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John Crow's Devil
This stunning debut novel tells the story of a biblical struggle in a remote Jamaican village in 1957. With language as taut as classic works by Cormac McCarthy, and a richness reminiscent of early Toni Morrison, Marlon James reveals his unique narrative command that will firmly establish his place as one of today's freshest, most talented young writers.
In the village of Gibbeah--where certain women fly and certain men protect secrets with their lives--magic coexists with religion, and good and evil are never as they seem. In this town, a battle is fought between two men of God. The story begins when a drunkard named Hector Bligh (the "Rum Preacher") is dragged from his pulpit by a man calling himself "Apostle" York. Handsome and brash, York demands a fire-and-brimstone church, but sets in motion a phenomenal and deadly struggle for the soul of Gibbeah itself. John Crow's Devil is a novel about religious mania, redemption, sexual obsession, and the eternal struggle inside all of us between the righteous and the wicked.
In the village of Gibbeah--where certain women fly and certain men protect secrets with their lives--magic coexists with religion, and good and evil are never as they seem. In this town, a battle is fought between two men of God. The story begins when a drunkard named Hector Bligh (the "Rum Preacher") is dragged from his pulpit by a man calling himself "Apostle" York. Handsome and brash, York demands a fire-and-brimstone church, but sets in motion a phenomenal and deadly struggle for the soul of Gibbeah itself. John Crow's Devil is a novel about religious mania, redemption, sexual obsession, and the eternal struggle inside all of us between the righteous and the wicked.
226 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
126 people are currently reading
4617 people want to read
About the author
Marlon James
30 books4,893 followersMarlon James is a Jamaican-born writer. He has published three novels: John Crow's Devil (2005), The Book of Night Women (2009) and A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014), winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize. Now living in Minneapolis, James teaches literature at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to parents who were both in the Jamaican police: his mother (who gave him his first prose book, a collection of stories by O. Henry) became a detective and his father (from whom James took a love of Shakespeare and Coleridge) a lawyer. James is a 1991 graduate of the University of the West Indies, where he read Language and Literature. He received a master's degree in creative writing from Wilkes University (2006).
James has taught English and creative writing at Macalester College since 2007. His first novel, John Crow's Devil — which was rejected 70 times before being accepted for publication — tells the story of a biblical struggle in a remote Jamaican village in 1957. His second novel, The Book of Night Women, is about a slave woman's revolt in a Jamaican plantation in the early 19th century. His most recent novel, 2014's A Brief History of Seven Killings, explores several decades of Jamaican history and political instability through the perspectives of many narrators. It won the fiction category of the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, having been the first book by a Jamaican author ever to be shortlisted. He is the second Caribbean winner of the prize, following Trinidad-born V. S. Naipaul who won in 1971.
(from Wikipedia)
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to parents who were both in the Jamaican police: his mother (who gave him his first prose book, a collection of stories by O. Henry) became a detective and his father (from whom James took a love of Shakespeare and Coleridge) a lawyer. James is a 1991 graduate of the University of the West Indies, where he read Language and Literature. He received a master's degree in creative writing from Wilkes University (2006).
James has taught English and creative writing at Macalester College since 2007. His first novel, John Crow's Devil — which was rejected 70 times before being accepted for publication — tells the story of a biblical struggle in a remote Jamaican village in 1957. His second novel, The Book of Night Women, is about a slave woman's revolt in a Jamaican plantation in the early 19th century. His most recent novel, 2014's A Brief History of Seven Killings, explores several decades of Jamaican history and political instability through the perspectives of many narrators. It won the fiction category of the 2015 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, having been the first book by a Jamaican author ever to be shortlisted. He is the second Caribbean winner of the prize, following Trinidad-born V. S. Naipaul who won in 1971.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
February 5, 2017
The Book of Night Women was so fantastic, one of the best books I have ever read that I couldn't wait to start John Crow's Devil as soon as I'd finished it. I've had to DNF it though. I'm halfway through and I've tried it in print and audio and I just don't like it. The story was of the dynamic new fire-and-brimstone preacher, York the Apostle who had thrown out Bligh the Rum Preacher from his church. But it was not just a battle for the Church, but also for God v Obeah. Most people in the book seem to go in for both, where God fails or is ignoring pleas, black magic might work. That duality of belief by people who would describe themselves as good Christians is still quite common in the Caribbean. And broadening it out, also the battle for the domination of the village of Gibbeah.
The concentration on alcohol, sex and the absolute adoration of a fiery preacher threatening hell for those will not repent might sound a bit over the top, but it's actually very true of the Islands exactly as they are now. When my son's nanny got married years ago in the Church of God of Prophecy, she wasn't allowed to wear even lipstick nor jewellery except for the wedding ring. I thought the preacher would give an aspiring address about being united in marriage. Not a bit of it. He stormed up and down the altar with much showbiz gusto damning everyone for everything and threatening people with eternal pain in the fires of hell. I thought it was truly inappropriate but I have to say the wedding party were extremely pleased by it!
So perhaps I view this book in a different light from non-Caribbean people. No matter. I just didn't care about the story, I couldn't get involved in it, the characters were all without exception extremely dislikeable even if I had sympathy for how they got that way. Why it gets 2 stars is I love the writing, the dialogue is brilliant, but the story, for me, was lacking.
The concentration on alcohol, sex and the absolute adoration of a fiery preacher threatening hell for those will not repent might sound a bit over the top, but it's actually very true of the Islands exactly as they are now. When my son's nanny got married years ago in the Church of God of Prophecy, she wasn't allowed to wear even lipstick nor jewellery except for the wedding ring. I thought the preacher would give an aspiring address about being united in marriage. Not a bit of it. He stormed up and down the altar with much showbiz gusto damning everyone for everything and threatening people with eternal pain in the fires of hell. I thought it was truly inappropriate but I have to say the wedding party were extremely pleased by it!
So perhaps I view this book in a different light from non-Caribbean people. No matter. I just didn't care about the story, I couldn't get involved in it, the characters were all without exception extremely dislikeable even if I had sympathy for how they got that way. Why it gets 2 stars is I love the writing, the dialogue is brilliant, but the story, for me, was lacking.
April 30, 2021
fulfilling my 2021 goal to read one book each month by an author i love that i haven’t gotten around to reading yet
God judgment a no play-play judgment.
God not romping with we.
when i read The Book of Night Women, i fell right the hell in love with marlon james. i read A Brief History of Seven Killings and Black Leopard, Red Wolf as soon as they came out,* but—although i owned a copy of this debut before i ever read The Book of Night Women,** i never backtracked and read it until now.
i'd heard that it wasn't as good as The Book of Night Women, and i wasn't in any real hurry to be disappointed, but while—no, it's not as good as ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, it's still a monster of a debut and all the qualities that make my readerheart pitter-patter 4 marlon james are already there, they're just a little...smaller and less polished.
this is a story about the conflict between two preachers in an isolated jamaican village.
it does not end well.
for anybody.
that's the simple synopsis of a complicated book, which opens with the story's end, before the reader has any context to understand the significance of what is happening, which is followed by further temporal shifts, slippery POVs—collective and singular, a story loaded with foreshadowing and withheld information full of bibles and booze, obeah and brutality, and it's allllll in dialect.
the prose is absolutely chewy—like one a them granola bars whose wholesome fiber is threaded throughout with sticky caramel, only instead of nuts, this one is studded with shards of broken glass because marlon james never makes anything easy—not in his subject matter and not in his writing style.
this is something i've always admired about him.
the magical realism threw me a bit—i honestly found this one more confusing in parts than Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which is by far james' most challenging work (and a close second-place to The Book of Night Women in my heart). i'm fine with the dialect and i have a passing familiarity with obeah from previous reads, but, since i wasn't always clear on POV, i wasn't always clear on reliability—whether events were happening as described, or being filtered through a...compromised perspective—be it religious mania, agenda, or...the apostle's condition.
so, yeah—there were some foggy stretches here and there, but when it's on, it's ON—his prose is all swagger and sharp teeth, and that ending.
that ENDING.
not so much the ending-ending—if you know me, you know i'm talking about
birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds
although that thing with clarence at the end is also...memorable.
i'm so glad i finally read this. and now i'll just sit here until Moon Witch, Night Devil comes out.
* sooner, even, in the case of A Brief History of Seven Killings, cuz i grabbed that ARC with the snatchiest hands.
** oh, hey—and this is a first edition! that means alla my marlon james' are first editions! i have a full set! oh, but i don't remember if i ever bought A Brief History of Seven Killings when it came out. i might have been too poor at the time and just cuddled the ARC. this footnote is just me talking to myself, hello!
come to my blog!!
God judgment a no play-play judgment.
God not romping with we.
when i read The Book of Night Women, i fell right the hell in love with marlon james. i read A Brief History of Seven Killings and Black Leopard, Red Wolf as soon as they came out,* but—although i owned a copy of this debut before i ever read The Book of Night Women,** i never backtracked and read it until now.
i'd heard that it wasn't as good as The Book of Night Women, and i wasn't in any real hurry to be disappointed, but while—no, it's not as good as ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ, it's still a monster of a debut and all the qualities that make my readerheart pitter-patter 4 marlon james are already there, they're just a little...smaller and less polished.
this is a story about the conflict between two preachers in an isolated jamaican village.
it does not end well.
for anybody.
that's the simple synopsis of a complicated book, which opens with the story's end, before the reader has any context to understand the significance of what is happening, which is followed by further temporal shifts, slippery POVs—collective and singular, a story loaded with foreshadowing and withheld information full of bibles and booze, obeah and brutality, and it's allllll in dialect.
the prose is absolutely chewy—like one a them granola bars whose wholesome fiber is threaded throughout with sticky caramel, only instead of nuts, this one is studded with shards of broken glass because marlon james never makes anything easy—not in his subject matter and not in his writing style.
this is something i've always admired about him.
the magical realism threw me a bit—i honestly found this one more confusing in parts than Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which is by far james' most challenging work (and a close second-place to The Book of Night Women in my heart). i'm fine with the dialect and i have a passing familiarity with obeah from previous reads, but, since i wasn't always clear on POV, i wasn't always clear on reliability—whether events were happening as described, or being filtered through a...compromised perspective—be it religious mania, agenda, or...the apostle's condition.
so, yeah—there were some foggy stretches here and there, but when it's on, it's ON—his prose is all swagger and sharp teeth, and that ending.
that ENDING.
not so much the ending-ending—if you know me, you know i'm talking about
birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds birds
although that thing with clarence at the end is also...memorable.
i'm so glad i finally read this. and now i'll just sit here until Moon Witch, Night Devil comes out.
* sooner, even, in the case of A Brief History of Seven Killings, cuz i grabbed that ARC with the snatchiest hands.
** oh, hey—and this is a first edition! that means alla my marlon james' are first editions! i have a full set! oh, but i don't remember if i ever bought A Brief History of Seven Killings when it came out. i might have been too poor at the time and just cuddled the ARC. this footnote is just me talking to myself, hello!
come to my blog!!
August 5, 2016
"Come now, church, who is ready to be violent for the Lord?"There's something about organized religion that can be really terrifying at times, the way it can feed on fear and trump all logic and decency. This is illustrated to the nth degree in the unsettling debut novel by rising star Marlon James. The book tracks the downfall and destruction of the small Jamaican village of Gibbeah, in the wake of a religious battle between two evangelical preachers for the control of both the Holy Sepulchral Full Gospel Church of St. Thomas Apostolic as well as the very soul of Gibbeah itself. It all starts on the day that Hector Bligh (the "Rum Preacher"), a drunk priest who's lost his way, is kicked out of the church by a charismatic new arrival, a fire-and-brimstone preacher calling himself Apostle York, who has intentions to purify Gibbeah, even if it means Old Testament judgement.
The Pastor now drank day and night. He was spiraling downward and would have taken the village with him were it not for the other, who lead them instead to a light blacker than the thickest darkness.Many might consider this novel magical realism and they would be right. But maybe there should be a sub-genre of "black"-magical realism, for a book like this one, filled with Obeah and omens of black vultures (john crows). And do I dare call this a satire? Because at times I wanted to chuckle, but mostly to keep myself from being so horrified at the events and chuck the book across the room. Maybe that's what makes a great dark satire! And James is a confident and terrifically skilled writer who handles this balance perfectly. One of his effective techniques is the occasional passage that uses a point of view that seems to come from the collective gossip of the village itself, sort of a small-town Greek chorus in a Jamaican tragedy play showing the mob mentality that can come from a town gripped in religious fervor. I loved the way that the town's hypocrisy and secrets slowly began to be revealed and ultimately lead to its downfall. James also created a couple of well-illustrated female characters in the Widow Greenfield and especially the tragic Lucinda, who was endlessly fascinating to read.
He came like a thief on a night colored silver.
Lucinda was to be the bride of Christ but her ring finger got lost in a thatch of pubic hair. It was that damn Apostle. Him and those bold red books and the bold red tip of his circumcision.I really enjoyed this one, although at times the author's wordsmithing got in the way of narrative pacing. But I was engaged throughout and would definitely recommend it. It really made me want to revisit his epic novel from last year, A Brief History of Seven Killings. I read that long book while shooting a movie last year, which I think was a mistake. I read John Crow's Devil when I had lots of time to focus my attention and get lost in the story. With three highly respected novels, Marlon James is definitely an author to watch and wait for what he does next.
God judgement a no play-play judgement. God not romping with we.
February 7, 2017
Religion, corruption, promiscuity, sodomy, violence, bloodshed, humor, terror, betrayal, redemption, salvation. These are the subjects of Marlon James’ work, particularly this debut novel about a town in Jamaica in the midst of a preacher war. Go no further if reading about these things will affect your judgment of what is art and what is not. We all have our limits, and James is happy to play right to the edge.
There is no Table of Contents in this novel, and midway through, we may find we need a roadmap. Where is James going, and how did we get here? That is when I noticed he began this book, before Part I, with “The End,” three pages which confused and frightened and warned us what was to come. A “murder of crows” hangs around the yard of one Widow Greenfield until one day she discovers many of them lifeless and bloody on the grass in front of her house.
When author Kaylie Jones was contacted twenty minutes after Marlon James won the International Man Booker Prize for Literature in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings , she said that acceptance and affirmation for him was a long time coming. Jones is credited with “discovering” James, passing his first manuscript for John Crow’s Devil on to an agent and an editor back in 2003. She was sure of James’ talent from that first time they met. “His writing was so confident. There was not one word that wasn’t precise. That voice was already there.”
The manuscript that eventually became John Crow’s Devil had famously been rejected 78 times before Ms. Jones saw his potential. James was 35 years old when it was finally published in 2005, his first novel. That means James was in his twenties when he wrote it, and this is the thing that slays: a twenty-something with shuttercock eyes writing sentences like
Two preachers fight one another over the ‘godly’ leadership of a town. One man is an alcoholic, and the other appears possessed. Both of them struggle with sexual temptations; neither fits any usual definition of godly, or good men. The townspeople, filled with the superstitions of their culture as well as warm natures mixed with hard-eyed realism, carol an absurdist relief, making comment upon one another’s needs, or sometimes jettisoning their good sense altogether under religious influence.
In an interview, James tells Charlie Rose that at this time in Jamaica he hadn’t yet publicly acknowledged his homosexuality but considered himself “Christian celibate…and believing it.” Only when he subsequently moved to St. Paul, Minnesota to teach writing, and when he was forty-four years old, did he acknowledge his sexuality. There is a lot, a whole lot, of explicit language and description of sexual acts, only some consensual, in James’ novels, but he appears to capture something that we recognize as real, even if we prefer not to look at it. “Violence should be violent,” he tells us, “Sexuality should risk the pornographic. It’s a fine line.”
Marlon James writes conversation in dialect, perhaps one reason his first book was not accepted immediately. Now, of course, dialect seems the most basic effort one can make to represent a culture. But James also manages the difficult feat of keeping readers unsure if they know what exactly is happening without losing the thread altogether, or giving up. His storytelling definitely leads readers in the direction of some kind of reckoning for evil, thoughtless, or uncaring behaviors, no matter what the preachers, with their contrasting styles, have to say. The murder of crows and the flight of doves are both menacing, and vengeful. But the ending, in a two-page chapter called “The Beginning,” is reassuring. This novel feels like something brave, unflinching, and new.
If you are still unconvinced about James' creativity, read this about his new project and then tell me he isn't looking deeply into the myths we tell ourselves, and exposing all.
There is no Table of Contents in this novel, and midway through, we may find we need a roadmap. Where is James going, and how did we get here? That is when I noticed he began this book, before Part I, with “The End,” three pages which confused and frightened and warned us what was to come. A “murder of crows” hangs around the yard of one Widow Greenfield until one day she discovers many of them lifeless and bloody on the grass in front of her house.
When author Kaylie Jones was contacted twenty minutes after Marlon James won the International Man Booker Prize for Literature in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings , she said that acceptance and affirmation for him was a long time coming. Jones is credited with “discovering” James, passing his first manuscript for John Crow’s Devil on to an agent and an editor back in 2003. She was sure of James’ talent from that first time they met. “His writing was so confident. There was not one word that wasn’t precise. That voice was already there.”
The manuscript that eventually became John Crow’s Devil had famously been rejected 78 times before Ms. Jones saw his potential. James was 35 years old when it was finally published in 2005, his first novel. That means James was in his twenties when he wrote it, and this is the thing that slays: a twenty-something with shuttercock eyes writing sentences like
"Her mother was on the dresser, her sweaty back greasing the mirror as the man rammed inside her. Lucinda imagined his cock as stubby as he was plunging in and out of her mother’s vagina that was as loose as she was. Then he shifted and she saw it for a second, his penis disappearing into her mother and his jerky balls bouncing like elastic."There is more than a little aggression in that passage, and an exactitude one isn’t expecting. But the whole book has this level of keen observation and imagination, speaking of forbidden things, blasphemies, and essentially…reporting, judging, laughing. Some of the horror and anger and judgment manifest are probably even nonfiction authorial license.
Two preachers fight one another over the ‘godly’ leadership of a town. One man is an alcoholic, and the other appears possessed. Both of them struggle with sexual temptations; neither fits any usual definition of godly, or good men. The townspeople, filled with the superstitions of their culture as well as warm natures mixed with hard-eyed realism, carol an absurdist relief, making comment upon one another’s needs, or sometimes jettisoning their good sense altogether under religious influence.
In an interview, James tells Charlie Rose that at this time in Jamaica he hadn’t yet publicly acknowledged his homosexuality but considered himself “Christian celibate…and believing it.” Only when he subsequently moved to St. Paul, Minnesota to teach writing, and when he was forty-four years old, did he acknowledge his sexuality. There is a lot, a whole lot, of explicit language and description of sexual acts, only some consensual, in James’ novels, but he appears to capture something that we recognize as real, even if we prefer not to look at it. “Violence should be violent,” he tells us, “Sexuality should risk the pornographic. It’s a fine line.”
Marlon James writes conversation in dialect, perhaps one reason his first book was not accepted immediately. Now, of course, dialect seems the most basic effort one can make to represent a culture. But James also manages the difficult feat of keeping readers unsure if they know what exactly is happening without losing the thread altogether, or giving up. His storytelling definitely leads readers in the direction of some kind of reckoning for evil, thoughtless, or uncaring behaviors, no matter what the preachers, with their contrasting styles, have to say. The murder of crows and the flight of doves are both menacing, and vengeful. But the ending, in a two-page chapter called “The Beginning,” is reassuring. This novel feels like something brave, unflinching, and new.
If you are still unconvinced about James' creativity, read this about his new project and then tell me he isn't looking deeply into the myths we tell ourselves, and exposing all.
September 8, 2020
3.5*
I have been keen for some time to try Marlon James’ book but in all honesty, the subject and length of A History of Seven Killings has always put me off. However, I picked up John Crow’s Devil this summer and it may not have been a bad choice as other readers seem to say that James’ first novel suffers by comparison to his Booker Prize winner. It sounded like a great opportunity to use the book for the bingo prompts.
There is witchcraft and magical realism. There are crimes in this book. There are unexplained deaths. And people being horrible. There is a preacher who for most of the book I was not convinced was human. And a whole lot of terror, that is very insidious.
“We’re afraid.
“We’re upset.
“We’re distraught. Even more of us are confused and just about everybody is ashamed. Be truthful before the Lord, you, we are all ashamed. I know what you’re thinking. Thou shalt not kill, I know. That night is playing over and over in your head like that Devil music they keep sending over from foreign. But, beloved, I’m only going to say this once.
“WAKE UP! What do you think this is? Pin the tail on the donkey, church? This is war! “High time some of you in here get off your blessed assurance. God didn’t come here to heal the sick, He came with a sword! We’re tearing down the kingdom of Satan! We launching D-Day on the shores of Hell. We’re going into the enemy’s and taking back what he stole. Oh Abba babba a maka desh—I wish I had a God-fearing church. The Devil is not your boyfriend. Satan is not some naked red boy with a tail and a pitchfork! The Bible says he comes to steal, kill, and destroy! Is either him or us! So what’s it going to be, Gibbeah, him or us? The Devil or the saved? But the Lord says, thou shalt not kill.
“Well, church, what if I tell you that was no man that you killed?”
The last few chapters of the book were truly horrific, especially so because the events of the book are partly based on reality (tho not on specific real events) and partly based on things that could very well happen. It was a horror story of the worst kind because the reader knows that this in not entirely fictional. It was simply chilling.
I will not review this in detail or give away much of the plot because this is a book that is best read without knowing anything about it.
What I do want to say, however, is that James' writing was fantastic. The patois was difficult at first but after a while I got into the rhythm of reading the dialogues and it just added to the atmosphere.
I have been keen for some time to try Marlon James’ book but in all honesty, the subject and length of A History of Seven Killings has always put me off. However, I picked up John Crow’s Devil this summer and it may not have been a bad choice as other readers seem to say that James’ first novel suffers by comparison to his Booker Prize winner. It sounded like a great opportunity to use the book for the bingo prompts.
There is witchcraft and magical realism. There are crimes in this book. There are unexplained deaths. And people being horrible. There is a preacher who for most of the book I was not convinced was human. And a whole lot of terror, that is very insidious.
“We’re afraid.
“We’re upset.
“We’re distraught. Even more of us are confused and just about everybody is ashamed. Be truthful before the Lord, you, we are all ashamed. I know what you’re thinking. Thou shalt not kill, I know. That night is playing over and over in your head like that Devil music they keep sending over from foreign. But, beloved, I’m only going to say this once.
“WAKE UP! What do you think this is? Pin the tail on the donkey, church? This is war! “High time some of you in here get off your blessed assurance. God didn’t come here to heal the sick, He came with a sword! We’re tearing down the kingdom of Satan! We launching D-Day on the shores of Hell. We’re going into the enemy’s and taking back what he stole. Oh Abba babba a maka desh—I wish I had a God-fearing church. The Devil is not your boyfriend. Satan is not some naked red boy with a tail and a pitchfork! The Bible says he comes to steal, kill, and destroy! Is either him or us! So what’s it going to be, Gibbeah, him or us? The Devil or the saved? But the Lord says, thou shalt not kill.
“Well, church, what if I tell you that was no man that you killed?”
