You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
The tone was kind of…. confusing. It was both extremely dark and gruesome, but also very vivid and atmospheric? It contains a lot of Sri Lankan mythical imagery that (again) was unfamiliar, including a villainous goddess called the Mahakali that I thought was just a monster for most of the book.
The main character, Maali is complex and morally ambiguous. Overconfident, incredibly horny, and prone to attention seeking behaviors, he is both unlikable and yet somehow relatable. It is amazing that he can compartmentalize hiding his sexuality, loving his partner, and cheating on him at the same time.
Overall, this is not a light read, nor is it for the faint of heart. The explicit and graphic nature of Sri Lanka in the 80s is near impossible for me to comprehend, and yet this story gave me an insight into the visceral horrors. My favorite parts were about the mysterious Crow Man and Maali’s oblivious best friends who yet want to uncover the truth.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Rape
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, War
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Murder
Moderate: Violence
Minor: War
Graphic: Addiction, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation
It is beautifully written though. I thought the second-person perspective might be jarring but I was wrong - it feels so right for this story. Even with the fantastical concept, this is also really strong historical fiction, as the historical context is woven in so well.
Graphic: Death, Gore, War
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality
1. I liked the idea of a dead man trying to both solve his own murder and try to communicate final pleas with his loved ones.
2. The fact that this is considered to be satirical
3. That it is historical fiction, which I do not read a lot of, about a culture and place I am mostly unfamiliar with
The fact that it also won a Booker Prize in 2022 also helped.
This book is certainly unique. First, it is told in the second-person which, I do believe, I have never read before. It took a little bit to get used to this, the narrator saying "You see your friend," "You cannot remember,", etc., especially when he begins to speak about other people. However, it occurred to me that the choice of voice in this story only further embellishes that our narrator is dead. It gave it a feel that his soul, or what have you, is narrating the events to him, which we are in turn listening in on. It was a way of establishing disconnect between Maali's life and afterlife.
Another interesting component of the storytelling was that Maali is telling us about what is going on in Sri Lanka while also comparing it to his life, his love, his friends and family. We are constantly zooming in and out on the big picture affecting everyone and the specific life Maali led.
It is also interesting that Maali is not a good person. He is raddled with vices and consistently makes choices that he knows will hurt other people in his life. He is so attached to his work as a photographer because he believes it means he is actually doing something for the world to document the horrors of the violence occurring in his country. He isn't wrong, but it is clear that since he is incapable of being moral in other parts of his life he needs to continue to cling to his camera.
The downsides of this story are that I simply thought it was too long. Maali has seven moons (days) to finish his business with his old life and move on to the light. The first two moons take a very, very long time to get through in the story. While it establishes a lot about our narrator and the characters in his life as well as the overall landscape of the story, it felt easy to get lost in the story. This is where the second person POV doesn't help. The story also switches scenes a lot and doesn't clearly tell you when that's happening.
The third moon goes by a little quicker, then moons four, five, and six go even more quickly in comparison. It was just a kind of pacing that I didn't enjoy.
Also be warned the story is violent, deeply political, and smutty. There were certainly moments when I was surprised we were hearing about another swipe over the pants, but that's just because I am personally someone who doesn't like an onslaught of sex-related scenes in my reading material. It certainly added juxtaposition to the seriousness of the book, and added another layer to the issues in Sri Lanka at the time: being gay is just not allowed.
Ultimately, I thought this was an interesting story that carried a hefty weight. Unfortunately, I do feel some of it was lost on me, again, because of the pacing. I hate to say that between moons three and five my interest was waning. The ending certainly packed a punch, and I didn't see it coming until right before it did. I am glad that I gave this book a chance and learned something about a piece of history that prior I knew nothing about.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, War
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism