Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sedam meseca Malija Almeide by Shehan Karunatilaka

204 reviews

sangsmiles's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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: Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Car accident

hue's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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Incredible!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Classism

paperquilt's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol

radoie's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, War

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Murder, War

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation

magicalsocks's review against another edition

5.0

dark funny tense slow-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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(1/14/25)

this is peak novel writing. TO ME!!! had to physically put the book down and stare at the wall when the meaning of "King and Queen" finally clicked. i love writing that throws you in the deep end and tells you to keep up. in my opinion this book deserves every accolade it's received three times over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent

medini_l's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark tense 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

jayisreading's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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I want to preface this review by saying that I wanted to enjoy this novel far more than I actually did; it really came down to it being a me problem and not a problem with Karunatilaka’s storytelling. I think the main issue was that I picked this novel up at the wrong time and couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the uncategorizable (but definitely something deeply philosophical) nature of it, along with the sheer number of moving parts. Even while I was struggling with the text, though, I was able to pick up on the fact that Karunatilaka is quite the storyteller who can spin something incredible based on his country’s tumultuous history, as well as alluding to literary texts in the process to add further depth (e.g., there were definitely some Kafkaesque moments). With regard to his storytelling, something that I quite liked was how the novel was written in second person. It was a really unique approach and I thought it kept the reader on their toes as things unfolded.

I will say that it will be enormously beneficial to enter this novel with some familiarity with Sri Lankan history and politics, because I know a part of the reason I struggled was because I didn’t have that knowledge. That being said, it seems that there were readers who also had no knowledge and still thoroughly enjoyed this novel, so your mileage may vary. While I may have likely picked this novel up at the wrong time and didn’t enjoy it as much, as a result, I absolutely understand how and why Karunatilaka received the Booker Prize— I rarely come across novels like The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida that are this layered and ambitious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, War

Moderate: Infidelity, Colonisation

Minor: Drug use

jupytwo's review against another edition

4.75

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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bizarre, wonderful, heartbreaking, alive, dead, everything and nothing at all. a book that will stick with me forever that i thought was only 4 stars but then made me gasp and cry and smile in joy. and oh did i cry. wonderfully written in second person and

the beginning lines are repeated at the end which is so one of my favorite things a book can do

. magical realism is forever one of my favorite genres. 

i unfortunately know little about the sri lankan civil war & politics but i'm grateful to have learned so much about the world and the self from this. 

you come to realize that every death is significant, even when every life appears not to be.

FUCK YOU STANLEY

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Torture, Murder

malmasala's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I will never ever stop raving about this book. I finished it in two days!! (Every single page is a literal page turner). It paints such a beautiful portrait of queerness existing in historical Sri Lanka, which was something I never knew I craved to feel until I read it. There's something reverent grappling with violence in this book, some kind of truth that is hard to explain. It's nuanced and human. The main character, Maali, is the most real character I've read in a long, long time. And all this is entangled in a carefully crafted magical-realism that carries a life and gravity of its own. Truly unforgettable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Murder, War