Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

4 reviews

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I ended up liking this book much more than my initial expectations. 
I quite enjoyed the writing style and the elements of magical realism. The narrative was challenging and even brutal at times, but very much captivating.

I have to admit that I generally struggle with unlikeable characters (especially if they are the main characters) but this is a rare case in which I actually appreciated all of these flawed and at times even unpleasant people, they felt very real and well-rounded in their portrayal.

I also liked that the story is deeply grounded in Sri Lankan history but the narration is not weighed down with long-winded explanatory paragraphs (which I really do not like in fiction as they stand out too much and interrupt the narrative flow), the reader has to pick up pieces of historical information as the narration progresses and/or do further reasearch by themself.

I also want to mention that the final revelation of Maali's fate left me completely stunned, I was speechless, floored, I still cannot believe it, it was truly a plot twist that I did not see coming and it landed like a punch to the stomach. 

Some episodes/sections left me a bit perplexed 

like a section discussing penises, okay I guess?!

or didn't impress me as much as the rest of the story, therefore the 4.5 rating. It is still a book well worthy of your time and that offers a lot to chew on.

Because, on reflection, once you have seen your own face and recognized the color of your eyes, tasted the air and smelled the soil, drunk from the purest fountains and the dirtiest wells, that is the kindest thing you can say abut life. It's not nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Outing, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Set in Sri Lanka in there 1980s this tells the story of a gay photographer with a gambling habit and frequent infidelities,  who has come to his end and it's trying to navigate his afterlife. First he has to figure out how he got there, and see if he can clean up the troubles he has caused his friends and family. He can travel to any place where people are talking about him, and so he starts to find out a lot more about what was going on around him than he was aware of in his life.

I haven't seen ghosts, spirits and demons depicted in this way before. It's quite a fresh take as a way of unpacking a life lived alongside people who are responsible for huge amounts of human (and animal)  suffering and bloodshed. As a person who rationalises his position taking pictures of heinous bloodshed, in the hopes that he can ruin the reputations of warmongers and bring end to conflict, he is both naïve and reckless.

As a retrospective, 40 years gives just about enough time between now and then for a look back at the political forces at play in Sri Lanka. The foreword is specific about it being a work of fiction, but certain contextual things are irrefutable history. Unpacking some of the ideas about racial frictions in the area, of the colonization and brutalization from various powers, over hundreds of years are myriad angry and frustrated or power-hungry spirits, some of whom plan revenge, or just hate on the living. They are cutting and profane in their expressions of contempt for living people and the history they have endured.

All this is counterpointed by some young dumb 20somethings – a rich jock brat, and his cousin and flatmate, a goth girl with a cynical outlook and artsy friends.

Maali has to decide whether he will go toward the light; will he stick around on Earth as an eternal spirit, remember past lives, or forget everything and be reborn.. will he trade his strength to the demons to get special powers allowing him to affect living humans!.. and are the nasty looking apparitions trying to trick him, or are the clean, white clad "Helpers" the ones who are stringing him along?

Cool book, but a bit hard going if you aren't ok with war reporting. Interesting revelations near the end and a fairly satisfying ending. Worth a read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

apworden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

I read both the ebook and listened to the audiobook (sometimes at the same time). Absolutely loved this book. It was engaging from the start and balanced really heavy material with subtle dark humor. It was a fascinating look into Sri Lanka in the late ‘80s/early 90’s. I felt like I went on the philosophical journey about the meaning of life right along with Maali. If you like magical realism mixed with historical fiction I recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

As someone who knows nothing about the history and war in Sri Lanka I was a little lost for the first 100 pages but after a quick google and getting further into the book, it did start to pick up and the pieces came together. 

I can understand why this won a Booker Prize and I can agree with that but overall wasn’t my favourite book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism