Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Le sette lune di Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

109 reviews

lilaccoconut_bookclub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was incredible -- easily one of my favorite books I read this year.

The imagery, the mythology, the historical context, and even the 2nd-person narrative. I usually hate 2nd-person, but this was done so thoroughly well that I loved it. It made me reconsider my bias against 2nd person. The entire story was poignant, intriguing, and hopeful in its own way. Not only that, it gave me the opportunity to learn more about Sri Lanka.

In the end, when he finds out how he died (because that's the whole point) and he

goes to the river to choose his path, I felt the same tranquility he felt and it gave me a lot of peace in my own relationship with death and grief. It made me cry but was somehow comforting.

I'd read this again and hopefully learn even more than I learned the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, War, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Grief, Torture, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicide

aristarcodisamo's review

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Gore, Violence, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Torture, Car accident, Death of parent, Homophobia, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, Animal death, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Addiction

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

Exceptional. A book about forgiveness and witness, about reflection and observation, politics and religion, humour and pain, war and society, hope and probability, about life after death.

This was an eye-opening and emotional read; I laughed, gasped, cried, and pondered throughout the whole book. Each character was unique and whole, and each aspect of the plot (the personal and the wider political) was interesting and engrossing.   

I was occasionally a little lost in trying to follow where Maali was and build the scenery as he travelled. However, all in all, this book was absorbing, immersive, and captivating. I instantly believed and was wrapped up the magical realism aspect.

Some of the sections - and the philosophising they brought on - will stay with me forever. 

“I've watched your kind. Both as beast and as ghost. I can’t understand why humans destroy when they can create.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, Torture, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

brookes_bookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, War, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Death of parent, Animal death, and Genocide

saj04's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Genocide, Murder, and War

Moderate: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

anappleaday's review against another edition

I only got through a fifth of the book through before I had to put it down, there were just too many descriptions of gruesome deaths, murders and torture. The writing itself is great and the plot is very engaging so I will probably pick this book back up in the future 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Homophobia, War, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ruby_mae_read's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, Addiction, Animal death, Suicide, War, Death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, and Physical abuse

lynnenad's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A booker prize winner. Written in the second person which is hard to read (and must be very hard to write). Told from the POV of a dead person who has seven moons (seven days) to reconcile his worldly issues before committing to either the Light, or working for demons, of remaining in limbo. I learned a lot about Sri Lankan wars and crimes. There was a reasonable amount of action. It is a sophisticated book. Not sure I liked it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Torture

_maia3_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I thought I would. I found the main character refreshing in how objectively bad he was as a person, the imagery lush, and the pacing top-notch. It does pack quite a lot into its pages and it may be a little disorienting at times. Certain characters and plot lines (such as Sena/Maali's involvement with Marxism) were not fully expanded upon - which sticks out like a sore thumb in such an intricate novel.

If you're going into this book wanting something politically charged, this is not the book for it. Partisan violence is treated as an unsolvable issue and the ending reinforces the fact that this book is about finding enjoyment in the little beauties in life - not about civil war, or changing the status quo. I understand that setting a book during a war that would continue for another two decades presents its own difficulties in finding an ending, but I was ultimately left a little disenchanted as I had hoped that the political plot lines would amount to more - maybe that's on me for not getting the message sooner.

  Overall I would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Confinement, Grief, Car accident, Suicide, Murder, Homophobia, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Violence, and Addiction

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug use, and Sexual assault

georgewhite92's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It took a long time to read through the entire book, partly because the names were all very similar (there was a glossary of names to help at the back of the book which i only realised after finishing the book).

It was a really interesting book, which mixed murder mystery with self-reflection, politics, philosophy and religion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: War, Suicide, and Sexual content

Minor: Rape