If it no go so, it go near so… I have just
finished Marlon James’ astonishing ‘A Brief History of Seven
Killings’ which he himself has memorably described as being not brief
and having many more than seven killings. At almost 700 pages and with a body
count in the hundreds this is not a relaxing or a comforting read. But firstly, I
do think it is technically an astonishing achievement. The entire book is
written in the first person, but from about twenty different perspectives.
Chapters are written in the voices of Jamaican gangsters of varying levels of
seniority and sophistication, a white journalist, a Jamaican woman, a south
American…. agent, CIA bosses and one dead politician. That most of
these are distinct is extraordinary, and the way in which the language (mostly
extraordinarily bad, violent and misogynistic) is captured is a remarkable
achievement. I can probably now swear in authentic 1970s Jamaican ghetto
– if I wished! And despite the difficulty of following these strands of
stories and joining them up, the force of narrative does drive you on, well
it did me, and push me to the end. The book is in
five sections. The first two deal with the attempted shooting of Bob Marley
in December 1976, then Jamaica in 1979 and New York and Miami in 1985 and
1991. I found the first two section the most riveting. I always understood that
Marley was involved in a very poisonous political scene in Kingston, but I
never realised how poisonous and how complex it was. This section is really
well written, and the focus on ‘the singer’ gives the narrative
real drive. The third section is largely tying up the loose ends from 1976
and it also charts a rise in the levels of violence. The final sections are,
frankly, dispiriting to read. The Jamaican gangs have teamed up with the Columbians
and moved operations via Miami to New York. The drugs are wretched, the
people more so. The violence extraordinary and on a mind boggling scale. The
Seven Shooting in the title refers to one night and one man. None of the
victims, including a pregnant woman, ‘deserved’ to die even in this
gang culture. The Don of Dons was simply pissed off. As with any
such book, its message is depressing. Those who are poor feel they have no
choice but organised crime and violence. Crack really is a devastating drug
that destroys communities. The most violent of men are largely untouchable
and government agencies’ involvement is problematic and not geared to
simply driving out the bad men. Little people have no voice, women, in this
culture at least, really are no more than sex objects and baby mothers
(example of dialogue: Why you come to Kingston so often? You like black pussy
that much?), politics is as corrupt as the gangs and there are no obvious
solutions to any of this. But if you can
cope with the language and the violence it is a serious and meaty book and
worth the effort. It is well researched and informative, and as the Jamaican
proverb goes, If it no go so, it go
nearly so. But
don’t expect to feel up lifted at the end. |
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Blog #29 |
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you would like to comment on any of these Blog pieces please email me on: bjc@briancreese.co.uk