A Brief History of Seven Killings

Wow. I have finished it! what a book. I'm both annoyed by it, in love with bits of it and frustrated by the last 350 pages of it.  To be honest if it was half the length I think it would have been a much, much better book.  

The first half was brilliant with the immersion into Jamaican gang violence, drug culture and ghetto lifestyle in the 70s. Even the Jamaican patois didn't give me no bombocloth r'asscloth fuckery.  (Translation: it was fine!) getting into the lifestyle, politics, grimness and culture of Kingston  just as Bob Marley was becoming a world music icon was just brilliant.   I loved the characters, the language and the brilliant sense of time and place. The  political angle with the CIA getting involved with Jamaican politics just to stop the Cubans getting a foothold in the country was cool too. ( something I knew nothing about. ) 

Marlon James can write, that is not under question. Every chapter was the voice of a different character and each character ( if they survived ) grew and changed over the 13 years of the book's narrative.  But every character was unremittingly grim and after the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1979, there ceased to be any more  plot. Everything just turned into 'scenes' and grabbed dialogue.  It was all a bit empty for me and has left me cold. No one, absolutely no one was redeemable.  But James did  write absolutely fantastic streams of consciousness when people were dying or shooting up places. The emptiness of their consciousnesses was just harrowing and bloody amazing to read. 

 This is not a book for the faint hearted, or anyone who wants characters to feel any redemption.  This book is hard and brutal in the hardest and most brutal terms. The only joy really was a short chapter in the middle where one of the gang leaders, because he has moved to New York to expand his crack cocaine business, finally comes to terms with himself being gay and what that actually means for him in his role as head of the gang. ( He's still hard as fuck. He just likes himself a  little bit more!) 

This book is grim with no let up and the second half reads like a shaggy dog story that just got on my nerves. But the first half, before Bob Marley dies of cancer ( after the attempted murder.)  is brilliant and it annoys me that the book lost direction for me after that. Too clever for its own sake I think and far too depressing and unremittingly bleak for me. Oh well, at least  I can attempt to swear like a Jamaican now if I want to.

Chaos Walking Trilogy

Phew that was a bit of a marathon! A whole series of Young Adut Fiction read and totally enjoyed. I just loved this series, especially the first book. Oh my god, the first book was brilliant and when I finished it I was in such a panic to get my hands on the second one I phoned up the Bicester library, found out they had it and ran down at 6.55pm just before it closed.( none of the shops here had a copy to buy!) 

Patrick Ness has created a great story here, all set on another planet where exiled humans turn up in their spaceships. They are creating a new world and as expected things go wrong, very wrong.  On this planet the indigenous creatures are obviously strange and need to be killed or tamed and men also have the added burden of all of their thoughts being instantly transmitted in NOISE to every single person. Every thought and hidden feeling is instantly heard or seen by everyone.  oF course  this sends the men a bit mad and it's a bit of a burden having to hear and see the inner thoughts of everyone. There is just no secrecy and most men are just thinking lots of annoying nonsense anyway! The worst thing is that women don't transmit this noise and their thoughts remain private.  This obvious unexpected difference creates  problems and war as communities fight over the kind of world they want to live in.

Phew, it all sounds pretty heavy and to be honest lots of the ideas are, but they are cleverly told through the adventures of Todd, Viola and Manchee their dog as they travel away from Prentistown, a town with no women or children.( all the women mysteriously died) to find a better life. Todd is the youngest boy in the town and when he turns 14 he will find out the secrets of this  woman free town and his father wants him to escape to find a better life. Todd has to run away quickly with just his mother's diary ( which he can't read because education is banned in this town) without any knowledge because if he had any knowledge of anything the elders would be able to read what he was thinking in his NOISE and stop him.

Anyway, then the story really kicks in. We meet men who can control their noise, learn about the terrorists who are fighting for freedom, witness a genocide of the local species, see how Todd succumbs to the power of leadership, see bravery when we least expect it. Witness mass branding of the women, see how fighting is a never ending display of bravado at the expense of the powerless, how to control feelings of revenge, the power of negotiation, how easily young people can be radicalised by their elders, how to deal with refugees and the innocent displaced masses and a great adventure story as Todd and Viola travel across this land trying to find peace. 

Yes, it all sound really worthy but it isn't. The inner life of the young are really well  described here and it's all very exciting but the adult characters are a bit one dimensional...but hey, this isn't surpring this book is for teenagers but I just wanted more depth to the adult characters as well! 

The third book did get a bit preachy and boring for me...I had gone off the boil after the excitement of the first two but worth the read. Especially reading how easily vulnerable children can get brainwashed. A great read for anyone over 12 I reckon....actually maybe older because many parts  of this book did give me graphic nightmares!