The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida

The book should not have been sold to me here’s in the USA as it says on the cover and title page—-for sale in India only. I will be buying books from my local trusted bookstore from now on as much is possible to prevent this happening again.

This is a penguin books copy, “ For sale in India only” being sold at a markup price in North America.

Granted, this might be a little tough to get if you've never been to Sri Lanka, or know little of the country but the writing is incredible! The author's wit and (dark) humor make for a really easy read despite being a very dark story. If you haven't read in a while this one is an safe choice and if you're an avid reader, you'll be done in a day.

The writer has brilliantly and thoroughly depicted the problems in the country.

Magic realism take on the Sri Lanka conflict - a book you either are enraptured by of just despise. It divide our book club as few books have. I just loved it. It literally takes you to another world, or this world in a way you have never seen it.

This is not a book for American readers who don’t appreciate a good challenge. The challenges are many. Not many of us are knowledgeable about the political history of Sri Lanka. Multiple characters, known by multiple names and cropping up in multiple settings are challenging. The use of second person POV may be challenging to some readers. About 25 pages in, I set the book aside, thoroughly confused. The words on the pages made as much sense as if they were written in Sinhalese. But I picked it up again a few days later and started from the beginning. What impressed the Booker Prize committee, I wondered? The narrative itself is simple. A war-zone fixer/photojournalist finds himself headless and floating in an eerie ether-world where forms and shapes flutter by in psychedelic fantasmagoria. After initial confusion, he learns that he’s got seven moons—seven nights, seven sunsets, a week—in this In-Between, in which to tie up the loose ends of his now vanished life and make sense of how, when, and who killed him. At the end of his seven moons, he may be elevated to the The Light, the place where demons cannot follow. He must learn a new set of confusing rules for thriving the In-Between; for example; no amount of shouting, whispering, or willing will move the characters of his former life in the direction he wants them to go, as he peers down upon events taking place after his unfathomable departure. Once I got through Maali’s First Moon, the pieces began to fit and I fell into the rhythm of the narrative. Among other things, this is a love story. It explores various permutations of love: filial, romantic, gay, unrequited, and the heartbreak of a love triangle. Karunatilaka probes human frailties like temptation, promiscuity, greed, and the existence or illusion of free will. The book examines ethics, corruption, morality, and inherent human violence. What if we had a final glimpse at how our lives, our decisions, our actions, impacted the lives of our loved ones and our enemies? We are never assured that the result is admirable or good. What if our existence caused agony and death? What if we were able to save no one? What if? We see the effects and long-term consequences of Colonialism, hierarchies of status, and the endless use of the masses as tools of a small, warring, powerful elite. During his seven moons Maali tries to rig the use of his photographic legacy to bear witness to crimes disguised as acts of war. Surely he can change the trajectory of political crime? Surely his stark, honestly graphic images can strip facades and expose truth? The ultimate question facing Maali is that moral question that mankind has struggled with for eternity. How many innocents must be sacrificed to bring about an end to the suffering of all? Though the subject matter and descriptions are dark and at times grisly, there are also moments of poignant humor and touching kindness. Karunatilaka deploys words much as skilled filmmakers like Wes Anderson and M. Night Shyamalan use imagery to confuse, confound, and delight their audiences. Numbers, gambling, and poker tropes proliferate throughout the book; I’m sure there are many more insights and connections lurking in these clever metaphors than I’ve been able to parse. Despite a few annoying shifts from past to present tense within a single paragraph, this is a book that bears coming back to and rereading in the years to come and will surely illicit fascinating discussions in book groups.

This book is a masterpiece! I grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the 80s and 90s and I can relate to the story, people, and incidents. It’s astonishing how Shehan re-tells the dark times of Sri Lanka through the genius creativity of the afterlife.

Surreal, existential, disturbing, and multilayered. What kept me going was trying to figure it out. The characters were unsavory, except for Jacki and DD who had the freshness of youth, and Jacki was the only one I could identify with. The opening chapter had me spell-bound, mostly satire on bureaucracy, but also so much like my recurring bad dreams of confusion when I'm in a strange place, with strange people, and trying hopelessly to get a handle on it. Reading on I realized the narrator was experiencing life after death, witnessing and recalling the horrors of his country where atrocities are committed by all sorts and groups of people. But the detachment and dark humor of the ghost photographer made it bearable. Some times when the book was full of detail about personalities I didn't care about, I would nod off. I'd awake with a start and wonder whether I had read or dreamed what I was in my mind. So I'd have to skim the offending passage again. The ending was filled with pithy and original philosophical statements. This morning after I finished the book, I woke up, just like from one of my dreams still trying to figure it all out. Haunting, informative, and masterly written.