Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Die sieben Monde des Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

198 reviews

charlottelilac's review against another edition

reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Police brutality, Colonisation, Car accident, and War

mrlsdevos's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Genocide, Car accident, Child death, Hate crime, Torture, Racism, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, War, Xenophobia, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Classism, Mental illness, Slavery, Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, Colonisation, Car accident, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

hanmccull's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

3.75

Karunatilaka paints a bleak picture of Sri Lankan Civil War in the 80s and 90s. Thankfully drops of humour from the protagonist, Maali, are pepper-potted throughout. 

I can see why this won the Booker! It is whip smart and like nothing I’ve read before. Lovingly loaned/recommended to me by my Aunt Agnes ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Homophobia

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

leensbeans's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Cursing, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death and Child death

mcwattsup's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This just wasn’t for me but I’m glad I tried it out anyway! It was definitely unlike anything I’ve read.

I listened to the audiobook, which is expertly narrated, but quickly discovered that this is a dense book. I probably should have physically read it so that I could give 100% of my attention to it instead of doing other things while I listened. So as a consequence, certain plot points and characters glossed over my head and I wasn’t following the story well at some moments. 

Additionally I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. It was kind of  aggressive and constantly described people’s body parts in ways that weren’t relevant to story or character building. The word “fondle” is used a lot! And idk it just started getting on my nerves. So again, this one just wasn’t for me but I can see where others would like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Death, Homophobia, War, Torture, and Violence

natashaball's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Death

mountain_adventures's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

This book starts off in a jarring and confusing way, but keep reading. You will eventually put the puzzle pieces together to understand the storyline. Once you figure out what is going on, you will become enchanted with this book. The story is written in second person which is an usual choice, but it works really well for this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

asainspace's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Clever, dark, witty, existential book about genocide, war and what it means to photograph and bear witness to inhumanity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Homophobia, Violence, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Sexual assault

aespaldon24's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense 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

2.75

I initially started this book on audio but switched over to a physical copy as I was finding it hard to follow. Even in physical format, I felt the book was a little disjointed at times and I got a little bored in the middle, but there were also moments especially towards the end where I really enjoyed the quality of the writing and story. I think I may have enjoyed it more if I knew more about the Sri Lankan war but overall a unique read that I am glad I finished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia