A Brief History of Seven Killings: Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Alex writes that the West Kingston ghetto is like hell, and that it can’t be put into words. He uses melodramatic, sensual language to describe life in the ghetto, and then chastises himself for “sensationalism.” There is a blackout, and Kingston is eerily quiet. Alex feels like he is “in over my head.” He keeps writing, describing Jamaican musical culture before returning to the “lawless” world of downtown Kingston. He feels that his story needs “a narrative line,” a hero, a villain, and a damsel. He is fixated on Bill Adler and what “he knows.”