A not so brief history of seven killings by Mr Marlon James

Set around the attempted murder of Bob Marley in Jamaica in late 1976. This novel is described as "Gripping and inventive, ambitious and mesmerising...one of the most remarkable and extraordinary novels of the twenty-first century." Winner of the 2015 Man Booker prize it runs to a hefty 686 pages. Reviews praised the authors use of Jamaican patois and street language threaded through with reggae. A mix of social, political and gangster settings which captures Jamaica and its diaspora through music and crime into America and Europe. Central, but more ghost like, drifts Bob Marley, "The Singer".

First off it is not an easy pick up/put down read. Characters appear, are dead, disappear, are murdered, engage in philosophical debate and with savage frequency indulge in violence, murder, all kinds of drug taking, brutal sex and reek of inflamed, sour testosterone. The dialogue for most of the book is misogyinistic and homophobic, women sexualised, and men rated by physical strength, sexual prowess (in their pea brains) and their ability to carry out killings in cold blood. Context is black history, slavery, ghetto, gangster capitalism, drugs, music and bling...and the patois is Jamaica gangsta rap on a mix of amphetamine, ganja, male boasting and big noting. Women who stand up to this relentless tide are slapped down, raped, threatened with rape and shot. The structure is a rapid stream of consciousness diatribe which by page 686 has outstayed its welcome on the time spent keeping pace with a story which ultimately adds little to the attempted murder for political or other reasons of Mr Marley. Writing through the lens of black history? Racism and the imposition of a white framework and context on the experiences of other races and cultures remains a norm. The current conversation of the Oscars in America reflects how much we think things have changed, but how little has. I am not able to say whether in this context Mr James's book is a departure. I would also recommend the 2001 documentary "Life and Debt" for what was to follow and the insidious globalisation.

And the ghost of Bob Marley? Drifts like grey smoke, the music, lyrics appear but rarely engage or rise above the blood, the violence, the smallness of the characters jostling to be heard. But in fairness, as gangsta rap did in urban America, Mr James has captured a part of the Jamaica of this time period. The disintegration of the colonist shackles led to corruption, crime and greed pouring acid into Jamaica of the seventies. Life in poverty can be short and brutal with violence a way to get status and resource. But it is also so much more. The great array of music that came from this crucible, the sound systems created from bit parts that launched dub, captures the richness of life as well as the undertow where this novel lives. For me, the music still inspires-something this book was unable to do.

All photographs taken at Notting Hill, London 1978