Since I met my wife, she has done a great job at expanding the palette and quantity of books that I read. I am extremely grateful. She read this book several years ago, and I was uninterested, but I was gifted A Brief History of 7 Killings for Christmas this year, and am overall happy!

As a relatively wealthy white man, I have benefited from explicitly making it a point to read at least one book per year written by an American author of color (Tears We Cannot Stop, We Were Eight Years in Power, and The Underground Railroad are all recommended), and one book per year written from a post-colonial perspective (Homegoing, Americanah and The Sympathizer are quite good). This fits the latter criteria a little more, but it is a good read not just because I want to gain understanding, sympathy, and empathy for others, but because this book is really, really good. It won the Mann Booker Prize in 2015, and if you don’t know what that is, it is worth finding out.

What I admire most about this book and its author, Marlon James, is that none of the characters are likeable in the first 200 pages or so. And the voices of these characters are of astounding diversity AND clarity. A Jonathan Franzen book sure has a lot or characters, but their voices are all recognizable as emanating from the same mind. So I found myself reading a book with loads of different perspectives, none of which I wanted to spend more time with, and yet, I could not put it down. What I find unfortunate is I compare it to other authors’ work, when it ought to stand alone.

The book is a masterpiece, in the sense that a Renoir, or a Ferrari, or a Linklater is a masterpiece. Even if you don’t love the specific subject, you will admire this this book. It centers around the shooting of Bob Marley in 1976, and that is really all you need to know diving in. As the characters’ lives expand and unravel, a few do stand out as protagonists we can root for. And while long, it merits a re-reading due to the complexity and identity shifting.

Overall a great piece of fiction, and highly recommended!