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liesthemoontells's review against another edition
- 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
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)
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
sgrizzle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read this for my StoryGraph Reads the World Sri Lanka entry, and because it is a Booker Prize winner. This is a hard one to rate, because the quality is HIGH. I absolutely understand the award wins, and how this is a Very Important book for Sri Lankans. It is also a hard read for a few reasons. I went in knowing very little about Sri Lanka, and felt pretty lost, I had to stop and do some research. To be clear this is not a point against the book at all, and is the point of reading diversely! I learned a lot. It’s also very heavy subject matter, and confronts violence and corruption and evil very directly.
That said, once I got my footing under me, it was a fascinating story. The world-building of the afterlife here is really fun, and for being about such a dark period of history, there was also so much humor here as well. A big help was switching to the audio version, the narrator is EXCELLENT and really helped to bring the characters to life. Having the audible cues of how he did the differing voices also helped where I found myself getting a little lost. It did take me much longer to read than normal, and I took a couple of breaks, I think both because of the complexity and the difficult content, but as I was getting closer to the end I was fully absorbed.
Ultimately, it ends in a poignant and hopeful place, which is meaningful for a novel of war. I don’t know that I’d recommend it to every reader because it’s definitely a challenge, but worth the effort
Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and War
Moderate: Suicide
ko_rax's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Addiction
sophiestasyna's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Vomit, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
witchintherain's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
ekmsmith's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Death and Homophobia
Moderate: Torture and War
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
stalfos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Colonisation
rissryann's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, and War
heyitsneen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Drug use
bigolscrewup's review against another edition
- 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
Do not be afraid of demons; it is the living we should fear. Human horrors trump anything that Hollywood or the afterlife can conjure. Always remember this when you encounter a wild animal or a stray spirit. They are not as dangerous as you
4.5⭐/5
There are books that make you dream about happy things and makes you feel excited about everything great in the world, and then there are books that keep you up at night, making you question how so much injustice can happen in a place, without anyone doing anything about it. This book definitely falls into the latter category.
I've known about the Civil War in Sri Lanka growing up, but weirdly enough, until reading this book, I couldn't grasp the amount of struggle, the people might have gone through in those periods. Especially the parts where, Maali interact with the ghosts of people killed during those times, it deeply affected me.
Even though Maali was trying to figure out what happened to him the entire book, I actually didn't care about that mystery as much as I loved the random stories in between, conversations with ghosts from various times, even though at times it was hard to follow the narration, with the author's choice of second person narration. I didn't think I would get used to it, but I did eventually and honestly it was a good choice.
Graphic: Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, and War