Marlon James: Is 'The Disappearers' the novel of the decade?

Marlon James, already a Booker Prize winner for "A Brief History of Seven Killings," returns with a work hailed by The New York Times as "the novel of the decade and perhaps of the century so far." "The Disappearers" is an immersive and devastating epic centered around a single, violent event.

In 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, a group of gay men gathers to rehearse a play intended to challenge the myths of Jamaican male homophobia. Their bold endeavor turns to tragedy when they become the target of a brutal attack—a lynching that not all will survive, leaving many permanently scarred.

The novel follows the aftermath of that attack over the next twenty-five years, exploring how homophobia distorts and transforms its characters. With prose of rare power, James interweaves violence and desire, showing how fear and hatred are often entangled with longing, especially in a context where sexual activity between men is criminalized.

Pop culture—film, TV, comics, and especially music—plays a vital role in the narrative, offering refuge and identity to the characters as they strive to survive and find beauty in an often hostile world.