Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sedam meseca Malija Almeide by Shehan Karunatilaka

205 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I am honestly not sure what to make of this book. The folklore is incredibly lush, and this definitely taught me more about Sri Lanka than 16+ years of school but it was a bit of a slow start.

Maali was… not a good person but he tried to do right by his family in the end, and i really liked him becoming a helper. DD… I’ll be honest he pissed me off. The entire time he’s being skeptical & unhelpful while Jaki risks her life for their friend/lover… his dad literally had his bf murdered and he just ate it up & got a WHITE boyfriend weeks later… their relationship was awful but still YIKES. 

Sena… what a bitch boy. 

The ending was a bit sad but hopeful, I need to think on it more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment

bookgardendc's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Loved this book. Slowed down in the middle for me but picked up again. I learned a lot about Sri Lanka and it’s culture and history and in many ways it’s a true love story to the Sri Lankan people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Grief, War

Minor: Drug use, Torture

This book is about war and its consequences. Homophobia is an underlying theme. There are descriptions of atrocities although they are not super graphic and there are brief unemotional descriptions of the ways in which people die. Suicide comes up frequently.

jareadforfilth's review against another edition

4.25

dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The formatting of this book was a little confusing, I switched back and forth and sometimes combined reading my physical copy and listening to the audio to help me get through which was a bit difficult to follow when using just audio alone. Still, this book definitely came through in the end in terms of not only the resolution, but also the mystery of who killed Maali Almeida took me wayyyy by surprise, and there’s a glorious misdirect too. 

This book is very satirical as well and was definitely super funny and sassy which I lived for!! It did read as rather slow for me though, personally. There are definitely moments of conflict that are helpful, but I found myself inching through at times.

I love how this book really makes you think though—the irony in the idea that so much of what guides us through our lives is the wills of the dead really made me think and I thought it was so clever and also awful 😂 in a good way though! This book is very reflective and Maali is an anti-hero who transforms in wonderful ways through this story. You root for him but are also like WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? And I looooove Jaki, his best friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, War

franksalot's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, War

Moderate: Police brutality, Colonisation

lucyeanderson's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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this was an easy 4.5 stars for me. as much as sometimes i struggled to follow the book, due to its deep and complicated political happenings and cast of characters, i think this was more due to my own non-education on sri lankan history, rather than anything to do with the author or the book. i found this book so interesting. i really didn’t know a lot about it’s setting prior to reading, and thought the cantering of an atheist with an unknown political leaning allowed the events to be showcased clearly. i loved maalis voice, and thought he had the right combination of sardonic humour and cynicism, as well as optimism and light. i found the extended cast of characters incredibly interesting - they represented many different generations, beliefs, and touched on how the events of a country can affect its diaspora as well as its citizens. having read the book, i definitely want to research more about sri lanka and it’s history, and most certainly it’s mythology and belief systems - the inclusion of this as a vessel for the magical realism was so cool to learn through, and gave me an insight into beliefs so different from my own. i was hesitant about the second person perspective, but found that this was the perfect way to present the story, as you felt as though you were experiencing and learning with maali in real time. and that twist?! omg it broke my heart, i did NOT see that one coming. heavy warning for graphic descriptions of violence, though i don’t see it as used unnecessarily and trivially. overall, though i got through it at a slow pace, i really enjoyed reading this book - i’m so glad i found it and got to experience this story. 4.5/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death

rrrose's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief

bootrat's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, War

Moderate: Genocide, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder

Minor: Incest, Torture, Car accident

izznzz's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, War

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content

peonydancer's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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As someone with a Sri Lankan Tamil background, I had mixed feelings about the book. Whilst I loved the inside jokes that anyone from there would tots get about the culture, history, society, etc, Maali himself was a pain in the ass lol. Plus, the book didn't really show the war for what it was and how it started; it started with ultimately, the Anti-Tamil Porgroms enacted by the Sinhalese government and carried by its citizens; the mass murder and displacement of Tamil civilians. Still, I enjoyed the scathing commentary - a very unique book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Abandonment

adriaorr's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-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: Yes

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This book is super skillfully written. It starts a little slow because the author doesn’t hesitate to drop you in the middle of things without any context - there are a lot of names and historical events that can feel a little overwhelming if you’re not familiar with them. Once I accepted that I needed to just suspend the desire to be 100% “in the know” and let the book take me with it, it picked up significantly. Very creative and thought-provoking, not a casual read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, War

Minor: Torture