Reviews
Elements coalesce in a Jamaican stew spicier than jerk chicken. First novelist James moves effortlessly between lyrical patois and trenchant observations . . . It's 150-proof literary rum guaranteed to intoxicate and enchant. Highly recommended., ""Marlon James spins his magical web in this novel and we willingly suspend disbelief, rewarded by the window he opens to Jamaica (and a world) rarely portrayed in fiction." --Elizabeth Nunez, author of Bruised Hibiscus, winner of the American Book Award "Pile them up, a Marlon James character says repeatedly and Marlon does just that. Pile them up: language, imagery, technique, imagination. All fresh, all exciting. This is a good book and a writer to watch out for." --Chris Abani, author of GraceLand, winner of the Hemingway/PEN Award "John Crow's Devil is the finest and most important first novel I've read in years. Marlon James's writing brings to mind early Toni Morrison, Jessica Hagedorn, and Gabriel García Márquez." --Kaylie Jones, author of A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries "Marlon James is a writer to watch. John Crow's Devil is the kind of stylistically mature first novel that often comes at the beginning of an enduring career." --Colin Channer, author of Waiting in Vain and Passing Through", John Crow's Devil engages the political legacy of Frantz Fanon without sacrificing the power of fiction . . . There's a temptation to compare John Crow's Devil to novels by Toni Morrison or Earl Lovelace, among others, and there are certainly similarities to those works in this one. There is even an echo of Faulkner in the meticulous, multi-vocal rendering of conflicts entrenched in village life. But more important than any comparison is that James' debut is very much its own book, and stands as tall on its own as it would with any other volume beside it., A Brief History of Seven Killings might have won the Booker, and Black Leopard, Red Wolf might be the next Game of Thrones, but if you're looking for an entry point into the much-lauded, highly raucous mind of Marlon James, his 2005 debut could actually be the place to start: it's just as powerful and intricately written as James's later works, but it's quite a bit shorter, and easier to carry around with you everywhere you go, something you will surely want to do., "Marlon James spins his magical web in this novel and we willingly suspend disbelief, rewarded by the window he opens to Jamaica (and a world) rarely portrayed in fiction." -- Elizabeth Nunez , author of Bruised Hibiscus , winner of the American Book Award "Pile them up, a Marlon James character says repeatedly and Marlon does just that. Pile them up: language, imagery, technique, imagination. All fresh, all exciting. This is a good book and a writer to watch out for." -- Chris Abani , author of GraceLand , winner of the Hemingway/PEN Award " John Crow's Devil is the finest and most important first novel I've read in years. Marlon James's writing brings to mind early Toni Morrison, Jessica Hagedorn, and Gabriel García Márquez." -- Kaylie Jones , author of A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries "Marlon James is a writer to watch. John Crow's Devil is the kind of stylistically mature first novel that often comes at the beginning of an enduring career." -- Colin Channer , author of Waiting in Vain and Passing Through, A mesmerizing treatise on the nature of good and evil, faith and madness, guilt and forgiveness, eloquently captured in a microcosm of society., Set in James's native Jamaica, this dynamic, vernacular debut sings of the fierce battle between two flawed preachers . . . an exciting read.