The last few chapters of the book were truly horrific, especially so because the events of the book are partly based on reality (tho not on specific real events) and partly based on things that could very well happen. It was a horror story of the worst kind because the reader knows that this in not entirely fictional. It was simply chilling.
I will not review this in detail or give away much of the plot because this is a book that is best read without knowing anything about it.
What I do want to say, however, is that James' writing was fantastic. The patois was difficult at first but after a while I got into the rhythm of reading the dialogues and it just added to the atmosphere.
October 8, 2019
“God is looking for people who will carry out His command no matter how Holy, no matter how brutal, no matter how violent they may be...Come now, church, who's ready to be violent for the Lord?”
What a pleasure it was to circle back to Marlon James’s debut novel after completing the other three over the past few weeks! He is gifted with the ability to tell a story completely driven by voices; his ear for dialogue and his cinematic eye for scene-writing truly sets him apart from all other writers.
This novel tells the story of Gibbeah, a remote village in Jamaica, in the throes of a great religious schism; a biblical battle between the forces of good and evil. A mysterious and sinister Apostle comes to town to cleanse its inhabitants of iniquity supported by its drunken Pastor Bligh, known locally as The Rum Preacher.
In this novel Marlon James explores religious extremism and the hypocrisy that runs rampant in all facets of religious life. It is made clear that religion is used as a cover for man’s own desire for power and control. Of course, it wouldn’t be a James novel without generous helpings of extreme violence balanced with a comic edge.
In terms of the writing and structure, this is Marlon James at his most lyrical. The writing does have a poetic thrust that calls to mind Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy, to whom James’s writing is compared. The one criticism I have is that there was too much exposition done in the form of church sermons, which can honestly become a bit monotonous even in the hands of a master like Marlon. I think this is a novel to return to after going through all of his other work; all of the stylistic nuances will be made much more clear.
What a pleasure it was to circle back to Marlon James’s debut novel after completing the other three over the past few weeks! He is gifted with the ability to tell a story completely driven by voices; his ear for dialogue and his cinematic eye for scene-writing truly sets him apart from all other writers.
This novel tells the story of Gibbeah, a remote village in Jamaica, in the throes of a great religious schism; a biblical battle between the forces of good and evil. A mysterious and sinister Apostle comes to town to cleanse its inhabitants of iniquity supported by its drunken Pastor Bligh, known locally as The Rum Preacher.
In this novel Marlon James explores religious extremism and the hypocrisy that runs rampant in all facets of religious life. It is made clear that religion is used as a cover for man’s own desire for power and control. Of course, it wouldn’t be a James novel without generous helpings of extreme violence balanced with a comic edge.
In terms of the writing and structure, this is Marlon James at his most lyrical. The writing does have a poetic thrust that calls to mind Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy, to whom James’s writing is compared. The one criticism I have is that there was too much exposition done in the form of church sermons, which can honestly become a bit monotonous even in the hands of a master like Marlon. I think this is a novel to return to after going through all of his other work; all of the stylistic nuances will be made much more clear.
October 24, 2018
Marlon James debut novel. Having read the brilliant A Brief History of Seven Killings this pales in comparison. Be that as it may I enjoyed it. A crazy mix of Jamaican voodoo (Obeah), religious fundamentalism, a fight between good and evil (never sure who or what was good or evil but part of the tale I suppose), lots of violence and fantasy this could make a good film for anyone that likes horror.
March 29, 2024
This first Marlon James novel captures all the electrifying elements that will come into his future works- magical realism, Jamaican vernacular, religion, and eroticism.
This is the story of the two preachers who battle for power in Gibbeah, Jamaica- a fictional town, via 1957. There's the drunken Hector Bligh the "Rum Preacher" who runs a relaxed and benevolent religious sect where sexual permisiveness and free will exists; and the religious fanatic, the handsome and hypocritical York who aims to run a church of fire and brimstone. Caught in the middle are Lucinda, the Widow, and Clarence who are victims of this darkly set tale of religious fanaticism and the supernatural.
The eroticism the book has will eventually show up in his masterpiece "The Book of Night Women", and eroticism combined with magical realism and elements of horror eventually show up in "Black Leopard, Red Wolf". I think Mr. James is really one of the best writers around- and honestly can compare his writing to that of his contemporary Jessmyn Ward; and of course, that grand dame of literature, Toni Morrison.
This is the story of the two preachers who battle for power in Gibbeah, Jamaica- a fictional town, via 1957. There's the drunken Hector Bligh the "Rum Preacher" who runs a relaxed and benevolent religious sect where sexual permisiveness and free will exists; and the religious fanatic, the handsome and hypocritical York who aims to run a church of fire and brimstone. Caught in the middle are Lucinda, the Widow, and Clarence who are victims of this darkly set tale of religious fanaticism and the supernatural.
The eroticism the book has will eventually show up in his masterpiece "The Book of Night Women", and eroticism combined with magical realism and elements of horror eventually show up in "Black Leopard, Red Wolf". I think Mr. James is really one of the best writers around- and honestly can compare his writing to that of his contemporary Jessmyn Ward; and of course, that grand dame of literature, Toni Morrison.
July 30, 2018
The Good:
Amazing imagery. Mood, tone, all that good stuff. There’s a Jamaican village sometime in the 20th century and the villagers are isolated and vulnerable. A holy man appears and dark sorcery ensues. This book is terrible, in a good way. The characters are awesome.
The Bad:
Because they are all traumatised, the characters’ motivations are very hard to grasp. The fantasy elements come and go without rhyme or reason and really detract from the dramatic tension. The ending is abrupt.
'Friends' character the protagonist is most like:
Mary Palmer is bitter and disappointed with life. She is also staunch as fuck. This makes her like a cross between Chandler and Phoebe.
Amazing imagery. Mood, tone, all that good stuff. There’s a Jamaican village sometime in the 20th century and the villagers are isolated and vulnerable. A holy man appears and dark sorcery ensues. This book is terrible, in a good way. The characters are awesome.
The Bad:
Because they are all traumatised, the characters’ motivations are very hard to grasp. The fantasy elements come and go without rhyme or reason and really detract from the dramatic tension. The ending is abrupt.
'Friends' character the protagonist is most like:
Mary Palmer is bitter and disappointed with life. She is also staunch as fuck. This makes her like a cross between Chandler and Phoebe.
November 25, 2021
PEARL RULE 9 (p74)
I realized I need to leave the read behind here:
And here we go round the houses again. I liked the dialect that Author James uses in the story to delineate what everyone knows, versus what is being narrated:
It's a technique used to make the story move and still retain the tang of Otherness this supernatural tale imparts. That's very effective, and to my mental ears very euphonious. I'm just not that deeply drawn in to the story. Rum Pastor Bligh's besetting sin is drink. I get it. Because I'm told explicitly why earlier in the story, I wasn't that interested in following his trajectory; because the very beginning is The End, I know where we're heading; and in the end, I just didn't feel like the view was worth the travail.
Such a shame I didn't read this when it came out. I'd've liked it much better at forty-five than at sixty.
I realized I need to leave the read behind here:
"Shhh. Don't work your head about it too much. The Lord has forgiven me and as His faithful servant, I have forgiven Pastor Bligh. You know where he is?"
"Yes, Apostle."
"Send him a message for me. Tell him that Apostle York says that he can come back."
And here we go round the houses again. I liked the dialect that Author James uses in the story to delineate what everyone knows, versus what is being narrated:
The plate was empty and refilled in minutes.
"Mind you choke," she said.
The Widow appeared to smile but then she pushed her chair back into the dark before the {Rum} Pastor could confirm it. She ate nothing herself. Dinner was a noisy clutter of mouth sounds. Lips and gums slapping food with spit and teeth slicing, tearing, and chomping the whole thing down to paste, followed by the glorious gulp of a swallow.
He was the only one doing the eating, so she must have been doing the watching. Women loved to watch men eat, he thought. It was the last blast of primal energy that the hunter-gatherer had left to show.
