The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Excellent! I was lost at the beginning but slowly momentum built up and the story was just so captivating that I could barely keep the book down...

As a humanities student, I just love this book! It shows all the cruel reality of shree lanka's civil war and the kind of things people would do for power. The author's writting style is brilliant because he shows no bias towards any of the organisation but shows equal cruelty of everyone of these.

Very difficult to read but the Audible version was amazing

Totally engrossed in this book from first to last page. Brilliant writing, fascinating way of telling the Sri Lanka story. Highly recommend.

Well how controversial. There was no grey area when reviewing this book, the Booker Prize Winner 2022. We were either black or white. Maalia Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who has killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has 'seven moons', to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photographs that will rock Sri Lanka. At best the reviews say this book is a masterpiece but reminiscent of the movie Ghost. The plot resembles the folklore of the "in-between". The worst of the reviews has nothing much to say of the story but is just about lack of enjoyment, the scores were as follows. 2 x 2 3 x 3 4 x 4 5 x 5 2 x 6 5 x 7 3 x 8 3 x 9 Many found this prize winner hard to get into, then the story really began to pick up, It was said to be poetic with beautiful language. This was a good representation of war, at times it was slap-stick and often paralleled to Beetlejuice. The most interesting and also cynical thing was the box ticking. `1) It had a huge array of characters with exhausting names and they did not advance the plot at all. 2) LGBTQ Issues It would have been great if the author had offered more of a background knowledge Sri Lanka, a beautiful country. It was more spiritual than religious which was refreshing. It did not lack creativity but was disjointed, It was difficult to grasp the chapter as phases of the moon rather than segregations of the story. The writing was thought to be reminiscent of Douglas Adams with magical realism and biting satire, and this is definitely a original. The words were ün-stabilising and many. Too many context setting chapters. The pace picks up but the author takes us down many unwelcome alleys. Perhaps it was trying to do too much. Although Maali seems altruistic he is about himself and how his work showcases him his primary ambition is to bring the government down. In an interview the author states that the seven moons are meant to figuratively represent the government, this was lost on us. A sentence in the book that I personally resonated with at a time when society is buying into all the prince Harry issues is this. Äll stories are recycled and all stories are unfair. Many get luck, and many get misery. Many are born to homes with books; many grow up in the swamps of war. In the end, all becomes dust. All stories conclude with a fade to back.