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A Brief History of Seven Killings cover art

A Brief History of Seven Killings

Written by: Marlon James
Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Johnathan McClain, Robert Younis, Thom Rivera
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Publisher's Summary

Winner, The Man Booker Prize, 2015

On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years.

Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters - assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts - A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s. Brilliantly inventive and stunningly ambitious, this novel is a revealing modern epic that will secure Marlon James' place among the great literary talents of his generation.

©2014 Marlon James. Recorded by arrangement with Penguin Books. (P)2014 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What listeners say about A Brief History of Seven Killings

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dazed and confused

The story is all over the place and I’m not even sure there is a story so much as a bunch of excerpts from a bunch of characters stories that are sort of connected. Constantly didn’t know who was telling a story now and how it related to the so called story. Some really great potential but just soooooo confusing

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Must Read book into 1970s Jamaica

I can’t begin to talk about how amazin this audiobook is, the best i’ve heard the best book i’ve ever heard as well. Multiple characters, multiple storylines all bound together by Bob Marley (the “singer”) that shows different views of what it was like in Jamaican Ghettos, Jamaican NY, CIA during cold war and more. I must say...the voice actors did the absolute best possible, they also perfected the Jamaican patois which I love. I reccomend this to ALL.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant storytelling and narrations

Marlon James is a brilliant writer. I love his use of language and the way he creates and develops characters. I began reading this book, but then decided it was best to listen to it. And wow! The narrators are all excellent and give life to Marlon James amazing writing. I cannot recommend this book enough!!
I started to listen to James' "Black Leopard, Red Wolf', but that is a book that needs to be read. I need the map to spatially orient me as I read. While the narrator for that novel is incredible, I just could not follow it well.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • CP
  • 2022-09-12

Horrible accents are distraction

I wanted to like this book. But I’m not even sure I will be able to finish it. There are a lot of characters to keep track of. The different attempts at the Jamaican accents are distracting. Even the ones who sound like the might actually be Jamaicans sound too stiff because they are reading and not acting. As a Jamaican, I want to see other Jamaicans win. This might be a great story or even a play, but it’s not a great audio book. If you want to read it, I would suggest reading the actual book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • JL
  • 2019-01-01

Stop using fake Jamaicans

The fake Jamaican accents were terrible. Two of the Ja'n narrators were good. The others were horrible when they tried to sound Jamaican. One guy even mispronounced well known places like Mico and Wolmers! I feel like I wasted my money getting this book. The fake Jamaican accents were unbearable.

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3 people found this helpful