***
"Jeezus Christ! Him have fits!" said a man beside Bligh as he fell.
"Rahtid," said another.
"Unu fling this spoon in him mouth quick!" shouted the young bartender. "Bout him want bottle! You know say is a whole o Johnny Walker him go fi drink?"
"Him still a fits?"
"Is the Devil in him. Me read that in tha Bible," said the man nearest to Bligh, holding onto the spoon he had shoved in the Pastor's mouth.
It's a technique used to make the story move and still retain the tang of Otherness this supernatural tale imparts. That's very effective, and to my mental ears very euphonious. I'm just not that deeply drawn in to the story. Rum Pastor Bligh's besetting sin is drink. I get it. Because I'm told explicitly why earlier in the story, I wasn't that interested in following his trajectory; because the very beginning is The End, I know where we're heading; and in the end, I just didn't feel like the view was worth the travail.
Such a shame I didn't read this when it came out. I'd've liked it much better at forty-five than at sixty.
May 7, 2024
3.75
I enjoyed this but I also feel like I need someone smarter than me to explain it to me.
I enjoyed this but I also feel like I need someone smarter than me to explain it to me.
May 13, 2009
Coming off my high from "Book of Night Women" I was excited to read Marlon's (yes, we are on a first name basis) first book. I was a little disappointed. It was good but did not come close to "Night Women".
This book is about an isolated Jamaican town that is full of sinners including the alcoholic Peacher that the call the Rum Preacher. One day a stranger comes in, Apostle York and kicks the Rum Preacher out of the church and vows to clean up to town of all its sin. What happens next is a battle between "good" and "evil", the church vs. magic. All that is left is a destroyed town. What Marlon does well is describe how this isolated town can quickly be charmed by a man who says he can "save" them and turn on each other.
Unlike "BNW" this started off really slow. It took awhile for things to start happening. In "BNW" it started strong and just took off but this book it wasn't until the end that it started getting good. Also the twist at the end was ummm...interesting. It was definitely a shocker but not a "Oh No He Didn't!!" kind of shocker.
Overall a good book but can't touch "BNW".
This book is about an isolated Jamaican town that is full of sinners including the alcoholic Peacher that the call the Rum Preacher. One day a stranger comes in, Apostle York and kicks the Rum Preacher out of the church and vows to clean up to town of all its sin. What happens next is a battle between "good" and "evil", the church vs. magic. All that is left is a destroyed town. What Marlon does well is describe how this isolated town can quickly be charmed by a man who says he can "save" them and turn on each other.
Unlike "BNW" this started off really slow. It took awhile for things to start happening. In "BNW" it started strong and just took off but this book it wasn't until the end that it started getting good. Also the twist at the end was ummm...interesting. It was definitely a shocker but not a "Oh No He Didn't!!" kind of shocker.
Overall a good book but can't touch "BNW".
May 1, 2018
This is Marlon James' debut novel and what a strong novel it is. As a Jamaican who grew up in the "country" this book perfectly captures country life and exactly what it feels like growing up in a village.
John Crow's Devil is set in a remote village called Gibbeah. In this village we meet Hector Bligh the 'Rum Preacher" who is failing at leading the flock to salvation. In walks Apostle York who dethrones the Rum Preacher and makes it his person mission to lead the village out of eternal damnation. This novel is about what happens when religion and "dark magic" meets. It also covers a basis theme of good over evil- that I loved.
What I love most of this book is how it perfectly captures life in a small village in Jamaica.
John Crow's Devil is set in a remote village called Gibbeah. In this village we meet Hector Bligh the 'Rum Preacher" who is failing at leading the flock to salvation. In walks Apostle York who dethrones the Rum Preacher and makes it his person mission to lead the village out of eternal damnation. This novel is about what happens when religion and "dark magic" meets. It also covers a basis theme of good over evil- that I loved.
What I love most of this book is how it perfectly captures life in a small village in Jamaica.
November 30, 2021
Year of New Authors
The town of Gibbeah in 1950s Jamaica is one of general inquity, with abusers and fork tongued gossipers in the congregation and a drunk slurring in the pulpit. This miserable and coarse life limps on until a young girl, made pregnant by her father, then claims to be possessed, cuts off her arsehole sire's offending piece and kills herself. The horror is the town's breaking point, offering a perfect opening for the arrival of Apostle York, a man handsome, enigmatic and capable of undeniable miracles. He displaces the town's fallen preacher and whips Gibbeah into a religious and apocalyptically violent frenzy.
When I completed this book, my genuine response as I was sitting in bed and removing the bookmark for the final time was: 'Fuckin' hell, man...'. This book was utterly exhausting and really got to me.
For starters, in between the third person, James randomly inserts first person narratives of an unnamed Gibbeah resident, which is written in the dialect of the time and is really bloody difficult to read (and this is coming from a Geordie who grew up with Viz and binges Scottish twitter).
The actual plot is one of 'good' vs 'evil' but with massive air quotes around both words, and features horribly sympathetic backstories overshadowed by viseral, vivid and vicious deeds.
The frenzy of religion is exceptionally horrifying, with the town sinking effortlessly into public humiliation and murder, and James at no point shows subtlety or restraint with the lurid descriptions of beatings and sexual assaults. Usually I would consider this unnecessary or even puerile, like how I felt about Matheson's bullshit Hell House, but here, somehow, it just works. It was if I couldn't look away as someone threw themselves onto the train tracks, something holding my head still and telling me I had to witness and recognise this misery of mankind.
The people's decline into the abyss is also incredibly frustrating, as almost everyone here could have been saved by just half an ounce of human kindness, whether that be a mother's love, not turning a blind eye to horrific abuse or just a sympathetic ear.
There's still actual supernatural forces amongst all the psychological trauma and mob mentality, from the 'rolling calf' myth, killer grass and flocks of murderous birds, with both God and the Devil working their magic. What's notable is the Prince of Darkness usually heals and God only pops up to smite, but no one is saved here. God lets abuse happen so he can use the rod with sadistic abandon, while the Devil merely dangles a carrot (usually shaped like a girthy willy) to lead everyone over the cliff edge.
The most prevelant theme besides religion is sexuality, with a worrying amount of evil gay characters. Marlon James himself is openly gay, which makes this all the more complex. There's a whole lot to interpret, though one aspect that stood out to me was how something harmless can be corrupted when society makes it a crime, with closeted gay men banging other's wives to 'prove a point' rather than just settling down with that cute bloke from the post office, or gay youth being made a lot more vulnerable to arsehole abusers when they have no one else to reach out to about their sexuality.
Sadly this part of the book left me the most uncomfortable and I do not blame James for that, but my own view of the society around me. With the worrying toleration of the refreshed 'queer panic' from politians, TERFS and the cesspit that is the internet, I was constantly haunted by the image of Milo Youareacockolous waving this book and mislabelling it an example of 'men turning gay to spite God or because of abuse', since that alt-right gobshite couldn't understand nuance if it bit his rancid taint. I am in the LGBTQ+, so maybe it's just my own anxiety about hateful wankers pointing screeching fingers at anything queer and not absolutely squeaky 'clean' that makes the book feel more unsettling, and just as likely to be abused as the vulnerable characters it contains.
In the end, John Crow's Devil is not a book I want to recommend to anyone, despite how compelling it is. I want people to be aware of its existence, I don't want anyone to think it's not worth their time, but I can say with absolute honesty that I don't want to to be the person who pushes you to suffer this utter horror. Read on at your own risk, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Personally, I've never hated and loved a book so much in my life.
The town of Gibbeah in 1950s Jamaica is one of general inquity, with abusers and fork tongued gossipers in the congregation and a drunk slurring in the pulpit. This miserable and coarse life limps on until a young girl, made pregnant by her father, then claims to be possessed, cuts off her arsehole sire's offending piece and kills herself. The horror is the town's breaking point, offering a perfect opening for the arrival of Apostle York, a man handsome, enigmatic and capable of undeniable miracles. He displaces the town's fallen preacher and whips Gibbeah into a religious and apocalyptically violent frenzy.
