Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Die sieben Monde des Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

198 reviews

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

psdarlin's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, Homophobia, Murder, Police brutality, and War

ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

lucyatoz'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? It's complicated

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka was the Booker Prize 2022 Winner.

The book is set in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1990, and tells the story of the death of Malinda Albert Kabalana a.k.a. Maali Almeida, a photographer documenting the civil war, who is also a compulsive gambler and a closeted gay man. He wakes up, confused and dazed, in a crowded office where he is informed that he has seven moons in the "In Between" to attempt to communicate with his family and friends, to find his photos and negatives that will bring down the government.

The story, told in the voice of an omniscient narrator, was sometimes fast paced and engaging, other times it slowed down and became drawn out. It does include some heavy subject matters including war, torture, suicide, genocide and matters of life and death.

I borrowed this book from Taunton Library and listened to the audiobook on BorrowBox. I read this for prompt 5, Magical Realism, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Violence, Blood, Murder, Kidnapping, Genocide, Torture, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Rape, and Child death

Minor: Drug use

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: War, Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, and Car accident

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

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

emathomas17's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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: Genocide, Violence, War, Torture, Murder, and Homophobia

tardigradest's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

holy shit !!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Death, Suicide, and Homophobia

lottiegasp's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.25

This novel is a good way of learning about the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the 1980s. The first 2 thirds is very slow so I was struggling to enjoy it. It's very much centred around a flawed protagonist, which I don't mind in and of itself, but I was irritated by how much he considered himself flawed and complicated, which was too much of the focus of the first chunk of the book for my liking.  But it picked up into a compelling plot that I became invested in and the story resolved in a pretty satisfactory way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, War, and Genocide

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault

sorcha's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, and Death

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

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

oohhsusannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, and War