Novelist Marlon James has become the first Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize, for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings . The book, a fictional account of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, is set amid political upheaval in Kingston in the late 1970s, reported Quartz .
A New York Times review of the book read, “It’s like a Tarantino remake of The Harder They Come but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner, with maybe a little creative boost from some primo ganja.”
“This book is startling in its range of voices and registers, running from the patois of the street posse to the Book of Revelation,” praised Michael Wood, chair of the 2015 Man Booker judges. The book “moves at a terrific pace, and will come to be seen as a classic of our times,” according to The Eco nomist report .
Twitter reactions:
The moment we heard @MarlonJames5 won the #ManBooker2015 ! pic.twitter.com/2eRwVZ70F6
— Riverhead Books (@riverheadbooks) October 13, 2015 “Ten years ago I’d given up on writing. It was a novel that had been rejected 70 times…” Marlon James #ManBooker2015
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) October 13, 2015 Fave #ManBookerPrize moment: Marlon James thanks @KaylieJones , who encouraged him after he quit writing: http://t.co/S09lLFWHp9 #mentors
— Tom Beer (@TomBeerBooks) October 13, 2015 I’m late to this party, but HUGE congrats to #ManBookerPrize winner and all around righteous dude @MarlonJames5 ! pic.twitter.com/wxa5peGbpt
— Isaac Fitzgerald (@IsaacFitzgerald) October 13, 2015 The #ManBookerPrize was won by a Jamaican. It’s still sinking in. I just looked @ the list of winners just to see “Jamaican” #ManBooker2015
— ShadHOshaper (@ItsNasB) October 13, 2015 Watch James accepting the award:
