Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

40 reviews

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

The more I think about this book, the higher my rating. It’s so good and thought provoking and well written. I’ll probably need to come back to it for a reread sometime because I’m sure there’s a lot that I missed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

jenbosen's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful

5.0

For such a gruesome book, it was remarkably beautiful and hopeful. It is disorienting at first. Stick with it, though, because the farther you get, the more captivating it becomes. (I want to learn more about Sri Lankan history now too.) Definitely not for everyone, but if you like weird existential books, this is a top notch weird existential book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

economydreams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

sorcha's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lilaccoconut_bookclub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

This was incredible -- easily one of my favorite books I read this year.

The imagery, the mythology, the historical context, and even the 2nd-person narrative. I usually hate 2nd-person, but this was done so thoroughly well that I loved it. It made me reconsider my bias against 2nd person. The entire story was poignant, intriguing, and hopeful in its own way. Not only that, it gave me the opportunity to learn more about Sri Lanka.

In the end, when he finds out how he died (because that's the whole point) and he

goes to the river to choose his path, I felt the same tranquility he felt and it gave me a lot of peace in my own relationship with death and grief. It made me cry but was somehow comforting.

I'd read this again and hopefully learn even more than I learned the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

brookes_bookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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

kaiyakaiyo's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment