I Like My Fiction Happy...and This was Not.
I have finally been able to read a fiction and was actually looking forward to doing so. I, in my normal fashion of being a glutton for punishment, decided to read Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings. The story starts in the late 1970s in Jamaica with a slew of characters and conspiracy theories (of which I was not aware). I don’t know why I was expecting the story to be a happy read because I read some reviews before I started the book, and not one gave that impression. Anywho, I just went all in with no expectations. To the credit of the author, I was saddened by the tragic characters. The story is told in a fashion similar to the way the movies Crash and Love Actually are told, in which one story is told through the different perspectives of the characters and this moves the story along. As the reader, one gets immersed in the characters and scenery while James is able to write their contribution to the plot making you feel what the character experiences. To that point is where there was no happiness for me, although the story was beautifully written.
Let me preface all of this by acknowledging my paradigm/frame in which I process or ingest this novel. I am born and raised in Chicago, I live in the suburbs, I have lived in other cities, I have visited Jamaica as a tourist, and I am a female. Outside of the reviews I read, I did not come by this book as a recommendation by anyone near or dear to me. All of these little tidbits contribute to my interpretation, so this is from where I come with my feelings about the novel.
The character who is most tragic to me is Bam-Bam. He is a young boy who is introduced to the reader in quite a tragic scene of his parents’ death, then this catapults him into his life of crime and misfortune. Bam-Bam does not get much in the story as far as the number of pages, but he is important to the story nonetheless. I fully expected/wanted his character to have a Hollywood ending where “in spite of…” he becomes a Top Shotta, an immigrant in the States, or something that could be judged as positive or successful (even if it was in politics or crime). Instead he is ultimately overwhelmingly disposable and has such a sad beginning and ending. This is so touching to me because it is raw. It is a reminder that things do not always end up great or even mildly acceptable for some people. The poor kid was just fully depleted by his environment and was ultimately lost with not a second thought. James writes in the first “chapter” of Bam-Bam, “By the time boy like me drop out of my mother, she give up…the only thing ghetto people can fill a void with is void…And killing don’t need no reason. This is ghetto. Reason is for white people. We have madness.” This is Bam-Bam from beginning to end. Tragic, lost, and in void. This makes me reflect on the state of affairs here in my hometown. The local news finds it important to constantly run a tally of shootings and murders over the weekend like it’s for Vegas, and there is someone waiting to cash out on their over/under bet. This crass practice removes the people and their lives from the story, boiling them down to numbers which are constantly changing, and seemingly never-ending. There are barely names to be mentioned and then the show goes on. This is like a city full of Bam-Bams being lost in the shuffle or being totally used and depleted. So for me Bam-Bam ultimately puts a story behind the numbers and a deeper attachment to the local shooting victims.
Weeper was a whole other character. He was the number three in command of the Copenhagen City gang in Jamaica. He was a loyal enforcer for Papa Lo and Josey Wales(the number one and number two in command). Now Weeper has a secret of his own, while he is serving as the gunman of the crew. This adds an additional layer to the character and his perspective. On the one hand Josey Wales is calculated and cautious with Weeper. Weeper and Josey butt heads because Josey is aware of Weeper’s secret and Weeper is aware of Josey’s. Weeper is not really multidimensional and that becomes his downfall. If he had been a “thinking man” maybe he could have seen his end much sooner and changed his fate. Weeper is a representative of what can happen when people who are usually oppressed or neglected find a bit of freedom. His “freedom” became his downfall and he paid for it.
Papa Lo is the number one Don, TopShotta, or bossman. Papa Lo is the quintessential old age gangster who is fed up with the life and is in a time of transition. This is where he and Josey (his number two) have their conflict. As in all gangster stories only one can survive and in this case it is not Papa Lo. In one of his “chapters” Papa Lo makes note that there are no old men in the ghetto. The men die before they reach old age, or they are imprisoned. This is another of the things in the book which resonate at home. For many reasons in some communities, there are nearly no men especially at the age of a grandparent.
For this story to be as long as it is, there is a lack of females in the story. There are those who are “extras” to the story and ***Spoiler*** the ones who are actually pivotal to the story are actually the same woman. Her story is a little off for me. I was not able to really feel for her because her connection to the singer and the event that brings everyone together is just so far on the fringe that she even wonders about her own place in the story. In each of the assumed identities Nina Burgess, takes on a different personality and is in a different stage of her life. The thing that keeps all of her personalities together is that she is perpetually running, always hiding, and never really at ease. Even as she ends the novel. I just did not connect with her very well and I cannot say it is from a lack of depth from the author, but just personal bias. Nina ends up being the freest of all of the characters and ultimately is a hero or protagonist of sorts. Nina is introduced as a strong-willed leading lady, she relies on her femininity when in distress and when it benefits her. Ironically, her reliance on her feminine charm is what gets her in the situation which she finds herself and causes her to need to flee. I don’t know if this is a slight of such, but I really ended up not really being interested in Nina, even though she is throughout the entirety of the novel.
Josey Wales is the main character of this novel, as he moves all of the other characters. He is the number two in charge who ends up becoming number one. His story is the usual, ambitious drug dealer/thug who outgrows his position and out maneuvers his boss then takes over. Josey was a “thinking man” who planned things out and looked at expansion and bigger pictures than what he was shown. Josey’s tragedies do not really invoke sadness because he is so ruthless throughout the book that it is like, finally he gets what he deserves. His fault ended up being his temper, loyalty, and ego. His temper puts all of the story in motion and starts his downfall. His loyalty and lack of, limit his foresight. This going hand in hand with his ego, allows him to be blind sighted and to get his karma.
Alex Pierce is the author writing the story while in the story and adds a cinematic touch to the novel. He ends up being too smart for his own good and finds himself in a self-inflicted tragedy. Alex falls in love with Jamaica to the extent he loses his job, his girlfriend, and then he devotes his time and career to a story which seems to be inconsequential. Unbeknownst to Alex, he catches the attention of the wrong guy and finds himself deciding whether it is all worth it. Alex sort of gets away, but he does have a tether to show he is not truly free from the grasp of this story to which he devotes his career.
The repeated theme of tragedy is throughout the novel from beginning to end. Each character has its own tragedy and ultimately, these are stories and events which can relate to themes which are universal and not only specific to Jamaica. I enjoyed the very purposeful details James uses in the format of the book. This is a good read, but it is in no way a happy story. Nowhere in this novel is there a happy ending.
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