Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

16 reviews

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Trafficking, War, Death of parent, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Genocide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

not_dead_yet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

It’s about the inner workings of a genocidal civil war and one man’s single-minded scheme to stop it by exposing the truth.  As a side dish it’s a murder mystery. 

The chaotic structure of the writing draws you in to the chaos of the forces driving the civil war.  The chaos continues after death without missing a beat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, Racism, Torture, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Genocide, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

cat_22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Child death, Body horror, and Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

The more I think about this book, the higher my rating. It’s so good and thought provoking and well written. I’ll probably need to come back to it for a reread sometime because I’m sure there’s a lot that I missed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Drug use, War, Racism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, Abandonment, Murder, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Blood, Violence, and Child death

vif's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Abandonment, Animal death, Violence, Death, Child death, Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Sexual content

brookes_bookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, War, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Death of parent, Animal death, and Genocide

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

“‘This is where dreams are. I come here many times. To visit him and my girls.'

‘Him? You mean God?'

She laughs. ‘No, child. My husband. The father of my babies.'

‘The professor?'

‘He supported me though he didn't agree with me. He stopped all politics after I died. He's Down There. Looking after my girls. He's a lovely father. And I visit him in dreams and tell him whenever I can.'”

I loved this! Long live second-person narration. What a wonderful, moving and dark book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Classism, Confinement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Colonisation, Car accident, Child death, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexual violence

sumunun's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, and Sexism

peonydancer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

As someone with a Sri Lankan Tamil background, I had mixed feelings about the book. Whilst I loved the inside jokes that anyone from there would tots get about the culture, history, society, etc, Maali himself was a pain in the ass lol. Plus, the book didn't really show the war for what it was and how it started; it started with ultimately, the Anti-Tamil Porgroms enacted by the Sinhalese government and carried by its citizens; the mass murder and displacement of Tamil civilians. Still, I enjoyed the scathing commentary - a very unique book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Classism, Genocide, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Death, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Homophobia

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I ended up liking this book much more than my initial expectations. 
I quite enjoyed the writing style and the elements of magical realism. The narrative was challenging and even brutal at times, but very much captivating.

I have to admit that I generally struggle with unlikeable characters (especially if they are the main characters) but this is a rare case in which I actually appreciated all of these flawed and at times even unpleasant people, they felt very real and well-rounded in their portrayal.

I also liked that the story is deeply grounded in Sri Lankan history but the narration is not weighed down with long-winded explanatory paragraphs (which I really do not like in fiction as they stand out too much and interrupt the narrative flow), the reader has to pick up pieces of historical information as the narration progresses and/or do further reasearch by themself.

I also want to mention that the final revelation of Maali's fate left me completely stunned, I was speechless, floored, I still cannot believe it, it was truly a plot twist that I did not see coming and it landed like a punch to the stomach. 

Some episodes/sections left me a bit perplexed 

like a section discussing penises, okay I guess?!

or didn't impress me as much as the rest of the story, therefore the 4.5 rating. It is still a book well worthy of your time and that offers a lot to chew on.

Because, on reflection, once you have seen your own face and recognized the color of your eyes, tasted the air and smelled the soil, drunk from the purest fountains and the dirtiest wells, that is the kindest thing you can say abut life. It's not nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, War, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Death, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Police brutality, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Child death, Infidelity, Blood, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Confinement, Colonisation, Drug use, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Excrement, Abandonment, Abortion, Outing, Fatphobia, Slavery, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Rape, Car accident, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Cancer