Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

90 reviews

_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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georgewhite92's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.75

It took a long time to read through the entire book, partly because the names were all very similar (there was a glossary of names to help at the back of the book which i only realised after finishing the book).

It was a really interesting book, which mixed murder mystery with self-reflection, politics, philosophy and religion.

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kaiyakaiyo's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I am honestly not sure what to make of this book. The folklore is incredibly lush, and this definitely taught me more about Sri Lanka than 16+ years of school but it was a bit of a slow start.

Maali was… not a good person but he tried to do right by his family in the end, and i really liked him becoming a helper. DD… I’ll be honest he pissed me off. The entire time he’s being skeptical & unhelpful while Jaki risks her life for their friend/lover… his dad literally had his bf murdered and he just ate it up & got a WHITE boyfriend weeks later… their relationship was awful but still YIKES.

Sena… what a bitch boy.

The ending was a bit sad but hopeful, I need to think on it more.

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bookgardendc's review against another edition

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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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jareadforfilth's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

The formatting of this book was a little confusing, I switched back and forth and sometimes combined reading my physical copy and listening to the audio to help me get through which was a bit difficult to follow when using just audio alone. Still, this book definitely came through in the end in terms of not only the resolution, but also the mystery of who killed Maali Almeida took me wayyyy by surprise, and there’s a glorious misdirect too.

This book is very satirical as well and was definitely super funny and sassy which I lived for!! It did read as rather slow for me though, personally. There are definitely moments of conflict that are helpful, but I found myself inching through at times.

I love how this book really makes you think though—the irony in the idea that so much of what guides us through our lives is the wills of the dead really made me think and I thought it was so clever and also awful 😂 in a good way though! This book is very reflective and Maali is an anti-hero who transforms in wonderful ways through this story. You root for him but are also like WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? And I looooove Jaki, his best friend.

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frankieclc's review against another edition

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4.5

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lucyeanderson's review against another edition

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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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