When I completed this book, my genuine response as I was sitting in bed and removing the bookmark for the final time was: 'Fuckin' hell, man...'. This book was utterly exhausting and really got to me.
For starters, in between the third person, James randomly inserts first person narratives of an unnamed Gibbeah resident, which is written in the dialect of the time and is really bloody difficult to read (and this is coming from a Geordie who grew up with Viz and binges Scottish twitter).
The actual plot is one of 'good' vs 'evil' but with massive air quotes around both words, and features horribly sympathetic backstories overshadowed by viseral, vivid and vicious deeds.
The frenzy of religion is exceptionally horrifying, with the town sinking effortlessly into public humiliation and murder, and James at no point shows subtlety or restraint with the lurid descriptions of beatings and sexual assaults. Usually I would consider this unnecessary or even puerile, like how I felt about Matheson's bullshit Hell House, but here, somehow, it just works. It was if I couldn't look away as someone threw themselves onto the train tracks, something holding my head still and telling me I had to witness and recognise this misery of mankind.
The people's decline into the abyss is also incredibly frustrating, as almost everyone here could have been saved by just half an ounce of human kindness, whether that be a mother's love, not turning a blind eye to horrific abuse or just a sympathetic ear.
There's still actual supernatural forces amongst all the psychological trauma and mob mentality, from the 'rolling calf' myth, killer grass and flocks of murderous birds, with both God and the Devil working their magic. What's notable is the Prince of Darkness usually heals and God only pops up to smite, but no one is saved here. God lets abuse happen so he can use the rod with sadistic abandon, while the Devil merely dangles a carrot (usually shaped like a girthy willy) to lead everyone over the cliff edge.
The most prevelant theme besides religion is sexuality, with a worrying amount of evil gay characters. Marlon James himself is openly gay, which makes this all the more complex. There's a whole lot to interpret, though one aspect that stood out to me was how something harmless can be corrupted when society makes it a crime, with closeted gay men banging other's wives to 'prove a point' rather than just settling down with that cute bloke from the post office, or gay youth being made a lot more vulnerable to arsehole abusers when they have no one else to reach out to about their sexuality.
Sadly this part of the book left me the most uncomfortable and I do not blame James for that, but my own view of the society around me. With the worrying toleration of the refreshed 'queer panic' from politians, TERFS and the cesspit that is the internet, I was constantly haunted by the image of Milo Youareacockolous waving this book and mislabelling it an example of 'men turning gay to spite God or because of abuse', since that alt-right gobshite couldn't understand nuance if it bit his rancid taint. I am in the LGBTQ+, so maybe it's just my own anxiety about hateful wankers pointing screeching fingers at anything queer and not absolutely squeaky 'clean' that makes the book feel more unsettling, and just as likely to be abused as the vulnerable characters it contains.
In the end, John Crow's Devil is not a book I want to recommend to anyone, despite how compelling it is. I want people to be aware of its existence, I don't want anyone to think it's not worth their time, but I can say with absolute honesty that I don't want to to be the person who pushes you to suffer this utter horror. Read on at your own risk, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Personally, I've never hated and loved a book so much in my life.
August 17, 2018
I love a good book about a "bad preacher"!
July 4, 2019
Świetna. Bardzo mocna.
Doskonała historia. Bez czarno-białych postaci, bez łatwych pytań i łatwych odpowiedzi. Zło nie bierze się znikąd a dobro nie jest bezwarunkowe.
Doskonały nastrój. Książka doskonale oddaje klimat świata, w którym się dzieje. Język, temperamenty, psychologia, pogoda oraz fauna i flora. Czytając ma się wrażenie, że się tam jest, czuje się zapach (częściej smród) otoczenia; jest się niemal w ciele bohaterów (dobrych i złych); współczuje się z nimi bezustannie.
Czytałem "Krótką historię..." Marlona Jamesa i mi się podobała. Bardzo ceniłem pracę tłumacza, który doskonale oddał specyfikę języka (slangu), którym posługiwali się bohaterowie. Jednocześnie miałem problem z samą historią. Czasem forma przerastała treść; sposób opowiadania był chwilami tak zagmatwany, że trzeba było się mocno wysilać, żeby się nie pogubić (to nie jest komplement).
Ta powieść podoba mi się bardziej. Nadal bardzo mocną stroną jest język (znowu świetne tłumaczenie), ale równocześnie narracja jest bardziej przystępna. Wciąż trzeba się wysilać, żeby wyłapać wszystkie niuanse, ale to już jest ten rodzaj przyjemności intelektualnej, którą się ma przy rozwiązywaniu literackich zagadek. Z każdym rozdziałem coraz bardziej zagłębiamy się tajemnicę. Skróty, niedomówienia, bełkotliwe relacje, zmiany punktów widzenia - to wszystko służy temu, żeby forma wzmacniała przesłanie treści; czyli żeby czerpać większą przyjemność z odkrywania kolejnych warstw w bohaterach i świecie opisanych w książce.
To jest dość ponura historia. Jako antyklerykał uznałbym ją za politycznie przekonującą w tym sensie, że religia jest ważnym elementem tej historii i bynajmniej nie służy wyłącznie do szerzenia dobrej nowiny. Ale - co ważne - religia także nie w tej książce jest czarno-biała.
Doskonała historia. Bez czarno-białych postaci, bez łatwych pytań i łatwych odpowiedzi. Zło nie bierze się znikąd a dobro nie jest bezwarunkowe.
Doskonały nastrój. Książka doskonale oddaje klimat świata, w którym się dzieje. Język, temperamenty, psychologia, pogoda oraz fauna i flora. Czytając ma się wrażenie, że się tam jest, czuje się zapach (częściej smród) otoczenia; jest się niemal w ciele bohaterów (dobrych i złych); współczuje się z nimi bezustannie.
Czytałem "Krótką historię..." Marlona Jamesa i mi się podobała. Bardzo ceniłem pracę tłumacza, który doskonale oddał specyfikę języka (slangu), którym posługiwali się bohaterowie. Jednocześnie miałem problem z samą historią. Czasem forma przerastała treść; sposób opowiadania był chwilami tak zagmatwany, że trzeba było się mocno wysilać, żeby się nie pogubić (to nie jest komplement).
Ta powieść podoba mi się bardziej. Nadal bardzo mocną stroną jest język (znowu świetne tłumaczenie), ale równocześnie narracja jest bardziej przystępna. Wciąż trzeba się wysilać, żeby wyłapać wszystkie niuanse, ale to już jest ten rodzaj przyjemności intelektualnej, którą się ma przy rozwiązywaniu literackich zagadek. Z każdym rozdziałem coraz bardziej zagłębiamy się tajemnicę. Skróty, niedomówienia, bełkotliwe relacje, zmiany punktów widzenia - to wszystko służy temu, żeby forma wzmacniała przesłanie treści; czyli żeby czerpać większą przyjemność z odkrywania kolejnych warstw w bohaterach i świecie opisanych w książce.
To jest dość ponura historia. Jako antyklerykał uznałbym ją za politycznie przekonującą w tym sensie, że religia jest ważnym elementem tej historii i bynajmniej nie służy wyłącznie do szerzenia dobrej nowiny. Ale - co ważne - religia także nie w tej książce jest czarno-biała.
October 9, 2021
This was Marlon James debut novel and already in this his writing is great and captivating, easy to get invested in and good story overall. Bit sad that I'm running out of books by Marlon James to read
October 19, 2015
As I wrote in my review for Foreword magazine, this is an astounding book. How could such a rich fictional brew have come and gone - twice - with so little fanfare?
