Book Review of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

 

Name of Book: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida 

Author: Shehan Karunatilaka 

ISBN: 978-1-324-06482-4

Publisher: W.W. Norton

Type of book: Sri Lanka 1970s-1990s, homosexuality, photographer, atrocities, underworld, death, travel, relationships, powers, hierarchy, corruption, mystery 

Year it was published: 2022 

Summary:

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida—war photographer, gambler, and closet queen—has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his prize-winning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost authors, Shehan Karunatilaka is back with a “thrilling satire” (Economist) and rip-roaring state-of-the-nation epic that offers equal parts mordant wit and disturbing, profound truths.

Characters:

Main character is Maali Almeida "Albert" Kabalana, a photographer, gambler and a closeted? gay man. Maali's main personality is reckless and often photographing and seeing what he should never have seen in the first place. He is also very determined and a rule breaker too and a flamboyant dresser who takes pride in his appearance. To secondary characters he is very mysterious as they can't tell where his loyalties lie or who would want him dead. Aside from Maali Almeida, other characters aren't as well developed and the reader only sees them in brief snapshots, and because there is a whole lot going on, for me it was hard to latch on to a particular plot thread. 

Theme:

Men make plans while G-d laughs 

Plot:

The story is in second person narrative from Maali Almeida's point of view in second person narrative (yes, the 'you' point of view). as he learns he is dead and that the underworld is a series of bureaucracies whom is not controlled by anyone. He is also given seven days (refers to moons, not months as I thought would happen) to decide whether or not he wants to go into the light, but feeling as if he has explosive news, Maali Almeida decides to use his six days to explore the underworld as well as do his best to make up to his friends by giving them a scoop of some forbidden photos. The whole story will both present the underworld as well as Maali Almeida's life. before he died and what happens after his death and how he tries to manipulate events. I really do wish that I could have been more understanding of the slang the author used in the book, or perhaps a mention of how Sri Lanka got to the place it got to, so to speak.  

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Shehan Karunatilaka lives and works in Singapore. He has written advertisements, rock songs, travel stories, and bass lines. This is his first novel.

Opinion:

Seriously, after reading this novel, please listen to Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics to understand this novel. Perhaps its a fault or a strength, but before reading a novel, I want to understand the world and history, and in this novel I wasn't able to. Thanks to Roma Tearne's novel, THE ROAD TO URBINO, I understood that Sri Lanka had a lot going on such as complicated history of colonialism and civil war where people are mere numbers. I had hoped that in THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA I would get a chance to learn more about Sri Lanka and its beginnings, and, I'm sad to say, I was pretty disappointed. Despite the snarky character, extremely memorable sentences,  and an all too real underworld that reminded me of being told that Chinese idea of hell is bureaucracy, there is a lot of banality within the story, that is underworld can't escape from humanity. Due to summary, I felt it would be similar to Yangsze Choo's THE GHOST BRIDE, but it wasn't. There is definitely a lot of humor to explore or notice, but I think the strength within the novel will definitely lie when the reader will read it multiple times because its very subtle. 

This was given for review

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)