Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

153 reviews

lucyatoz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka was the Booker Prize 2022 Winner.

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use

economydreams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

tardigradest's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

holy shit !!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder

mwritesdragons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

This is a really hard book to give a star rating because of how difficult the subject matter can be; it is a challenging read but worth the effort.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sorcha's review

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

duhitsamanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Suicide

dafni's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and War

livcashmere's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

I was pretty disappointed with this book, probably my own fault as I went into it with extremely high expectations. Overall, I found the writing to be too disjointed. The plot felt like it was jumping all over the place for the first two thirds of this book. I also found the twist at the end to be a little predicable. However, I did enjoy the character  developed and the authenticity in which they were portrayed, especially Jaki. In fact, I would have liked more from her character. I think the last third of this book is what won me over more in the end. I like that all the characters, even the dead ones, had realistic endings. I hate it when books end to cheery for every character. The ending definitely had that nice ‘full-circle’ feel to it. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and War

jeremynelson0899's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? No

4.0

I spent all of October reading nothing, as I wanted nothing to do with reading after a year of it being as forced as a laugh at awkward family reunions. 

However, what a book to start off my reading again with! A fantastic plot, complicated and well-described, characters who are both unlikeable and tangible, with beautifully floral language to describe it all. 

Having said this, there were two things I disliked- one was the grammatical mistakes (such as 'a room with a massive windows') and that the character of DD was a bit of a dick through the whole thing? I thought he loved Maali? And the fact nothing between them was resolved in the end left me with a feeling that something was lacking. I wanted more in that area. 

Other than that, highly recommended. One of this year's best, certainly!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, and Violence

lilaccoconut_bookclub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This was incredible -- easily one of my favorite books I read this year.

The imagery, the mythology, the historical context, and even the 2nd-person narrative. I usually hate 2nd-person, but this was done so thoroughly well that I loved it. It made me reconsider my bias against 2nd person. The entire story was poignant, intriguing, and hopeful in its own way. Not only that, it gave me the opportunity to learn more about Sri Lanka.

In the end, when he finds out how he died (because that's the whole point) and he

goes to the river to choose his path, I felt the same tranquility he felt and it gave me a lot of peace in my own relationship with death and grief. It made me cry but was somehow comforting.

I'd read this again and hopefully learn even more than I learned the first time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide