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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 Caribbean

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
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I thoroughly enjoyed it. The actors were brilliant and the story is wonderful.

Strongly recommend this book

What a great book!

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loved from start to finish, colourful, intense. the narrators of this fine tale read it beautifully. highly recommend this book

Amazing! truly deserved the booker prize

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I have listened to many audiobooks and have never been blown away by that narrators as I was in this one. A great story, but an even greater performance.

Best narration of hundreds of audiobooks

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The story is really confronting, and the violence is graphic, but knowing that a lot of what went on is true is the most surreal part?! That this place and time in Jamaica was so lawless, and political. It was truly eye opening, and superb because of it.

Gripping and original

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What did you like most about A Brief History of Seven Killings?

Listening to this story you can become lost in the world and the time. It really feels like 1970s Jamaica.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh, cry, cringe. It was so raw with so many emotions. Without giving too much away, the way the book deals with death and the act of dying is incredible.

An epic on many levels

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Absolutely loved this and the voice actors are next level!
I loved how Marlon James took history and flipped it through rumours and whispers spoken around Jamaica! It somehow creates a historical take that feels more rooted in truth than fiction. My father was a Marley fan and I grew up listening to the singers songs and know all the lyrics so the way this was written opened doors of whole new perceptions for me. I even found myself compelled to look into the real life characters involved in this and their scenarios. Thank you for making me look into Jamaica more and gain a glimpse of all its colourful history good and bad.
Brilliant book and each character was utterly compelling and interesting, they were human. Rasta don't work for no CIA.

2666 in Jamaica!

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Could not make it to the end. Had heard reviews started out very positive but the reading was a miss mash that really debased the writing for me.

Maybe hard copy would live up to the books promise

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First off, I thought the performances were great. The variety of voices is what kept me going more than anything but I just didn't get it. I couldn't finds character to like and at times struggled to see how they fit into the overall story. A complete slog for me to finish this unfortunately.

Difficult to like

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The book was way too long and just boring. Don't waste your time unless you study literature.

Just boring.

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