Reviews

You think of the lottery of birth and how everything else is mythology, stories the ego tells itself to justify fortune or explain away injustice.

What a wonderfully refreshing and beautiful book! It might have taken me months to finish it, but it was truly through no fault of the book, it is literally as if it was written and tailored for my reading taste: a second person POV, so rare and so perfect when done well (as it is the case here); characters that are so unapologetically themselves that i can feel them brush against my own heart, and a story that echoes in its particularities the most hurtful truths of humanity. What a gift of a book <3

lemon_nadie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

aricci's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Struggled to get into this, I liked the setting Inari Lanka but didn't find the main character likeable and was never really 'in' the story

anjalisudarsan's review against another edition

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4.0

The universe is anarchy. It is trillions of atoms pushing at each other, trying to clear space

Set at the time of the Sri Lankan civil war, this book is centred on Maali's ghost trying to do a few things before he passes into 'the Light' (I'm not going to get into the plot). There were so many Buddhist and Hindu afterlife concepts Maali witnesses, and it makes one think of how absurd all these ideas of the afterlife are. This book takes you through a lot of sad events that happened in real life...but I enjoyed how the writer has woven this story, flitting between the ghost-world and the human world. There is no justice or karma irl

riotcinema's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

Absolutely amazing book. It was a marvellous read that taught me so much about Sri Lanka. Reading it while there really lent a whole new perspective to my walks around Colombo.

davethescot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

hannahsutherland's review against another edition

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Obviously I am wrong, this book has won awards and I've heard lots of people praise it, and maybe it's just my mood, but I'm finding the second person narration makes it really difficult to get in to. Soft DNF, because I am really dragging my feet.

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