIA in the Jamaican politics of the time. As well as Marley (who is referred to as "the Singer" throughout), other real-life characters depicted or fictionalized in the book include Kingston gangsters Winston "Burry Boy" Blake and George "Feathermop" Spence, Claude Massop (called Josey Wales in the novel) and Lester Lloyd "Jim Brown" Coke (an inspiration for Papa-Lo) of the JLP and Aston "Buckie Marshall" Thomson of the PNP. [6]

Reception

James' novel was praised for its mastery of voice and genre, encompassing historical epic, spy novel, gang thriller and mythical saga all at once. Writing in Literary Review , Kevin Power praises Marlon James' energy and imagination in his characters' voices: "his command of a range of tones and voices approaches the virtuoso." [7] However, Power notes the novel's lack of narrative momentum necessary to propel it through nearly 700 pages.

Awards

The book was awarded the 2015 Booker Prize. This was the first time that a Jamaican-born author had won the prize. [8] According to the BBC: "[Booker chair of judges Michael] Wood said the judges came to a unanimous decision in less than two hours. He praised the book's 'many voices'—it contains more than 75 characters—which 'went from Jamaican slang to Biblical heights'".

In a podcast interview, James said he spent part of the £ 50,000 Booker Prize money on a lamp in the shape of a life-size horse. [9]

Awards for A Brief History of Seven Killings
YearAwardCategoryResultRef.
2014 National Book Critics Circle Award Fiction Shortlisted [10]
2015 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence FictionLonglisted [11]
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award FictionWon [12] [13]
Green Carnation Prize—Won [14]
Man Booker Prize —Won [15] [16] [17] [18]
Minnesota Book Award Novel & Short StoryWon [19]
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature FictionWon [20]
PEN Open Book Award —Longlisted [21]
2016 International Dublin Literary Award —Shortlisted [22]

Television

HBO optioned the novel in May 2015 and is planning a television series, although no debut date has been announced. [23]

References

  1. ↑ Miller, Kei (10 December 2014). "A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James review—bloody conflicts in 1970s Jamaica". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Lazar, Zachary (23 October 2014). "Sunday Book Review: 'A Brief History of Seven Killings,' by Marlon James". The New York Times . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "A Brief History of Seven Killings". Goodreads . Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Chicago Humanities Festival (13 January 2016). Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings (Video). Retrieved 23 November 2025– via YouTube.
  5. ↑ Escoffery, Sherman (22 October 2014). "LargeUp Interview: Marlon James on "A Brief History of Seven Killings"". LargeUp. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Harvey, Chris (13 October 2015). "Marlon James interview: 'I didn't want to fall into a pornography of violence'". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Power, Kevin (28 September 2015). "A Shot in the Arm". Literary Review . Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  8. ↑ Masters, Tim (13 October 2015). "Man Booker Prize 2015: Marlon James wins for A Brief History of Seven Killings". BBC News . Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "The Booker Prize Podcast". 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  10. ↑ "National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2014". Critical Mass. National Book Critics Circle. 19 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "2015 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  12. ↑ "Winners". Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  13. ↑ "Marlon James". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  14. ↑ Anderson, Eric Karl (December 7, 2015). "The Green Carnation Prize 2015 Winner". Lonesome Reader. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  15. ↑ Kellogg, Carolyn (2015-10-13). "Marlon James wins the Man Booker Prize". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  16. ↑ "Man Booker Prize 2015: Marlon James wins for A Brief History of Seven Killings". BBC News. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  17. ↑ Brown, Mark (2015-10-13). "Marlon James wins the Man Booker prize 2015". The Guardian . Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  18. ↑ Singh, Anita (2015-10-14). "Booker Prize 2015 winner Marlon James: 'I almost gave up'". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  19. ↑ "Winners of the 27th Annual Minnesota Book Awards". Minnesota Book Awards. Archived from the original on 18 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Top three books named for 2015 OCM Bocas Prize • Bocas Lit Fest". www.bocaslitfest.com. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  21. ↑ "2015 PEN Open Book Award". PEN America. 2015-02-02. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  22. ↑ Cain, Sian (2016-04-12). "Shortlist announced for the 2016 International Dublin Literary award". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  23. ↑ "Marlon James' Novel A Brief History of Seven Killings to Become HBO TV Series" (Press release). Penguin Books USA. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.