A brief history of seven killings - fiction

[nori]

Has anyone read this new book by marlon James yet? i have it on my 'to read' list.
its a novel written about the history of Jamaica during the political events at the time of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley.

[Seveen]

700 pages and it's fiction - started it - i hope i make it through - Mr. James can be wordy and jumps around - i know one of his books that I never finished - just got bored

[gailnegril]

NPR - October 5, 2014

Marlon James' latest novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, is not brief, and it contains many more than seven deaths. It's a portrait of Jamaica in the '70s, when gang warfare and reggae reigned.
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353254...sc=ipad&f=1008

[Seveen]

and it's FICTION

[Packrat]

Got my hard copy from Amazon today, hope to get stated on it in the next few days and looking forward to it.

[Marblehead]

It ain't easy, but it's hard to put it down.

I finished this book a couple of nights ago. I learned about some of the back story of the historic events on my first trip to Negril in 1984. If you think politics is bare knuckle here, it was god awful in the late '70's early '80's in Jamaica. In one of those elections, something like 700 political murders took place in a population of 2 million. Scale that up to our population and that would be 110,000 killed in an election! Just before we departed for Jamaica, I came across an article in High Times about Negril and how cocaine was having a devastating impact. Well worth the patience to read it through. This is important history to get acquainted with.

[captaind & Linston]

I was there from 1969 to 1986 and witnessed all of it. From living in Beverly Hills in Kingston to living in Spring Garden with no electric or water.

I spent election night 1980 at the Appleton estate.

I don't think I could even begin to explain how the 70s and 80s were.

I'm glad they're history and very happy to be back in Jamaica

Cap

[Rob]

To set the story straight, as quoted in the Observer, "THE political violence that haunted the 1980 general election has evaporated."

What you are referring to happened 35 years ago. Reagan was the President of the USA and MTV did not exist yet. It is history, but since it has no impact at all on current conditions, I am not sure how "important" getting acquainted with it is.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...hanged-Jamaica

And out of curiosity, what is the date on that High Times article? When cocaine first hit the island in the 80's - early 90's, as it did in America in the 70's and 80's, it did have its usual devastating impact on some. But Jamaicans quickly learned from their addicted friends who became what was called a "stockie" that cocaine (and crack) was not the way to live.

[Marblehead]

To set the story straight, as quoted in the Observer, "THE political violence that haunted the 1980 general election has evaporated."

What you are referring to happened 35 years ago. Reagan was the President of the USA and MTV did not exist yet. It is history, but since it has no impact at all on current conditions, I am not sure how "important" getting acquainted with it is.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...hanged-Jamaica

And out of curiosity, what is the date on that High Times article? When cocaine first hit the island in the 80's - early 90's, as it did in America in the 70's and 80's, it did have its usual devastating impact on some. But Jamaicans quickly learned from their addicted friends who became what was called a "stockie" that cocaine (and crack) was not the way to live.

1980 is a long time ago, Rob. I didn't mean to imply that things were the same these days.

As I recall, the HT article was from late '83/early '84 and laments the growing impact of coke due to tourists willing to purchase. I made my first trip in March '84 and had regular offers to sell us some. By '88, the impact was jaw dropping. In '89 at a Dennis Brown concert I saw a dude with a large entourage give a look and out would pop a stuffed cloth bag, quick scoop with his over sized, gold spoon around his neck, snort, snort and it was over in under 10 seconds. Crack was also readily available. I've heard Jamaicans lament that their yard plans were being stolen because they'd fetch enough for a hit. Seems to be tame these day in comparison.

[onthecorner]

respectfully, history is very important and its impact on today is its ability to teach us by being able too study the mistakes of others. To ignore history and dismiss it as worthless is a mistake many leaders have made. To not know our past puts us in danger of repeating the same mistakes over again. For Jamaicans the political violence of the 1980 general election is something that is very important to the current conditions. It important to remember the violence and the mistakes made so hopefully they will never be repeated. Our greatest lessons comes from our darkest moments.