# A Brief History Of Seven Killings - Marlon James



## ringo (Oct 14, 2015)

Worth a thread of its own for anyone who wants to tie in characters in the book with the real story.

The Singer is obviously Bob marley.

Copenhagen City is Tivoli Gardens, Kingston.

Eight Lanes - Probably Matthews Lane, an area loyal to the PNP (Peoples National Party).

Papa Lo is Claudie Massop, founding member of the Shower Posse and area don of Tivoli Gardens, an area loyal to the Jamaican Labour Party.

Shotta Sherriff is Aston 'Bucky Marshall' Thompson, area don of Matthews Lane. 

Josey Wales is based on Jim Brown (born Lester Lloyd Coke), who succeeded Massop after his murder.

Josey's son is based on Dudus (Born Christopher Michael Coke), who took over after his father's murder. He was all over the news when he was arrested on drug charges and extradited to the US in 2010.

Storm Posse = The Shower Posse. Claude Massop and Vivian Blake founded the gang in Jamaica and Vivian Blake became its leader in New York. They took over transportation in the cocaine trade for Pablo Escobar from the Caribbean to America.

Rawhide is Keith 'Trinity' Gardner, a notoriously violent policeman who went on to become assistant commissioner of police and retired after 40 years service.

Copper is Dennis 'Copper' Barth, considered by some to be the originator of the Jamaican area don style of gang organisation.

Alex Pierce is very loosely based on writer/director Cameron Crowe, who was a journalist in Kingston at the time of Marley's shooting.

The best non-fiction book about the political violence and drug trade is Born Fi Dead: A Journey Through The Jamaican Posse Underworld by Laurie Gunst

Worth a look for slightly different reasons is Shower Posse by Duane Blake, notable for being written by a family member of the possee and including much self-aggrandizement and glorification of their violent deeds. 

Bucky Marshall, Bob Marley and Claudie Massop organising the One Love Concert:


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## Fozzie Bear (Oct 14, 2015)

The author was on Artsnight the other week and seemed great. My partner turned to me and said "you are blatantly going to read that, aren't you?" .

I like the idea of the Marley assassination attempt being a point in time that lead to the next few decades of Jamaican history...

Also recommend Born Fi Dead, obviously. Might have to read that again too.


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## ska invita (Oct 14, 2015)

Will wait for the paperback... Hardback too heavy!


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## ska invita (Oct 14, 2015)

Fozzie Bear said:


> The author was on Artsnight the other week and seemed great. My partner turned to me and said "you are blatantly going to read that, aren't you?" .
> 
> I like the idea of the Marley assassination attempt being a point in time that lead to the next few decades of Jamaican history...
> 
> Also recommend Born Fi Dead, obviously. Might have to read that again too.


What's artsnight on ?


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 14, 2015)

ska invita said:


> Will wait for the paperback... Hardback too heavy!


Kindle Edition is £5.03!

Paperback available!


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## Dan U (Oct 14, 2015)

Author was on BBC breakfast this morning, he hadn't been to bed yet after winning the prize last night, he seemed in much better nick than I would have been!


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## Fozzie Bear (Oct 14, 2015)

ska invita said:


> What's artsnight on ?



I think BBC2 - it's that half hour slot after Newsnight on a Friday when they have a guest editor. Last week's was a rundown of all the Booker shortlist by Ben Okri...


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## Dan U (Oct 14, 2015)

Have preordered the paperback as well based on the interview and subsequent googling


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 14, 2015)

Dan U said:


> Author was on BBC breakfast this morning, he hadn't been to bed yet after winning the prize last night, he seemed in much better nick than I would have been!


He was also on Today prog, being sparkly and fab


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## ringo (Oct 14, 2015)

ska invita said:


> Will wait for the paperback... Hardback too heavy!



I read it in paperback


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 14, 2015)

How does one look at rankings on Amazon? It will be mildly interesting to see how many places he leaps during today


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## ringo (Oct 14, 2015)

5t3IIa said:


> How does one look at rankings on Amazon? It will be mildly interesting to see how many places he leaps during today


I was just looking 

Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers: The most popular items in Books


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 14, 2015)

ringo said:


> I was just looking
> 
> Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers: The most popular items in Books


Oh, he's number 3 already


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 14, 2015)

Up to #1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Seller...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=707410387&pf_rd_i=266239


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## little_legs (Nov 18, 2015)

Thanks for the userful information on the characters ringo

Marlon James can certainly write. I am only 50 pages in, but the violence already made me vince.

I know I am going to struggle though because (1) I know nothing about history of Jamaica and (2) because he narrates the story partly in Jamaican patois.

I might be stupid, but how can you just go with the flow when you come across:

_Now JLP want the country back and there's no word named can't, there's no word named no. _- you what?
_
No, boss, that is con man business, me nah pay that. And how you fi do the I so? - _I get the 1st sentence_, _what does the 2nd sentence say?

I wish the book came with translations for stupid foreigners.


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## ringo (Nov 18, 2015)

Yes I wondered how easy it would be without some patois. 

The JLP line means the JLP will not be stopped. Nobody can tell them they can't win the election,  or say no to their ambition. They won't take no for an answer. 

How can you treat me so? 
Rastafari speech adopts a change of language which exchanges any part of the word which sounds negative to a positive, and a third person plural approach to I, so they themselves become The I, I and I, or we.


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## PursuedByBears (Nov 19, 2015)

Just finished reading this, what an epic! Really enjoyed this book although it's quite gruelling at times. I'm going to re-read Born Fi Dead now.


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## ringo (Nov 19, 2015)

PursuedByBears said:


> I'm going to re-read Born Fi Dead now.



I thought about it, haven't read it since it came out, but I think I'll wait a bit after the intensity of this one.


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## little_legs (Nov 19, 2015)

ringo 

See, those are important things.

I might come back here to ask for a few more _translations._

So far, I like how he goes for short sentences because you remember them longer and how he repeats things so it feels like you are reading prose poetry.

Short sentences:
_Woman breed baby, but man can only make Frankestein. 
Me want all of you to fuck the ground good._

Repeats:
_listen to me 
her mother possibly raped_


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## Orang Utan (Nov 19, 2015)

Sounds like he's the Jamaican David Peace


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## ringo (Nov 19, 2015)

little_legs said:


> I might come back here to ask for a few more translations.



Happy to translate


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## ringo (Nov 19, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Sounds like he's the Jamaican David Peace



A bit, but more like James Ellroy. If you've read American Tabloid its a similar style of historical based fiction. There's also a great deal of the more traditional Jamaican prose style though, including a lot of folk proverb and old testamant style metaphor. 

What I love about Jamaican speech, writing and particularly singing and toasting is the creativity of expression to convey meaning in an original way. Why say "hey, don't hassle me" when you can say "cho, pressure slide". If you give a man a book don't say "I'd like you to have this book", say "Yes I, control this".


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## ignatious (Nov 19, 2015)

This might be useful little legs Rasta/Patois Dictionary


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## little_legs (Nov 19, 2015)

ignatious


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## little_legs (Nov 19, 2015)

Just remembered something I forgot to ask yesterday, when the characters say _Syrian_, what/who do they mean?


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## ringo (Nov 19, 2015)

little_legs said:


> Just remembered something I forgot to ask yesterday, when the characters say _Syrian_, what/who do they mean?



There has been a pretty large migration of people from the Levant to Jamaica over the last 100 years, mostly from Lebanon and Syria, and they are all just called Syrians. Many started running stores so they are known as Jamaica's shop keepers, much like the English used to refer to people from Pakistan running corner shops.


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## little_legs (Nov 19, 2015)

ringo


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## belboid (Nov 24, 2015)

Well, that was stunningly good.  Took a while to really get into each of the voices, which isn't easy to do when your only reading time is on the bus to and from work.  It does need to be properly sat down with and buried into.  Once I'd done that, I whipped through it. A fascinating history, magnificently told.


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## ringo (Nov 24, 2015)

belboid said:


> Well, that was stunningly good.  Took a while to really get into each of the voices, which isn't easy to do when you're only reading time is on the bus to and from work.  It does need to be properly sat down with and buried into.  Once I'd done that, I whipped through it. A fascinating history, magnificently told.



Yes, I imagine it would be a less enjoyable read over a long period, more so if you weren't already familiar with the history. It benefits from total immersion.


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## belboid (Nov 24, 2015)

ringo said:


> Yes, I imagine it would be a less enjoyable read over a long period, more so if you weren't already familiar with the history. It benefits from total immersion.


I think I knew more of the history than I realised.  Kept thinking the JLP and PNP should be the other way round (as Labor's generally tend to be more left than National's), and hadn't realised the extent to which the parties were tied up in the gang culture. What a place.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 10, 2015)

belboid - stunningly good is spot on as a verdict. This is the best novel I've read since Nadine Gordimer's _Burger's Daughter_.

Mr. James also has a pretty cool Facebook page.


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## little_legs (Dec 11, 2015)

I need someone to tell me who the real life Heckler is, please. After trawling page after page on the net, I still can't figure out the person he is based on.


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## ringo (Dec 11, 2015)

little_legs said:


> I need someone to tell me who the real life Heckler is, please. After trawling page after page on the net, I still can't figure out the person he is based on.



Blimey my memory, is he 



Spoiler: the one who



starts out as one of the crew who attempt to assassinate the singer and eventually becomes part of his entourage?


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## little_legs (Dec 11, 2015)

ringo
Yes


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## little_legs (Dec 11, 2015)

I like how ringo is ignoring my request, the ghastly man.


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## ringo (Dec 11, 2015)

little_legs said:


> I like how ringo is ignoring my request, the ghastly man.



I'm not, I can't work it out 

It's a very particular character path isn't it? It would be odd if it wasn't based on a real person when so many others were.

I've asked on the Pama Records forum as a few members were in the music business in Kingston at the time and others have discussed the subject with people who were around, but so far nobody has responded. Maybe when the US wakes up and gets online, or maybe it'll fall into the fairly large list of things/people they don't dare talk about. I still find it odd that so much of this is in Wikipedia etc, but that's just the stuff made public from trials and the media. There is a lot of stuff which nobody has served time for and can't be mentioned because there are some very scary people involved.

And you're right, the ID of Heckle doesn't seem to be discussed anywhere, which also might suggest that it happened and he's still alive and it can't be published yet.


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## little_legs (Dec 11, 2015)

Many thanks, ringo

I hear ya. The book also says that Heckler was with the Singer in London, and that the picture of them together was published on the front page of The Gleaner.


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## ringo (Dec 11, 2015)

little_legs said:


> Many thanks, ringo
> 
> I hear ya. The book also says that Heckler was with the Singer in London, and that the picture of them together was published on the front page of The Gleaner.



Could be. An old friend and journalist always refers to reggae as "badman business". Reggae is and always has been to no small degree controlled by gangsters. Many of the area dons also became record producers because that was the thing, still is. George Phang for example, who ran the Powerhouse label in the 80's, is also area leader of Arnett Gardens  George Phang stays strong after taking 19 shots - News. The links between music and gangs is indistinguishable.

The same can be said about many of our beloved reggae singers and DJ's. Ranking Dread was a prime example, a singer who was at one time the most wanted crack selling "Yardie" in Britain  (Ranking Dread - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Many of his spars are still well known in the London reggae scene and there's no way I'd mention their names or what they're rumoured to have done on here.


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## little_legs (Dec 11, 2015)

ringo


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## little_legs (Dec 16, 2015)

A magnificent book.

It’s relentlessly intense, violent, dark and funny. Even when I expected him to take a break to allow me to recover from the gut-wrenching violence, abuse, humiliation and death, he did not flinch, it was like lob city. I was particularly shocked with how people appeared to be taking pleasure in inflicting pain.

One of Bam-Bam’s chapters read like a grime/hip hop track. It was simultaneously harrowing and beautiful.

Leggo Beast has to be the real life Dennis "Leppo" Lobban.

Lots of references to western/Clint Eastwood & horror films (e.g. _The Exorcist_), somehow both genres have struck a chord with the 1970’s gangsters. He also pays homage to Kafka’s _Metamorphosis_.

