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A Brief History of Seven Killings

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A Brief History of Seven Killings

By: Marlon James
Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Jonathan McClain, Robert Younis, Thom Rivera, Various
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About this listen

Winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

On 3 December 1976, just weeks before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert to ease political tensions, seven gunmen from West Kingston stormed his house.

Marley survived and went on to perform at the free concert. Not a lot was recorded about the fate of the seven gunmen, but much has been said, whispered and sung about in the streets of West Kingston.

©2014 Marlon James (P)2014 HighBridge Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Scary Thought-Provoking Caribbean

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Critic reviews

"Vast and teeming...a vivid novel that deserves all the praise it has received." ( Sunday Telegraph)
"This seething, hot, violent, action-packed novel is enormous in every sense...the ambition is huge, but [James] pulls it off with huge style, confidence, imagination and wit.... Extraordinary." ( The Times)
"The most original novel I’ve read in years. A haunting, incendiary work." (Irvine Welsh)
All stars
Most relevant  
Gripping story with fantastic narration. Certainly a book you will be telling everyone you know about. Only problem is that you will start cursing in Jamaican.

Essential listen

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Uncomfortable at times but definitely not out of context. One of the best audio books I've heard so far

Gripping, with brilliant actors

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Such a unique read, one of the best novels I've read/listened too.
So well constructed and executed. Excellent platform to absorb the work as an audio book. It really made a difference to hear the accents as they should be. Brilliant

A visceral read

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Great book. Incredible realism. Excellent performance on audible too. Though not for the faint hearted.

Brilliant and Original.

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

I have no hesitation in commending every actor/reader who contributed to voicing the characters. Of course, they've great material to work from.

What did you like best about this story?

The raw human emotion which was sliced open for us. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall similar. Not many words in that novel were wasted on describing tapestries, jaded parleys or adornments. You knew the weapons, you knew the cars, you knew the food when it was necessary. The envy, the greed, the emotion, that's what mattered.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances? How does this one compare?

There were so many wonderful voices and I will look up of all them. The narrators did not put a foot wrong. The author of the novel goes beyond superlative in his use of language. Not a wasted noun or adjective. Behind him great schooling, maybe family encouragement and perhaps an attentive copy editor. Everyone is to be thanked

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Dorcas and the uptown ride to the Bronx.

Any additional comments?

Thank you one and all for bringing such a stunning book the ears of so many (I hope) grateful listeners.

Not a novel for the faint hearted

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Good story and performance but wanderers around too much to remain engaging. Not really recommended.

Feels like the extended version

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Immersive epic bringing together strands of overlapping lives from the Kingston ghetto in the late 70s and beyond. Brutal in content and language but involving, surprising and enjoyable

Brutal Kingston gangster epic

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The story is well developed and most threads were well developed and loose ends knotted off by the end. The voices were well selected for the characters though some accents were not authentic to the Jamaican cadence. I had read the book , the audio version lifted my understanding . Super job audible.

Super job

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Brilliant novel. Not for the faint of heart. Exceptional and ambitious in its scope. Amazing voices. Real individual stories in the shadow of Bob Marley. Quite like nothing else. All the narrators do an amazing job however some are pushed too far.

Exceptional and Ambitious

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Written in Jamaican patois mostly with some very graphic descriptions of violence, sex and drug use, so some may be put off. BUT if you give this a go, its a very well written and original book.. full of history, psychology, philosophy and humour. When I started I thought the run time was a bit mad for a book of this style but as it went on I felt the length was perfect, really allows the author to get deep into each era! An all round great listen, narrators are all top class (apart from the odd dodgy accent from one or two of them, but nothing major.. only short sections) and give each character such life.

Not going to be for everyone but those that get will adore it..

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