korrick 's review for:

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

4.0

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There's something deeply cynical about this tale that got me in the beginning and something deeply redemptive that got me in the end. The rest is a mash of second person perspective and Sri Lankan history that most often references the gory days of 1983-2009, and lord knows I'd be lying if I said I had had much (successful) experience with either of the two premises up until now. Still, the Booker has enough residual draw (especially when the laureates rack up the holds at work) for me to check in every once in a while, and anything that's queer and non-white is going spur me into action while the local libraries still see fit to house it on their shelves. It wasn't the greatest finding out after finishing that Karunatilaka had been advised to 'make it more accessible' aka dumb it down for the Eurocentric dingleberries still clogging the literary airways, but I honestly couldn't say I would have had as successful a time liking this had Karunatilaka not gone along with it. All in all, if you have a firm grip on chaotically cartwheeling narrative viewpoints, a more than mild taste for the sociohistorical politics of land not often splayed out in the Anglo lit limelight, and a strong stomach for frequent descriptions of the aftermath of garrotting, shelling, and suicide bombers, you still have to not be a fucking homophobe, mmk? Once you have that under control, though, this work will satisfy some of the most blackly sardonic corners of your godforsaken soul, and then turn you around and make you think that, maybe, there is some point to it after all.