Recent Reading: A Brief History of Seven Killings

The word brief in the title, since James’ book is nearly 700 pages, is ironic. The book is an epic multi-character (many members of Jamaican criminal gangs, Cubans criminals and members of the Medellin cartel, the CIA Kingston station chief, and a clueless journalist, among others) tale of post-colonial Jamaica. Much of the book is written in Jamaican patois that, at least for me, became a sort of tragic poetry. The essential tale told in the book is of how criminal violence and drug trafficking became Kingston’s most important export.

Here is one line from a mostly clueless journalist character, that captures the feel of Kingston’s declining slums:

“Zinc in the Eight Lanes shines like nickel. Zinc in Jungle is riddled bullet holes and rusted color of Jamaican rural dirt … Ghetto is a smell … Old Spice, English Leather and Brut Cologne. The rawness of recently slaughtered goat, the pepper and pimento in goat’s head soup.”

Let me say that there are other good Jamaican novels that are shorter and easier to read if you are not sure if James’ novel is for you: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn, Augustown by Kei Miller, Pao by Kerry Young.

What books do you like about Jamaica of the Caribbean islands?