Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

41 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

bookgardendc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved this book. Slowed down in the middle for me but picked up again. I learned a lot about Sri Lanka and it’s culture and history and in many ways it’s a true love story to the Sri Lankan people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Genocide, Drug use, Torture, Suicide, War, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, War, Violence, Homophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use and Torture

This book is about war and its consequences. Homophobia is an underlying theme. There are descriptions of atrocities although they are not super graphic and there are brief unemotional descriptions of the ways in which people die. Suicide comes up frequently.

lucyeanderson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

this was an easy 4.5 stars for me. as much as sometimes i struggled to follow the book, due to its deep and complicated political happenings and cast of characters, i think this was more due to my own non-education on sri lankan history, rather than anything to do with the author or the book. i found this book so interesting. i really didn’t know a lot about it’s setting prior to reading, and thought the cantering of an atheist with an unknown political leaning allowed the events to be showcased clearly. i loved maalis voice, and thought he had the right combination of sardonic humour and cynicism, as well as optimism and light. i found the extended cast of characters incredibly interesting - they represented many different generations, beliefs, and touched on how the events of a country can affect its diaspora as well as its citizens. having read the book, i definitely want to research more about sri lanka and it’s history, and most certainly it’s mythology and belief systems - the inclusion of this as a vessel for the magical realism was so cool to learn through, and gave me an insight into beliefs so different from my own. i was hesitant about the second person perspective, but found that this was the perfect way to present the story, as you felt as though you were experiencing and learning with maali in real time. and that twist?! omg it broke my heart, i did NOT see that one coming. heavy warning for graphic descriptions of violence, though i don’t see it as used unnecessarily and trivially. overall, though i got through it at a slow pace, i really enjoyed reading this book - i’m so glad i found it and got to experience this story. 4.5/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Classism, Genocide, Car accident, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Death, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

sumunun's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, and Sexism

aquakirst's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Animal death, Racism, Car accident, and Kidnapping

vintesta's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Gore, Torture, and War

lenchen25's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, Car accident, Gore, Blood, Child death, Animal death, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Alcohol

roseblossom999's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Cursing, Colonisation, Mental illness, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Blood, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, War, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Self harm, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gun violence, Body horror, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Car accident

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 

Spoiler

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

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

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