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The best way of describing it is that genre of book where someone in the main character's life has just died, leaving behind a tangled web of mystery for the MC to unravel and resolve ... from the dead person's point of view.
The author does an amazing job painting the political landscape of Sri Lankan politics in the 70s-90s in all of its complexity and using it as a vehicle to reveal the story as opposed to allowing it to bog the story down. The main character is jaded and unlikeable, but the slow reveal throughout the book of what leads him to be like that and the dynamics involved was really impressively handled. I really loved the ending and the way that the author doesn't pretend to try to fix everything.
I read this book because a friend of a friend told me that her book club had read it and that everyone but her had said that, while they liked it, they would not recommend it as a book club book, a sentiment that she had disagreed with. Having now read it, I have to agree with my friend's friend: if these aren't the topics we discuss in a book club, then what are?
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, War
Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Torture, Death of parent
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Colonisation, War
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Classism
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War
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.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Car accident, Sexual harassment
Minor: Drug use
Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, War
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Murder, War
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Alcohol, Dysphoria
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
If you're going into this book wanting something politically charged, this is not the book for it. Partisan violence is treated as an unsolvable issue and the ending reinforces the fact that this book is about finding enjoyment in the little beauties in life - not about civil war, or changing the status quo. I understand that setting a book during a war that would continue for another two decades presents its own difficulties in finding an ending, but I was ultimately left a little disenchanted as I had hoped that the political plot lines would amount to more - maybe that's on me for not getting the message sooner.
Overall I would recommend!
Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Murder, War
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury