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A review by ketreads
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
slow-paced
4.0
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was such a surprisingly fantastic book.
I was drawn to the book, let's be real, by the gorgeous cover art initially. After reading the blurb and learning, it had both mystery and fantastical elements, it sounded like a perfect choice for my 'Storygraph Reads the World' for the country of Sri Lanka.
Shehan Karunatilaka does such an impressive job of making you care about Maali and his plight throughout the story, even when it quickly becomes apparent that Almeida isn't the most kindhearted of main characters. The rich descriptions, fantastical weaving of both mythological, after life, and real world political corruption, come together into this singularly impressive book.
While I wouldn't say I had immense joy in reading this, the topic and details the book gets into is both dark and upsetting realities of Shri Lanka's political climate at the time, I did find the book impressive.
I was drawn to the book, let's be real, by the gorgeous cover art initially. After reading the blurb and learning, it had both mystery and fantastical elements, it sounded like a perfect choice for my 'Storygraph Reads the World' for the country of Sri Lanka.
Shehan Karunatilaka does such an impressive job of making you care about Maali and his plight throughout the story, even when it quickly becomes apparent that Almeida isn't the most kindhearted of main characters. The rich descriptions, fantastical weaving of both mythological, after life, and real world political corruption, come together into this singularly impressive book.
While I wouldn't say I had immense joy in reading this, the topic and details the book gets into is both dark and upsetting realities of Shri Lanka's political climate at the time, I did find the book impressive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Death and Blood