Jamaican Author Marlon James Wins Man Booker for "A Brief History of Seven Killings"

Marlon James (b. Jamaica 1970) is the recipient of several prestigious honors for "A Brief History of Seven Killings."  The novel won this years' Man Book Prize, was a finalist for the Nat'l Book Critics Circle Award and won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Lit. for fiction.  I read only 100 pages of this densely packed 700 novel.  Perhaps, I'm too dense to comprehend the multiple narratives and too uncomfortable to deal with the violent historical unrest in Jamaica in the mid 1970's.  Having said that, I do perceive the literary genius in James' complex writing.  The multiple narratives, including ghost voices of the dead, are all tied around the world famous singer Bob Marley & the major concert he is about to perform in his native country.  Marley's rocket rise to fame is even more incredulous knowing his impoverished & violent upbringing in a country that is basically corrupt.  I applaud the writing, deplore the historical events and regret that I did not have the temerity to persevere.  Perhaps I will return to this novel after putting it aside.  But, the storytelling does not facilitate an ease for picking up & putting down.  It demands a focus to keep pace with the turbulence that confronts you from numerous angles.  A light vacation read?  Absolutely not - it is a tour de force that may fire over most people's heads (including my own.)  This explosive novel is nothing like the Disney "Cool Runnings" film (1993.)