Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Brief History of Seven Killings

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.

Content Warnings

daisytudball's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Incredible book spanning several decades in Jamaica around the time of Bob Marley’s attempted assassination. Quite complex to read jumping back and forth between characters and cities- read when you’re ready to concentrate.

Lots of content warnings on this one..

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense 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

Nothing like ending a reading project with a bang. A Brief History of Seven Killings was the final book for my project of reading every book featured in This is the Canon. Decolonize Your Bookshelf in 50 Books and what a cracker of a book it was. It felt epic in scope with a truly large and varied cast of characters, was told from fourteen different points of view, and its action spanned two countries and two decades. Part of the plot centred around a real life assassination attempt on Bob Marley, referred to here as the Singer, and its aftermath, but the full plot was much more complicated, involving the intersection of criminal gangs, the drug trade, Rastafarianism, political parties and the machinations of the CIA, with explorations of race, class, colonisation, sexuality and gender woven in. It wasn’t just a crime novel; it really highlighted the socio-political history of Jamaica in the 1970s and 1980s. On top of that it also explored the concepts of storytelling and of beating witness. The overall tone was hardcore masculinity, often toxic and with plenty of violence, not normally my favourite, but here it worked for me. The story was compelling, grabbing my attention and never letting go, and the characters well-drawn and multi-faceted, without necessarily being likeable. James can sure write - the authenticity and range in his dialogues alone was impressive - and the audio production values were impeccable, really adding to the story. Not always an easy read but well worth it.

Content Warnings

emmanicoleman's review

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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

Content Warnings

siobhanward's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

isabeldotml's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

spacecars's review against another edition

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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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