John Crow’s Devil tells the story of the Rum Preacher and the Apostle York, two sides of the same coin: one is out “to preach about forgiveness” and the other bent on “tearing down the kingdom of Satan” in the town of Gibbeah, Jamaica, a setting which provides Marlon James ample opportunity to delve into the intricate minds and lives of its people.
Working in the vernacular and invoking the mighty themes of sin and salvation, disgrace and redemption, the author makes “the Preacher and the Apostle’s battle a clash between Heaven and Hell.” And as those in Gibbeah realize, “only One will reign supreme here.”
Who that will be forms the crux of the story. The interloper, Lucas York (the Apostle), has turned the congregation away from its present pastor, a drunk named Hector Bligh (the Rum Preacher) who on the surface seems the more sinful of the two. Much of the story is told through the eyes of two women who “found themselves compelled by men they barely understood.” Lucinda can’t help lusting after the strapping young Apostle; and Mary, a widow, takes in the Rum Preacher out of bitter compassion after he’s booted out of church by the silver-tongued Apostle.
As if this isn’t trouble enough, the author mixes in the ancient black arts of obedah with the fabled teachings of Christianity: “The Lord goin send signs and wonders,” they say, waiting to see who will prevail. The book is laden with symbolism, from the John Crows (vultures/demons) of the title to calves with their heads on backwards to serpents below the belt.
At times comical, at others nonsensical, the torrents of dialogue and the local patter are a revelation of character: “Everybody raasclaat sorry, but is not everybody have to clean up people mess. Your God coming soon? Cause if him coming right now I giving him a damn mop!” It’s also a match for the rhetorical heights of the Apostle with his sly fire-and-brimstone homilies and turns of phrase: “I can only minister against the sinister.”
A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, this first novel is provocative and shocking, full of verbal pyrotechnics and imaginative vim and vigor. While not without flaws, among them forsaking a hero worthy of redemption, John Crow’s Devil deserves to be read by anyone interested in powerful storytelling at its best.
As a post-script, I add that it's no surprise that Marlon James just won the Booker prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings.
John Crow’s Devil tells the story of the Rum Preacher and the Apostle York, two sides of the same coin: one is out “to preach about forgiveness” and the other bent on “tearing down the kingdom of Satan” in the town of Gibbeah, Jamaica, a setting which provides Marlon James ample opportunity to delve into the intricate minds and lives of its people.
Working in the vernacular and invoking the mighty themes of sin and salvation, disgrace and redemption, the author makes “the Preacher and the Apostle’s battle a clash between Heaven and Hell.” And as those in Gibbeah realize, “only One will reign supreme here.”
Who that will be forms the crux of the story. The interloper, Lucas York (the Apostle), has turned the congregation away from its present pastor, a drunk named Hector Bligh (the Rum Preacher) who on the surface seems the more sinful of the two. Much of the story is told through the eyes of two women who “found themselves compelled by men they barely understood.” Lucinda can’t help lusting after the strapping young Apostle; and Mary, a widow, takes in the Rum Preacher out of bitter compassion after he’s booted out of church by the silver-tongued Apostle.
As if this isn’t trouble enough, the author mixes in the ancient black arts of obedah with the fabled teachings of Christianity: “The Lord goin send signs and wonders,” they say, waiting to see who will prevail. The book is laden with symbolism, from the John Crows (vultures/demons) of the title to calves with their heads on backwards to serpents below the belt.
At times comical, at others nonsensical, the torrents of dialogue and the local patter are a revelation of character: “Everybody raasclaat sorry, but is not everybody have to clean up people mess. Your God coming soon? Cause if him coming right now I giving him a damn mop!” It’s also a match for the rhetorical heights of the Apostle with his sly fire-and-brimstone homilies and turns of phrase: “I can only minister against the sinister.”
A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, this first novel is provocative and shocking, full of verbal pyrotechnics and imaginative vim and vigor. While not without flaws, among them forsaking a hero worthy of redemption, John Crow’s Devil deserves to be read by anyone interested in powerful storytelling at its best.
As a post-script, I add that it's no surprise that Marlon James just won the Booker prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings.
January 17, 2022
This is my second Marlon James experience and I suspect that this might just be a Marlon James stan account. I was blown away by this debut and since finishing the book, I’ve been trying to figure out how to convince y’all to read this 😂 because it’s wild, wild in ways you couldn’t imagine (okay maybe you can imagine it but you wouldn’t expect it to be written down)
Set in 1957, in the small fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica, we find two men, The Rum Preacher and Apostle York, fighting for the chance to be the town’s only religious leader. At face value it seems to be a battle of good vs evil but once you take a closer glance you realise how blurred the lines are and how difficult it actually is to tell these two things apart. However, Marlon James goes further than that as he explores the the dangers of sexual repression and the burden of guilt and how this affects the people of this small town, which is very quickly turning into a cult. You see the lengths that people are ready to go through, just to get into God’s good books, you see how easily something that is considered pure can turn violent and putrid.
Reading this wasn’t easy, I don’t think any of Marlon James’ work can be passed of as easy but I honestly think it’s worth the struggle. So maybe give it a try 🥰?
Set in 1957, in the small fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica, we find two men, The Rum Preacher and Apostle York, fighting for the chance to be the town’s only religious leader. At face value it seems to be a battle of good vs evil but once you take a closer glance you realise how blurred the lines are and how difficult it actually is to tell these two things apart. However, Marlon James goes further than that as he explores the the dangers of sexual repression and the burden of guilt and how this affects the people of this small town, which is very quickly turning into a cult. You see the lengths that people are ready to go through, just to get into God’s good books, you see how easily something that is considered pure can turn violent and putrid.
Reading this wasn’t easy, I don’t think any of Marlon James’ work can be passed of as easy but I honestly think it’s worth the struggle. So maybe give it a try 🥰?
August 4, 2017
"John Crow's Devil" by Marlon James is a novel centered on a group of people, their church, and a battle between two preachers in a remote Jamaican village in 1957.
James' second novel "The Book of Night Women" The Book of Night Women is an outstanding, 5-star novel in my opinion. And his third novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings" A Brief History of Seven Killings (which I plan to read in the future) has received excellent reviews.
This novel, James' first, feels like (to use an analogy from the music world) a demo-tape or early, 4-song EP of a musician/band who would later create some awesome albums. You can see James experimenting and working out his style in this novel.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Notes:
Audiobook:
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 8 hours and 21 minutes
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date: 2011-04-29
Publisher: Recorded Books
James' second novel "The Book of Night Women" The Book of Night Women is an outstanding, 5-star novel in my opinion. And his third novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings" A Brief History of Seven Killings (which I plan to read in the future) has received excellent reviews.
This novel, James' first, feels like (to use an analogy from the music world) a demo-tape or early, 4-song EP of a musician/band who would later create some awesome albums. You can see James experimenting and working out his style in this novel.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Notes:
Audiobook:
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 8 hours and 21 minutes
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date: 2011-04-29
Publisher: Recorded Books
July 10, 2016
Set in Jamaica, 1957, in the village of Gibbeah, and revolves around the Holy Sepulchral Full Gospel Church of St. Thomas Apostolic. In the opening pages, a charismatic stranger arrives, heralded by black vultures (John Crows) crashing into the windows of the church. The stranger, who calls himself Apostle York, drags the alcoholic and off-the-rails preacher, Hector Bligh, from the church, and takes his place - setting off a series of conflicts as the two struggle for power.
Magical realism, Obeah, Old Testament punishments, sex, brutal violence and no shortage of sin.
I was taken with the writing style, and the characters (despite them all being flawed, damaged and unlikeable), and the Jamaican words and phrases were not often hard to understand, although I had to check up on a few as I went.
I don't read a whole lot of fiction, but when I do, I like it gritty. No shortage of grit in this, the first book of the acclaimed Jamaican author Marlon James.
Four stars from me.
Magical realism, Obeah, Old Testament punishments, sex, brutal violence and no shortage of sin.
