Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

25 reviews

helianthus_annuus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Το βιβλίο μου το πρότεινε ο βιβλιοπώλης της γειτονιάς μου και μπορώ να πω ότι άξιζε τα λεφτά του! Πληροφορήθηκα για ένα κομμάτι της ιστορίας μιας χώρας σχετικά άγνωστης σε μένα. Με συγκίνησαν πολλές από τις ιστορίες των δευτερέοντων χαρακτήρων του βιβλίου κι όχι τόσο του πρωταγωνιστή. Η μόνη δυσκολία ήταν να συνηθίσω τα πολλά και διαφορετικά ονόματα, που όμως κατάφερα να τα θυμάμαι μετά από λίγα κεφάλαια.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Death

dreamycactus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and War

Minor: Addiction and Drug abuse

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

Set in Sri Lanka in there 1980s this tells the story of a gay photographer with a gambling habit and frequent infidelities,  who has come to his end and it's trying to navigate his afterlife. First he has to figure out how he got there, and see if he can clean up the troubles he has caused his friends and family. He can travel to any place where people are talking about him, and so he starts to find out a lot more about what was going on around him than he was aware of in his life.

I haven't seen ghosts, spirits and demons depicted in this way before. It's quite a fresh take as a way of unpacking a life lived alongside people who are responsible for huge amounts of human (and animal)  suffering and bloodshed. As a person who rationalises his position taking pictures of heinous bloodshed, in the hopes that he can ruin the reputations of warmongers and bring end to conflict, he is both naïve and reckless.

As a retrospective, 40 years gives just about enough time between now and then for a look back at the political forces at play in Sri Lanka. The foreword is specific about it being a work of fiction, but certain contextual things are irrefutable history. Unpacking some of the ideas about racial frictions in the area, of the colonization and brutalization from various powers, over hundreds of years are myriad angry and frustrated or power-hungry spirits, some of whom plan revenge, or just hate on the living. They are cutting and profane in their expressions of contempt for living people and the history they have endured.

All this is counterpointed by some young dumb 20somethings – a rich jock brat, and his cousin and flatmate, a goth girl with a cynical outlook and artsy friends.

Maali has to decide whether he will go toward the light; will he stick around on Earth as an eternal spirit, remember past lives, or forget everything and be reborn.. will he trade his strength to the demons to get special powers allowing him to affect living humans!.. and are the nasty looking apparitions trying to trick him, or are the clean, white clad "Helpers" the ones who are stringing him along?

Cool book, but a bit hard going if you aren't ok with war reporting. Interesting revelations near the end and a fairly satisfying ending. Worth a read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Racism, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Outing, Murder, Kidnapping, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Suicide, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Drug use, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Excrement

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse

lizzie0601's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

3.75

• Clever premise & interesting ideas about non-meaning of life 
• Meditation on impact of civil war & whether it is better to seek justice or attempt to forget & move on 
• Slow-paced and quite abstract so not easy to read - also felt there was a high  entry level of knowledge about the Sri Lankan civil war 
• Unlikeable narrator made it difficult to sympathise at first but over time became invested in him as a complicated, morally grey character 
•  Skilled book technically e.g. use of second person very intentional 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture and Homophobia

Minor: Grief, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Car accident, Colonisation, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Drug use

hedsek's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Conceptually I really like this, but the writing style did not work well for me. I only really felt invested during the last quarter of the book, the rest of the time I sort of didn't care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Death, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Police brutality, and War

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Murder, Drug use, Classism, Cursing, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Torture, Police brutality, Sexism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

eleanorjmca's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, War, Violence, Police brutality, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, and Infidelity

abbie_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I found last year’s Booker prizewinner in a charity shop for 50p and I can conclude that that was 50p well spent. One of the more challenging books I’ve read in a while, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida feels like a lengthier book than it is. That sounds like criticism but I don’t mean it that way - this book is expansive, the scope of it spilling over its 384 pages.

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Even though I’ve read a couple of books which focus on the Sri Lankan civil war, I still felt a bit adrift initially. Karunatilaka throws you right in the midst of the ferocious violence and bloody politics which reigned in Sri Lanka for over 25 years. At the start of the book, we know that Maali Almeida is dead, but we don’t know how or why or who killed him. He’s in the afterlife, surrounded by Helpers who tell him he has seven nights to carry out his unfinished business - namely, lead his boyfriend and best friend to a box of photos that would have been more than enough to get Maali murdered.

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There’s just so much going on in this book. We get real world politics and injustices (1990s Sri Lanka was not a good time to be a gay man), but we also have the dramas of the afterlife playing out in tandem. Terrifying demons made up of souls stacked on souls, blind men whispering words of the dead to the living, gangs of ghosts urgently seeking vengeance on those who wronged them on earth. It’s all a bit mind-boggling but if you can stick with it (it took me a good 120 pages lol) then I do think the pay off is worth it. 

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Bearing witness is the most important theme here - Maali’s final quest is to expose the brutality and carnage of the civil war, with photos he’s spent years taking and then trying to forget through booze, gambling and men. The horrors of the war are spared no detail here, and that combined with the frequent moments of dark humour make for some serious literary whiplash. Glad I persevered through the slow beginning!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Torture, War, Blood, Addiction, Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Homophobia

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Maali a bad bitch that came from Sri Lanka 3👻

Giving major Cantik itu luka/Beauty is a wound vibes: magical realism at the height of violence of the civil war. 

A must read for anyone wanting to know more about one of the bloodiest civil wars of the 20th century.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Drug use, Mental illness, and War

bethsicle's review

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Murder, Homophobia, War, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, Car accident, Torture, Outing, Cursing, Colonisation, Alcohol, Child death, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Addiction, Classism, Hate crime, Drug use, Blood, Gore, and Genocide

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment