Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

26 reviews

peasandpancakes's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.0

I loved the premise of this book and the general story line. It was a bit slow at times, but it picked up again in the last 150 or so pages. 

My biggest problem was the tense. The second person tense was hard to get into, and I kept forgetting it had this tense, so I was confused by the wording every time I picked this book back up after a few days. 

Also not sure I got all the intricacies with the different sides and beliefs, as I had almost no knowledge on Sri Lanka before reading this book and had to google something every few pages.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.75

This was my original review whenI originally DNFd it last April: Gave up on this book. It was long string of consciousness I could not fully care enough about. Themes were the kinds of things I like to read about (countries I know little about and LGBT injustice, for example), but it meandered too much to hold my attention. DNF.

Why did I give it another chance? I still feel the same way! I should’ve left it on the DNF shelf…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

This book was frustrating, dense, bleak, and aloof. It was also darkly funny, astute, and creatively brilliant.

I struggled with the first two thirds of this book, which felt like a protracted setting up of the world, characters, and backstory. I found the text impenetrable, the pace frenetic, and the storyline uneven. The second-person perspective placed me at a distance from the text, and this was made doubly alienating by what an unpleasant character the protagonist is. This perspective also made it harder for me to engage with the unfamiliar concepts and language used in the book, as I felt like my brain was already exhausted from filtering the meaning through a perspective filter.

This changed when I got to the final third of the book. I'm not sure if it just took me that long to get into the rhythm of it, or if the pacing and action substantially changed, but all of the elements came together for me and propelled me towards the conclusion. Was the last third of the book satisfying enough to make up for how much I struggled with the beginning? On balance? Just.

Other themes/aspects that came up for me when I read it:

- ethics of conflict photojournalism 
- war and power
- mortality/the afterlife
- homophobia (both homosexuality and homophobia are portrayed pretty negatively in the book and the author also appears to be straight. For me this makes it a homophobic commentary on homophobia?)
- female characters (they are... Not well written)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

sophiestasyna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was beautifully written and quite unique. If you are looking for a book to stretch your thinking, look no further. The second-person POV took some getting used to. At times, I found the storyline a little difficult to follow.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

lanid's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Genocide, Blood, and Lesbophobia

natyourusual_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

It’s starts off really slow, but as more moons pass the story truly goes somewhere else. I enjoyed the commentary it made about life and violence and self. If you hate the first two moons, just know it gets better in the second half. Check the trigger warnings before you read!!

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Confinement and Colonisation

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Suicide

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

“‘This is where dreams are. I come here many times. To visit him and my girls.'

‘Him? You mean God?'

She laughs. ‘No, child. My husband. The father of my babies.'

‘The professor?'

‘He supported me though he didn't agree with me. He stopped all politics after I died. He's Down There. Looking after my girls. He's a lovely father. And I visit him in dreams and tell him whenever I can.'”

I loved this! Long live second-person narration. What a wonderful, moving and dark book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

_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!

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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