It is not possible to write a wholly satisfactory review of Marlon James’ new novel “The Disappearers” within my weekly allotted space of 600 words.

Truth be told, 600 words is always a bit snug for what I’d like to say about a book, but it is a particular challenge given the size and scope of this novel, more than 600 pages spanning multiple countries and almost 20 years with 40 or more characters of consequence, for which James thankfully provides a list at the novel’s beginning.

The task became even more fraught when I broke a cardinal rule of not reading any other reviews before I write my own because I was arrested by the headline on Dwight Garner’s review of “The Disappearers” in the New York Times declaring it “the novel of the decade, if not the century.” Garner goes on to declare that this book puts James on track for a Nobel Prize in “a decade or two.”

I don’t know what to do with that. I can’t wrap my head around that kind of judgment. I know what’s happening to me when I read a novel, and how and why the novel is providing that experience, but how do I translate that into whether or not the author is a future Nobel Prize winner?

I can’t, so instead I’ll try to capture what it was like to read this book and the reader can decide if this sounds like something they would like to try for themselves.

The capsule summary is that “The Disappearers” is about the vicious homophobia of James’ home country of Jamaica during the AIDS era of the late 1980s. The central incident involves an attack on a group of gay men who are rehearsing together for a play. For the first 100-plus pages, we see these men through the eyes of a journal by one of them, Edmond Porteus, who is fresh and funny and helps us know this world.

The novel then shifts to a short stand-alone chapter titled “The Blackjacks,” told as a kind of oral history from the points of view of the attackers themselves, who will not face any kind of justice because their work is viewed as righteous, both by themselves and their society.

It is hard to describe how jarring this shift is. This chapter was deeply unpleasant to read, but undeniably powerful.

The remainder of the novel is in the aftermath of this attack, tracing some of the characters and their connections. From the present, we occasionally flash back to other key moments in a character’s life. Not all threads are pulled, and only some are resolved.

The novel is stuffed with literary and pop culture references, some of which made me grin given that James and I are about the same age, and we seem to have read a lot of the same books. The novel is undeniably alive in terms of its prose and its grappling with ideas. There is a clear sense that it is the product of a singular intelligence. Only one writer could write this book. This writer.

Maybe it takes on more than is sensible, but why should novels be sensible? I read the book months ago and was never sure I would review it despite its obvious accomplishment.

I don’t want to say that Garner has done the novel a disservice through his rapture, particularly given how genuine the enthusiasm is and how deep it goes, but if you’re going to read “The Disappearers,” my advice to put all of this out of your mind and have the experience of this narrative for yourself.

Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.

1. “The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned” by John Strausbaugh
2. “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder” by David Grann
3. “1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How it Shattered a Nation” by Andrew Ross Sorkin
4. “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life” by Arthur C. Brooks
5. “A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck” by Sophie Elmhirst

— Steve C., Carol Stream

Clearly a fan of narrative nonfiction here. I’m going to recommend a book which is, in a way, a companion to “1929,” “Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town” by Brian Alexander.

1. “One Summer: America, 1927” by Bill Bryson
2. “Charlottesville: An American Story” by Deborah Baker
3. “Ransom” by Daniel Silva
4. “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking
5. “Illusions” by Richard Bach

— Ed P., Huntley

Ed tells me that “Illusions” is a frequent re-read, so I’m going to try to give him a book that also tackles the experience of a personal search for meaning, “The Seven Storey Mountain” by Thomas Merton.

1.”Miss MacIntosh, My Darling” by Marguerite Young
2. “Resistance to Christianity: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Heresy from the Beginning to the 18th Century” by Raoul Vaneigem
3. “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas
4. “The Skin of Dreams” by Raymond Queneau
5. “Angels and Saints” by Eliot Weinberger

— Josh L., Skokie

This book may be a little hard to get a hold of, or expensive to buy, but it’s where my Biblioracle senses are going: “Nox” by Anne Carson.

Get a reading from the Biblioracle

Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.

John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.