I was taken with the writing style, and the characters (despite them all being flawed, damaged and unlikeable), and the Jamaican words and phrases were not often hard to understand, although I had to check up on a few as I went.
I don't read a whole lot of fiction, but when I do, I like it gritty. No shortage of grit in this, the first book of the acclaimed Jamaican author Marlon James.
Four stars from me.
March 9, 2021
2.5*
What did I just read! Earlier this year I read Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings and was blown away by it. Based on reviews, I was aware that “John Crow’s Devil” wasn't a popular book and that it included a lot of atrocious scenes. The content didn't put me off, but the flow of the story was difficult to follow. I lost track of what was going on because too much crazy stuff was happening. I guess James wanted to depict the horrors of religious frenzy and how group behavior can lead to unimaginable violence. But in the end, it wasn't that great. Anyway, I still have The Book of Night Women to look forward to. Happy Sunday everybody!
What did I just read! Earlier this year I read Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings and was blown away by it. Based on reviews, I was aware that “John Crow’s Devil” wasn't a popular book and that it included a lot of atrocious scenes. The content didn't put me off, but the flow of the story was difficult to follow. I lost track of what was going on because too much crazy stuff was happening. I guess James wanted to depict the horrors of religious frenzy and how group behavior can lead to unimaginable violence. But in the end, it wasn't that great. Anyway, I still have The Book of Night Women to look forward to. Happy Sunday everybody!
July 6, 2019
A difficult and clever book. All about the worst of us; how we can be so easily manipulated by “religion” to bring out our lowest, meanest selves. Superb examples of how the damage done by carelessness and cruelty to children can be focused and magnified into vicious power, astounding destruction, ugliness exponentially grown.
James knows of the power to damage that can be done by religion. He has described the extreme evangelical exorcism, or “gay cure”, he endured at a Pentecostal church in Jamaica as “a kind of mental control”.
“Back then I thought they were just driving out demons”.
James was sick multiple times during the “cure”. “Then one day it hit me: ‘What if I got rid of the church?’ And that worked smashingly.”
After this story, that sounds like a damned good idea.
James knows of the power to damage that can be done by religion. He has described the extreme evangelical exorcism, or “gay cure”, he endured at a Pentecostal church in Jamaica as “a kind of mental control”.
“Back then I thought they were just driving out demons”.
James was sick multiple times during the “cure”. “Then one day it hit me: ‘What if I got rid of the church?’ And that worked smashingly.”
After this story, that sounds like a damned good idea.
July 27, 2020
Lengviau skaitoma (dėl to nebūtinai paprastesnė) Marlon James knyga negu kitos, bet to pakanka, kad įmestų į tokį karštligišką pasaulį, kur gimsta veršiukai atbulai apsuktom galvom, naujas "apaštalas" užvaldo miestelį ir daveda jo gyventojus iki visokių žiaurybių, be to, tiek jis, tiek išvarytas girtuoklis pastorius geba daryti stebuklus, gal dėl dangiškos, gal dėl demoniškos įtakos, bet esmė ne tai, o sifilis.
Dar labiau negu worlbuildingu žaviuosi Marlon James gebėjimu kažkaip kokybiškai išrišti pasakojimą - gale visa ta susukta situacija nelieka kaboti, pasidaro aišku, ir kaip visa tai prasidėjo, ir kaip baigėsi - ir viskas išvengiant primityvumo.
Žodžiu, jei norite tamsių stebuklų, sex and violence, čia pati ta knyga.
Dar labiau negu worlbuildingu žaviuosi Marlon James gebėjimu kažkaip kokybiškai išrišti pasakojimą - gale visa ta susukta situacija nelieka kaboti, pasidaro aišku, ir kaip visa tai prasidėjo, ir kaip baigėsi - ir viskas išvengiant primityvumo.
Žodžiu, jei norite tamsių stebuklų, sex and violence, čia pati ta knyga.
December 1, 2015
Didn't enjoy as much as his booker prize winning book but can see the gritty writing style starting
January 22, 2023
Country no 103 - Jamaica.
Both reading on ScribD and listening to an awesome audio.
The year is 1957 in the fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica. The local religious leader is Hector Bligh. He is the antithesis of religious piety, however, as he is an alcoholic and known as The Rum Preacher even though he prefers whiskey.
His religious dominance in the town is challenged one day when the 'Apostle' York comes to town. In fact, Apostle York beats up the Rum Preacher and takes over the church.
This is Marlon James first book. It draws on his own personal experience of Jamaican homophobia.
Sad but revealing.
4 stars
Both reading on ScribD and listening to an awesome audio.
The year is 1957 in the fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica. The local religious leader is Hector Bligh. He is the antithesis of religious piety, however, as he is an alcoholic and known as The Rum Preacher even though he prefers whiskey.
His religious dominance in the town is challenged one day when the 'Apostle' York comes to town. In fact, Apostle York beats up the Rum Preacher and takes over the church.
This is Marlon James first book. It draws on his own personal experience of Jamaican homophobia.
Sad but revealing.
4 stars
January 10, 2011
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
One of the things I like the most about Akashic Books is that, unlike so many other small presses, they make a deliberate effort not to put out only an endless stream of mopey character dramas about white creative-classers living in Brooklyn; take for example one of their latest, John Crow's Devil, which is instead set in the backwoods of Jamaica in the 1950s, which like last year's Jesus Boy uses a conservative Christian church to tell a story surprisingly loaded with sex, violence and other deadly sins. And indeed, there's a reason that this literary debut from the Kingston immigrant and now Minnesota professor has been compared to both Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez; and that's because the text itself nearly reaches the level of magic realism from its pure poetic beauty, the story of the struggle between two local preachers of whom neither is nearly as innocent as they like portraying themselves. A dense and gripping novel that emotionally radiates like the heat of the Caribbean sun, it comes recommended to those who are fans of academic writing set in exotic locales.
Out of 10: 8.7
One of the things I like the most about Akashic Books is that, unlike so many other small presses, they make a deliberate effort not to put out only an endless stream of mopey character dramas about white creative-classers living in Brooklyn; take for example one of their latest, John Crow's Devil, which is instead set in the backwoods of Jamaica in the 1950s, which like last year's Jesus Boy uses a conservative Christian church to tell a story surprisingly loaded with sex, violence and other deadly sins. And indeed, there's a reason that this literary debut from the Kingston immigrant and now Minnesota professor has been compared to both Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez; and that's because the text itself nearly reaches the level of magic realism from its pure poetic beauty, the story of the struggle between two local preachers of whom neither is nearly as innocent as they like portraying themselves. A dense and gripping novel that emotionally radiates like the heat of the Caribbean sun, it comes recommended to those who are fans of academic writing set in exotic locales.
Out of 10: 8.7
September 30, 2010
Finished this one last week. It reminded me a bit of Erna Brodber, because of its non-linear storytelling and rich cultural unearthings, specifically African retentions in the Caribbean. Nonetheless, it stands on its own and was a frightful and uneasy exploration of repressed anger brought out in a spiritual environment. It was interesting that a male writer was very good at writing labrish and suss. And I also liked that the exploration of mental instability (craziness) was dealt in this place far-removed from the trappings of everyday society and brought to mind the highly structured and dogmatic lifestyle of "The Chrysalids."
Good read!
Good read!
April 11, 2017
It's been interesting reading Marlon James's books in reverse chronological order. I was so enamored with his third and second novels, I couldn't help but have high expectations for his first. But this was a hard read for me. It was brutal, relentlessly violent. There were some exquisitely written passages, but this story of two warring preachers in 1950's Jamaica left me cold. Still, I can't give one of my favorite writers anything less than three stars. I'm glad I read it just to see where his writing began.
January 7, 2016
Meh, this just didn't do it for me. Marlon James is a great writer but I feel like this book was difficult to follow. There seems to be too much going on, and while his writing voice is strong, the plot is all over the place.
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