John Crow's Devil [Hardcover]

Marlon James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

“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 writer to watch out for.”—Chris Abani, author of GraceLand, winner of the Hemingway/PEN Award

“This is the finest and most important first novel I’ve read in years. James’s writing brings to mind early Toni Morrison, Jessica Hagedorn, and Gabriel García Márquez.”—Kaylie Jones, author of Speak Now and A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries

“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

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in James's native Jamaica, this dynamic, vernacular debut sings of the fierce battle between two flawed preachers. In 1957, the village of Gibbeah is a dusty remnant of the plantation era, halfheartedly ministered to by drunken Pastor Hector Bligh, aka the Rum Preacher. On a day beginning with a bad omen—black vultures, locally called John Crows, crash through the church windows—a man calling himself Apostle York "set[s] pon Pastor Bligh like when you beat a mangy dog" and takes over his church. Bligh takes refuge in the home of another village outcast, while York's commanding presence whips Gibbeah into a frenzy of repentance. Lucinda, long reviled as the town slut, sets her sights on salvation and the Apostle, while Clarence, with whom she had a dalliance, becomes one of "The Five," a group of young men eager to enforce York's decrees against sin. It isn't long before group cohesion becomes mob mentality, and punishments grow increasingly brutal and public. Bligh returns to the fray, and the resulting confrontations set the village on a path to destruction. With gruesome and sometimes gratuitous descriptions of sex and gore, this isn't a tale for the faint of heart, but those eager for fire-and-brimstone lyricism will find this an exciting read. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Vultures, or John Crows, descend on Gibbeah, a vine-entangled Jamaican village where a catastrophic spiritual battle takes place between the Preacher and the Apostle. Pastor Hector Bligh's leadership of the Holy Sepulchral Full Gospel Church has eroded into drunken muttering by the time Apostle York arrives with his fire-and-brimstone manner and ironclad rules for holy living. As the Apostle and his five deacons engage in maniacal power-mongering, the black villagers are forced to submit to the harshness of a god in York's diseased image. Will a transformed Bligh be able to save the village? First-novelist James combines evangelical ideas about spiritual warfare with the folk traditions of voodoo and magic, producing a transfixing blend of horror and metaphor that echoes Austin Clark's Barbados tales. The result is a mesmerizing treatise on the nature of good and evil, faith and madness, guilt and forgiveness, eloquently captured in a microcosm of society. Jennifer Baker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888451823
• ISBN-13: 978-1888451825
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When not solving the problem of world hunger or seducing the planet's most beautiful women I'm in a dark, remote corner somewhere with book, reading or writing the damn thing. My poet friend says she has a greater need to write than to live and I think I understand. Sure it's pretentious but I think a writer does write in order to search for meaning or at least to make some sense out of life. I know I do. I believe that people are essentially good but evil is always within us. I believe in God but lock my doors. I believe in freedom but put responsibility first. I have one dog, no guns, too many books and not nearly enough friends to share good wine with.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Couldn't Put It Down, September 6, 2005

By 

Peter J. Kaszyk (Largo, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)

Mr. James's use of language is musical and it immersed me solidly within the conflicts between good and evil in his novel.
The settings he described were vivid, characters well drawn, and he never gave me the opportunity to yawn. It was one of the few books I had to complete in one sitting. I believe this first novel will be a collectable and I am looking forward to the next.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jamaican Country Life, August 17, 2005

By 

Sha "With Multitudes of Blessings" (Kingston, Jamaica) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)

If you are Jamaican, you will love this book, if you're not, this is a really good introduction to Jamaica.

Though the story is fictional the characters are everywhere in this island. From the Pastor to the Apostle to Backra to the Obeyah woman, the characters were so well developed in the book that as a Jamaican I laughed at all the connections to real people I could make. All the little things that are authentically Jamaican will seem so true to one from the island, like the fact that a pastor is seen as a higher authority than everyone else and that he really can rule the place.

As I read this book, I had those moments where I giggled to myself and moments where I laughed till tears came out of my eyes. Then there were the moments where I was just holding my breath and moments where I got truly vexed. For that, I enjoyed John Crow's Devil. What made me really love it though, is that it uses Proper English spelling with Patois grammer which made it an easy flow in my Jamaican brain but for those who don't speak Patois, you will understand it just as well. That little tiny thing, for me just says, as much as I know that non-Jamaicans will be reading it, I'm not abandoning home.

Much Ratings on this project. I am just waiting to read the next one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Imagine Jonestown 1978, with a Jamaican twist, September 15, 2005

By 

Elizabeth Reynolds (Takoma Park, Md. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Crow's Devil (Hardcover)

With its sensational elements, this novel could easily become a popular movie, with lots of action. At the same time, the language is pure poetry. The author incorporates the patois of Jamaican folk with the most lyrical of English prose. (It is not unlike Toni Morrison's Sula in that respect). By juxtaposing sex and religion as his themes, he hits at the most sensitive universal points we humans face. I hope we hear more from this talented young writer from Jamaica.