A Brief History of Seven Killings

I came to A Brief History of Seven Killings after finishing James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf. While both novels are long, violent, and complicated, I much preferred the latter.

A Brief History of Seven killings comprises five parts, the first two of which take place over the course of two consecutive days, and the last three of which are separated from the first two and each other by years. A multitude of characters narrates the book, trading off perspectives each chapter, and what begins as a beautiful chorus devolves into cacophony by the middle of the book.

The first two parts, “Original Rockers” and “Ambush in the Night,” chronicle the events leading up to and immediately following an assassination attempt on Bob Marley. These sections are perfect. One could rip out the last 400 pages of the book and it would still be deserving of every accolade it has won. The blended and diverse narration is fantastic, connecting events on the streets of Jamaica to Cold War geopolitics.

I found the two middle sections, which deal with the drug trade in the late seventies and eighties, to be a bit of a slog. I love long books, and I almost always become more invested in the characters as I progress; that was not the case with this novel. Once the tension of assassination attempt breaks, the narrative bloats and becomes unwieldy. Additionally, in these sections, two of my favorite characters (the ghost and the CIA agent) were scantly utilized, understandably but regrettably. I did enjoy the last section, which includes a series of one-on-one encounters between several of the characters and does an excellent job of ending the book.