Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

17 reviews

l_barasa's review

challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Cursing, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

nwfalens's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

Beautiful storytelling, but very difficult reading with the violence. An important book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Child death, Death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

breeisreading_'s review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Basically a masterpiece, but there’s something just stopping me from giving it 5 stars. It’s just a little too long winded, a little too confusing at times, but still one of the most well crafted books I have ever read.

I’m in awe of James’ writing style, how he effortlessly switches between the myriad of characters and still makes it easy for us to go with the flow, picking up a new voice and way of storytelling that never feels out of place from the previous chapter. 

This was honestly not what I expected, and not what I assumed going into it - I did think there would be more emphasis on Bob Marley, as that’s definitely how the book was marketed. However, the lack of “The Singer” didn’t even let me down, as every other character was so absorbing that I never felt I wanted any less of them all. 

Sometimes the politics and economics was all a bit much, but maybe that’s just me as someone who has no idea about most of any of what was mentioned. I feel like I learnt a lot about Jamaica and its politics and people and the 70s/80s and drugs/gangs etc in America as well. It definitely kept me hooked throughout. 

And even though most of the characters were awful, evil people - I ended up liking so many of them, or at least feeling attached to them. Especially Weeper. And definitely Nina Burgess (and all her many other names). Every character felt very real and alive to me, and because I’ve been reading this book solidly for like a week now, I honestly think I’m going to miss this world and it’s inhabitants now I’m not with them anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug use, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Grief, Racism, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Addiction, and Fire/Fire injury

emmanicoleman's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Rape, and Hate crime

Minor: Homophobia, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

kittenpuke's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Death

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Gun violence

siobhanward's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 This was a cool premise and was mostly well executed, but boy was it long. It felt a lot like it could have lost 200-300 pages and not been greatly impacted. There felt like there was a lot of build up that then fizzled out, but the build up was so strong that it definitely made the book better.

I think part of the challenge is that there were a ton of characters - James used them well (and having a who's who at the beginning helped a ton), but it felt at times like there were whole chapters where not a lot happened and we learned little about the character it focused on. I think fewer of these chapters would have made things a lot better. I was happy to have learned so much about a time and place I knew nothing about (1960s-80s Jamaica) and James did an excellent job bringing readers up to speed about what was happening at the time without it feeling like a textbook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Drug use

spacecars's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

mrsnwankwo57's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Gore

mikayladlewis's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I started this book as an ebook but quickly switched to the audio, this is a book that I would recommend knowing the context of it before you pick it up. Since it is told from multiple perspectives, it can be confusing to follow the storyline, however I think that the author's writing was perfect for the story.
I think the readers for the audiobook did an amazing job in portraying their characters and it definitely made this book an easier read. 
I will admit, I got a little lost at times but could quickly piece together any missing parts as the story went on. I think getting to the flow of the story is more important than understanding every single word. There is definitely a lot of difficult content in this novel, but I think the author has done a brilliant job in portraying the messiness of life and the messiness of Jamaica during this time period. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, Gun violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and War

whatthekatdraggedin's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, and Excrement

Minor: Pregnancy