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The Disappearers by Marlon James review – a scorching exposé of homophobia in Jamaica

This Booker-listed epic set in Aids-era Kingston is a triumph – bitter, bawdy and ravishingly queer “A sense of sweep,” replied Marlon James, when asked what moves him most in literature. “Sweep isn’t just about external journeys, but internal as well. It can be over years and decades, or across land and sea.” If that explanation is still hazy, pick up his mighty new novel, which is longlisted for this year’s Booker

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Ledger record
#2197
First seen
24 Aug 2026, 06:09 UTC
Last checked
25 Aug 2026, 15:27 UTC
Version history
1 version
Current fingerprint
6add9feb3616...b425e1
01

Publisher layer

Recorded article metadata

Publisher
The Guardian
Country
England / United Kingdom
Source published
24 Aug 2026, 06:00 UTC
Source updated
No update timestamp supplied
Byline
Yagnishsing Dawoor
Section
Fiction
Source-supplied excerpt
This Booker-listed epic set in Aids-era Kingston is a triumph – bitter, bawdy and ravishingly queer “A sense of sweep,” replied Marlon James, when asked what moves him most in literature. “Sweep isn’t just about external journeys, but internal as well. It can be over years and decades, or across land and sea.” If that explanation is still hazy, pick up his mighty new novel, which is longlisted for this year’s Booker
02

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Observed version timeline

  1. 1
    Initial capture

    The Disappearers by Marlon James review – a scorching exposé of homophobia in Jamaica

    This Booker-listed epic set in Aids-era Kingston is a triumph – bitter, bawdy and ravishingly queer “A sense of sweep,” replied Marlon James, when asked what moves him most in literature. “Sweep isn’t just about external journeys, but internal as well. It can be over years and decades, or across land and sea.” If that explanation is still hazy, pick up his mighty new novel, which is longlisted for this year’s Booker

    Changed fieldstitlebylinedescriptionTextcontentTextsourcePublishedAtsourceUpdatedAtsectionimageUrltags
    Version SHA-256
    6add9feb3616...b425e1
    Capture SHA-256
    8adeb179652f...a6a48b
03

Interpretation layer

Labels with declared origins

Not an adjudication.

Publisher categories are copied from source metadata. Machine signals report observable wording or format and do not determine truth, intent, ethics, or wrongdoing.

  • machine content-type Analysis or opinion observable-rules-v1 / 70% rule confidence
  • machine language-signal Investigation language observable-rules-v1 / 65% rule confidence
  • publisher category Books rss-category
  • publisher category Culture rss-category
  • publisher category Fiction rss-category
  • publisher category LGBTQ+ rights rss-category
  • publisher category Marlon James rss-category
04

Public response layer

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No reviewed reception capture yet.

Comment counts and samples remain absent until a lawful, source-specific capture method is reviewed. Absence is recorded instead of estimated.

05

Evidence layer

Capture provenance

Capture ID
#1888
Observed
24 Aug 2026, 06:09 UTC
HTTP result
200 / parsed
Raw payload
471,923 bytes, private gzip evidence
Collector
news-ledger/0.1
Public boundary
metadata and excerpt