Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

67 reviews

sakisreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

4.0

My friend lent me her copy and I was so puzzled by the concept initially 😳 I knew nothing about Sri Lanka and it’s political landscape so this was a perfect insight into it!

The language was easy throughout, although the content was not. It was thrilling to follow Maali along his ‘death’ 🙊

Okay Stanley also really POPPED OFF 😫 I lowkey felt like I knew it was coming, but it didn’t lessen the shock in any way 🥲

I think I’d like to understand Sri Lankan politics slightly better too! 4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨ 

Content warnings are below 🥹

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dianahincureads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and War

ebp's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.75

This was my original review whenI originally DNFd it last April: Gave up on this book. It was long string of consciousness I could not fully care enough about. Themes were the kinds of things I like to read about (countries I know little about and LGBT injustice, for example), but it meandered too much to hold my attention. DNF.

Why did I give it another chance? I still feel the same way! I should’ve left it on the DNF shelf…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

This book was frustrating, dense, bleak, and aloof. It was also darkly funny, astute, and creatively brilliant.

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)

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Content Warnings

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

clovetra's review against another edition

i am so sorry god i wish i liked this more!
sorry its such a minor pet peeve when books use overly-flowerly language. like yes some description is needed but.,.. this book was too much.
i told myself in 2024 to dnf any book that does not spark joy, and this book did not spark joy at all.
yeah i know im not really giving this book a chance but honestly i dont want to.
that sounds mean
idk i just didn't like it & where it was going!
mayhaps a future pick-up (i highly doubt it sadly)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Child death

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Genocide, Blood, and Lesbophobia

mattiaforc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ketreads's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was such a surprisingly fantastic book.

I was drawn to the book, let's be real, by the gorgeous cover art initially. After reading the blurb and learning, it had both mystery and fantastical elements, it sounded like a perfect choice for my 'Storygraph Reads the World' for the country of Sri Lanka. 
Shehan Karunatilaka does such an impressive job of making you care about Maali and his plight throughout the story, even when it quickly becomes apparent that Almeida isn't the most kindhearted of main characters. The rich descriptions, fantastical weaving of both mythological, after life, and real world political corruption, come together into this singularly impressive book. 

While I wouldn't say I had immense joy in reading this, the topic and details the book gets into is both dark and upsetting realities of Shri Lanka's political climate at the time, I did find the book impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Blood

dr_acula's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, and Alcohol