A Brief History of Seven Killings

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, gender discrimination, antigay bias, sexual violence and harassment, rape, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, sexual content, death, and physical abuse.

The dead “never stop talking” (1) about how they died. Sir Arthur George Jennings, a politician, was pushed off a hotel balcony to his death. He waits for his killer to die, but his killer lives a long life.

Jennings announces that this is the story of several boys who were killed. Each one smells like his killer. The first boy was buried alive, but he won’t tell Jennings his name.

Addressing the Singer, Bam-Bam tells his story. 

Bam-Bam is born in the Eight Lanes, a gang stronghold and ghetto. Bam-Bam grows up admiring the Singer, a cultural figure who rose to prominence from similarly difficult circumstances. Bam-Bam’s experience of poverty drives his desire for violence.

Bam-Bam is saved by his father during a gang shootout. Two days later, Bam-Bam’s father accuses his mother of getting a new dress from her lover. Bam-Bam’s mother returns with a gang enforcer named Funnyboy. Funnyboy rapes Bam-Bam’s father before killing him and Bam-Bam’s mother. Bam-Bam escapes to Copenhagen City, the chief rival of the Eight Lanes, where he is adopted by Don Papa-Lo.