Reading Well: John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James

As a big fan of A Brief History of Seven Killings and Black Leopard Red Wolf, I decided to look at the rest of Marlon James‘ output, starting with his debut novel, John Crow’s Devil (2005).

The novel traces the conflict between two preachers in a small Jamaican town, one a drunk and the other an authoritarian, as they vie for control of the souls of the congregation. But it’s also a novel about two women, rivals since their youth, who align themselves as allies to the preachers. And of the town itself, and it’s willingness to isolate from the rest of the island, its dependence on wealth that sits outside its boundaries, and an ugly history of violence and abuse that continues to infect its present-day.

That’s a lot. Especially for a short novel–while both Brief History and Black Leopard Red Wolf are fantastic, they are also long journeys–that’s pretty impressive.

And James is more than up to the challenge, evoking characters and moments in a combination of dialect and description that is immersive and compelling, leaving the reader’s affections and loyalty shifting as more layers of the story emerge. There are light touches of fantasy here and there, moments that capture the impact of practices both inside and outside the church that are quite effective, and reinforce the atmosphere quite effectively.

All of this plays out against a structure where the opening of the novel is actually a chapter from the denouement–that is, you know where everything is heading all along. The fact that John Crow’s Devil holds attention and interest given that is quite an achievement. Strongly recommended.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

It’s hard to pick between the structural twist and the moments of not-quite-magical-realism, but I’ll go with the latter. At the end of the day, I would classify John Crow’s Devil is a “realistic” or “historical” novel, doing that while also having these moments where the linear narrative is interrupted by explosions of magical force or foresight is really impressive.