A review by tkhongmaly
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

It’s been over a decade since I spent a few short weeks in Sri Lanka for a study abroad summer class in college. I remember it being a point of worry for anyone who was relatively tuned into world news since it was only years since the end of the civil war. But it was being organized by a Sri Lankan student. I’ve never had a mind for history or dates or wars and their belligerents or the whos let alone the whys. But apparently I retained a minuscule understanding because sometimes I’d remember a faction or an event or the like be mentioned and I’d recall having heard about it or something similar.

I’m astonished by how genuinely comical, yet deftly crafted this book was. I was stressed. I was crying. I was laughing at the absurdity of just how truly shitty we humans are.

“You imagined him lending his life to some pointless cause just like you had and it made you happy. We must all find pointless causes to live for, or why bother with breath?”