I only have 2 minor objections: The acerbity in the dialog between the CIA folks felt a bit histrionic, it was fun to read, but I doubt they talk to each like that. Also, I was not convinced with the story line in which someone reticent about their identity carelessly lets someone in their apartment.

Things/People I am not sure if they are real or made up:
1. There is a mentioning of a diplomat who got out of the Iranian jail because he knew Koran in and out, I wonder if this based on a real person.
2. There are 23 families that run/control Jamaica?
3. Apparently Marley financially helped/bankrolled 3000 families in Kingston.
4. I still don’t know who Heckle and Lucy are. 

If you are unfamiliar with the Jamaican idiom and the history of the period, this might help: 



Spoiler



*Words:*
Buckra
Samfie
Facety
Natty
Downpression
Ba-bye = bisexual
Duppy = ghost
Kibba = shut up
Rahtid = terrible
Busha = boss, a man in charge

*People & events*
Michael Manley
Edward Seaga
Cindy Breakspeare
Wyatt Earp
Parathion deaths in 1976 and the subsequent Dr Alimantado’s song _Poison Flour_
Cubana de Aviación Flight 455
Jamaica State of Emergency 1976
Tonton Macoute
Smile Jamaica Concert
Stokely Carmichael
Eldridge Cleaver
Kitty Kelley
Gay Talese
The Soiling of Old Glory/Ted Landsmark
Mandingo by Kyle Onstott
The assassination of Airey Neave
Peter Tosh
Jacob Miller
Andrea True + song _More, More, More_
Twelve Tribes
Henry Morgan
East German Coffee Crisis
One Love Peace Concert
The Gleaner Company
Green Bay Massacre (1978)
Josef Issels
Griselda Blanco
Rikers
Stepin Fetchit
Cab Calloway
Bernie Goetz


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## ringo (Dec 17, 2015)

I think the CIA dialogue might be close to the truth. I mentioned upthread James Ellroy's American Tabloid, which deals with the CIA's involvement in the Bay of Pigs etc, and describes a similar attitude and pattern of behaviours. The CIA in the 70's and 80's seem to have travelled the world inciting revolutions, killing people, funding illegal activities for political/monetary gain and generally behaving any way they liked without fear of prosecution and with government backing. They tried to overthrow Castro, armed the Kingston gangs, got very involved in the Escobar/Columbia cocaine business, caused havoc in Haiti and Grenada etc etc. I think they were probably loud mouthed, arrogant, alpha male arseholes.

The population of Jamaica generally believe they are controlled by a small number of families descended from slave era governors and plantation owners. Some of the politicians certainly came from poor working class backgrounds but the establishment is old (slave) money.

Just about every successful Jamaican artist feeds many families, Marley is known to have looked after a lot of people.

Which character is Lucy? No idea about the rest.


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## Idris2002 (Dec 17, 2015)

The CIA guy turned whistleblower is based on Philip Agee:

Philip Agee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## PursuedByBears (Dec 17, 2015)

ringo said:


> Which character is Lucy? No idea about the rest


Lucy is mentioned by Tristan Phillips as being the only other survivor of the peace council, that the journalist needs to track her down as well. She isn't a POV character.


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## little_legs (Dec 17, 2015)

ringo
Lucy is mentioned twice by the Peace Treaty official Tristan Phillips

&

Idris2002


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## ringo (Dec 17, 2015)

OK, no idea.


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## little_legs (Dec 17, 2015)

ringo
Yes, I agree with what you said about the CIA, what I was trying to say is that the passages with conversations between Adler and Diflorio read a bit like listening to Josh Lyman talking to Toby Ziegler, but that's ok, it did not take away anyting from them. As I said, it's only a minor objection.


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## ringo (Dec 17, 2015)

little_legs said:


> ringo
> Yes, I agree with what you said about the CIA, what I was trying to say is that the passages with conversations between Adler and Diflorio read a bit like listening to Josh Lyman talking to Toby Ziegler, but that's ok, it did not take away anyting from them. And I said it's only a minor objection.



I had to Google that, never watched it


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## ringo (Jan 22, 2016)

This is well worth a listen State of Emergency: Reggae Reflections on Jamaica’s Partisan Politics


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## Bunjaj Pali (Aug 13, 2016)

little_legs said:


> I need someone to tell me who the real life Heckler is, please. After trawling page after page on the net, I still can't figure out the person he is based on.



sorry to come to this so late but have only just finished the book. Agree that this is an incredible novel. One question I can't dislodge from my brain ...



Spoiler: Heckle



so I don't know who the real life Heckle is but I'm more intrigued by what happens to the fictional character. We learn from Eubie, as he's torturing Pierce, that he disappears after the Singer's death but he adds "nobody ever really vanish". He also says "the only one that might be alive, disappear in 1981 and nobody seem to know where he gone. But me". When Alex enquires where, Eubie says he's just told him but Alex "not too interested". So is Eubie hinting that he is in fact Heckle or have I completely misunderstood? There's no first person narrative from either of them which is also a bit strange given so many of the characters have voices. But then you'd expect Josie Wales to have recognised him. More confusingly in the midst of this conversation Eubie asks Pierce "you good with German?" and this reference I just don't get at all!! can anyone shed any light on this?


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## little_legs (Aug 14, 2016)

Bunjaj Pali said:


> sorry to come to this so late but have only just finished the book. Agree that this is an incredible novel. One question I can't dislodge from my brain ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



All I can say is that I know the feeling. Some day the truth will come out, in the meantime I can only offer my interpretation:



Spoiler: Heckle



I don't believe Eubie is Heckle.

This is pure speculation but basically I concluded that Heckle was part of the group who attempted to kill Marley and when that did not work out he was picked up by the Americans, possibly hid at the US embassy, gave them the intel on the higher ups of the gangs, was given the US visa and possibly a new identity, and fled Jamaica with Marley. Eventually Heckle ends up living in the US under the witness protection program which I think is what Eubie was trying to say when he was talking to Pierce.


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## alsoknownas (Aug 14, 2016)

Great book.  I dragged the hardback around everywhere for a few months (slow reader! ).  Really was one of those books that became one of the main focus of my days (engineering elaborate commutes to fit in extra reading ).

Most of all I loved the use of spoken (and thought) language - the way the uptown characters would have this sophisticated grasp of Queen's English, which would kind of evaporate into bits of patois under stress or passion; and how the downtown characters were seeped in patois, but, because they were high-school educated, would sometimes fall into a mode of contemplation that suited trad. English better; and how the author navigated the nuances and timing of this, I thought, was brilliant.

Have recommended it to a fair few people, all of whom have found it impenetrable!  ; which did make me wonder whether an easy acquaintance with patois is kind of compulsory for enjoying the book in full flow.  Like, I imagine, most people that have grown up in a mixed-up, diverse area, I didn't find the language difficult to read at all (had to look up one or two words!).	  

Really liked the promotion of the importance of vantage-point over perceived intellect, and how no character, no matter how well-placed or connected, could see the whole picture.  Rings really true for me.


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## Bunjaj Pali (Aug 14, 2016)

little_legs said:


> All I can say is that I know the feeling. Some day the truth will come out, in the meantime I can only offer my interpretation:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thank you! 



Spoiler: Heckle



Probably more likely than my theory. any idea about the reference to German?


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## Bunjaj Pali (Aug 14, 2016)

alsoknownas said:


> Have recommended it to a fair few people, all of whom have found it impenetrable!  ; which did make me wonder whether an easy acquaintance with patois is kind of compulsory for enjoying the book in full flow.  Like, I imagine, most people that have grown up in a mixed-up, diverse area, I didn't find the language difficult to read at all (had to look up one or two words!).



Yeh I agree, one or two phrases were difficult but generally didn't find it as difficult as the vernacular in Trainspotting or True History of the Kelly Gang.

couldn't agree more with your general assessment of the book.


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## little_legs (Aug 14, 2016)

Bunjaj Pali said:


> Thank you!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Again, only guessing here, but here it is: 



Spoiler: Heckle



I think Eubie was trying to say that if Pierce was a serious investigative journalist, he should have approached Josef Issels, the German fraudster healer who treated Marley, that maybe the doctor had some information on Marley's close circle and interviewing him could have led to Heckle


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## Diamond (Aug 14, 2016)

Entertaining read but not quite the masterpiece that people have hailed it as - in fact, in truth, it falls down on some of the basic elements that other people seem to bizarrely be celebrating.

