The 1976 attempted assassination of Bob Marley, told through dozens of voices across three decades of Jamaican and American history. James's 700-page novel is polyphonic, violent, funny, and formally staggering. It won the 2015 Man Booker and proved that Caribbean literature could command the global stage on its own terms. The scope is insane. The voices are real.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.