The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

gabe. reviewed Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Enjoyed it

4 stars

Content warning Story details

This was a cool read about the death and afterlife of Maali Almeida, a freelance photographer in Sri Lanka. Maali is a mostly unlikeable character who has a knack for being in the wrong place at the right time and always carrying his camera with him. He dies, we don't know how or why and we spend the bulk of the book jumping between his afterlife and flashbacks to when he was still alive. He's faithful to his friends, even if he doesn't always treat them well, and redeems himself to himself by the end. I liked the fact that it explores the idea of an afterlife that we're all mostly wrong about, yet still weaves in well known elements, such as ghosts, spirits and demons. I don't know much about Sri Lankan mythology, but it seems to draw from it.

Eduardo Santiago reviewed Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Review of 'Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

There’s so much wrong with this book. Every fundamental plot device is silly: the existence of a spirit after death; the idea that said spirit could see hear smell (violation of laws of physics); that said spirit could have desires and emotions (chemical/biological processes); and then the gimmicks on top of that, like the amnesia thing, how convenient; all of it makes for a book I would toss aside in the first few pages.

But I didn’t. And it wasn’t a stick-with-it thing: I enjoyed every page—okay, almost every page; some of the violence was sickening but I breathed through that—and despite the absurdity I fell deeper and deeper in love with the book. And the payoff is oh so worth it.

The book triggers so many of my hot buttons (in good ways) but I’ll focus on asymmetry because so many central themes revolve around it and because Karunatilaka …

There’s so much wrong with this book. Every fundamental plot device is silly: the existence of a spirit after death; the idea that said spirit could see hear smell (violation of laws of physics); that said spirit could have desires and emotions (chemical/biological processes); and then the gimmicks on top of that, like the amnesia thing, how convenient; all of it makes for a book I would toss aside in the first few pages.

But I didn’t. And it wasn’t a stick-with-it thing: I enjoyed every page—okay, almost every page; some of the violence was sickening but I breathed through that—and despite the absurdity I fell deeper and deeper in love with the book. And the payoff is oh so worth it.

The book triggers so many of my hot buttons (in good ways) but I’ll focus on asymmetry because so many central themes revolve around it and because Karunatilaka does such a masterful job weaving it into every element of the story. Porous asymmetries: Maali’s spirit is thrown into an afterlife whose rules are only partially explained, ... with dangerous gaps; the amnesia gimmick is an effective tension-building device, leaking information slowly to Maali and the reader, information that changes the context of what has transpired so far. In addition to the information asymmetries there are asymmetries of power, of attraction/attractiveness, and of morality. The unusual second-person narration is powerful: I often find that gimmick distancing; here it drew me in, made me identify with and feel a strong connection to Maali.

Some of my other hot buttons: Letting things go. The value of life. Compassion. All of them exquisitely handled, not necessarily with the resolution I would’ve preferred, but one I find more than satisfying.

Erin reviewed Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Review of 'Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I was enjoying this at first - the humor was even working for me, and that’s tough. But it increasingly got slapstick and juvenile. I was also getting bored by the conversations. Not for me!