Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

20 reviews

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

_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

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

peonydancer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

As someone with a Sri Lankan Tamil background, I had mixed feelings about the book. Whilst I loved the inside jokes that anyone from there would tots get about the culture, history, society, etc, Maali himself was a pain in the ass lol. Plus, the book didn't really show the war for what it was and how it started; it started with ultimately, the Anti-Tamil Porgroms enacted by the Sinhalese government and carried by its citizens; the mass murder and displacement of Tamil civilians. Still, I enjoyed the scathing commentary - a very unique book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Classism, Genocide, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Death, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Homophobia

augie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, War, Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

dreamycactus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and War

Minor: Addiction and Drug abuse

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

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

lizzie0601's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

3.75

• Clever premise & interesting ideas about non-meaning of life 
• Meditation on impact of civil war & whether it is better to seek justice or attempt to forget & move on 
• Slow-paced and quite abstract so not easy to read - also felt there was a high  entry level of knowledge about the Sri Lankan civil war 
• Unlikeable narrator made it difficult to sympathise at first but over time became invested in him as a complicated, morally grey character 
•  Skilled book technically e.g. use of second person very intentional 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture and Homophobia

Minor: Grief, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Car accident, Colonisation, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Drug use

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Conceptually I really like this, but the writing style did not work well for me. I only really felt invested during the last quarter of the book, the rest of the time I sort of didn't care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Death, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, and War

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Murder, Drug use, Classism, Cursing, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Torture, Police brutality, Sexism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Sexual assault