First, the plot is a mess.  There is no narrative drive or focus.  It's interesting that Marlon James himself has said that for a very long time, he thought that he didn't even have a novel at all (as opposed to a series of impressions) and my view is that he didn't really ever sort that out.

Second, the dialogue doesn't function well as dialogue, pure and simple, which is a shame given the amount of effort he's made to (successfully) try and render patios on the page.  He takes a risk through the way that he structures it that the speaker isn't easily identifiable, relying instead on the strength of his characterisation.  The problem is that it doesn't work - very few of his characters, if any, have a unique voice at all and there are large stretches of dialogue which read as if they might as well have signs alongside saying "character A says this...", "character B says this..." and so on given the overriding sense that the author is just plonking sentence after sentence down without much thought as to how they come out of an individual person's mouth.

Third, the whole thing feels as if the author is sometimes hiding behind the detail of his research, ticking off stuff that must be described to lend the whole thing the necessary verisimilitude of the time.  The problem is that he rather forces the issue as opposed to just using a few bits and pieces here and there to create a resonant impression.  And when you read through the acknowledgments, it's really notable that he thanks multiple assistants for their research and, as far as I can recall, says something along the lines of having so much research to write about that he needs to line up another novel to do it justice, which is a really, really odd thing to say but very revealing - the stark impression is that this is a writer who is lead by his research - gatekeeper, motive force and so on.


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## ringo (Aug 15, 2016)

Diamond said:


> Entertaining read but



I disagree with everything you've said. You are spouting shit. You missed out.


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## ringo (Aug 15, 2016)

I think Heckle is still well known in the same circles and it would be too dangerous to hint too strongly in the book who he is.


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## Diamond (Aug 15, 2016)

ringo said:


> I disagree with everything you've said. You are spouting shit. You missed out.



In the end, the only character who I really cared about was Kim and even then only in that specific frame of the will they/won't they around Kenneth Colthirst.

That's illuminating because it means that the only bit of the narrative that really worked for me was the most hackneyed/cliched romantic subplot around an exciting/odd couple/forbidden/unrequited(?) love.

The rest of the characters loved no-one and no-one loved them which, along with the generally lax characterisation, rendered them paper thin and more or less entirely unsympathetic.

And some of the character's stories were also quite simply not believable and not because how they developed was intrinsically implausible but simply because it didn't really make any sense at all.

Weeper in NYC for instance just did not work at all when set against Weeper back in Jamrock.

But the odd thing is that it should have done - that should have been totally plausible that he had discovered some sort of gay nirvana in NYC that liberated him and exposed his vulnerabilities but it just did not work.

And the Alex Pierce character was off the scale badly drawn.


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## D'wards (Dec 15, 2016)

Two thirds into this

TBH, i'm finding it a bit of a struggle - It is just a bit boring at times, and there's so much of it! Huge sections of the book go past without much really happening.

I will finish it though.  Anyway, we can't all like the same things...


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## ska invita (Nov 15, 2021)

BUMP

Can anyone find a good source for CIA involvement in Jamaica, web or book? google is throwing up lots of article saying It Never Happened, Its A Myth


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## Chilli.s (Nov 15, 2021)

This book, I started it at least 3 times, it was hard going. Never got to the end. Then after indulging myself with audible i've had their fairly produced version read by several voices and made it to the end. It's still a challenging book even as an unabridged listen it requires concentration, and some of the violence is horrific (nightmare). I'm sure it'd appeal to some here who couldn't make it through the print version. One of my most satisfying audiobook listens.


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## GarveyLives (Mar 26, 2022)

ska invita said:


> BUMP
> 
> Can anyone find a good source for CIA involvement in Jamaica, web or book? google is throwing up lots of article saying It Never Happened, Its A Myth



Gary Webb, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion

Casey Gane-McCalla, Inside the CIA's Secret War in Jamaica


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