Great narration and beautiful story! Thank you for providing the audio!! I would definitely recommend to others and have already suggested it to my book club!

I loved the narrator of this audiobook. They really brought it to life. You are hooked in with a man waking up in heaven, and figuring out why he died, whilst exploring the political landscape of sri lanka for the reader. Very good audiobook.

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, 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. At a time 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 try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka's foremost author delivers a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.

I am not sure audio is the best way to discover this book. It is an excellent novel, but only when I read it in physical copy (just now) could I fully appreciate it and did not get lost. That is not to say it wasn't well done - on the contrary, the narrator is excellent.

My thanks to Bolinda Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Shehan Karunatilaka, winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. It was narrated by Shivantha Wijesinha.

In Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1990. Maali Almeida is a war photographer, a gambler and a closeted gay man. He has woken up dead in what appears to be a celestial visa office. He has no idea who killed him though there is a depressingly long list of suspects. He only has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

The narrative follows Maali Almeida’s journey through the various layers of the afterlife as he seeks to deal with his unfinished business before time runs out.

I had first read this novel in October 2022 when it was part of the Booker Prize shortlist. I was especially intrigued by the interaction between the mundane world and the world of the spirits. It also left me curious about the history of Sri Lanka as well as its mythology and folklore. It was a multilayered novel and I appreciated having the opportunity to reread it via its audiobook edition.

The narrator, actor and singer/songwriter Shivantha Wijesinha, is Sri Lankan and so brought an authenticity to the character’s voices throughout.

I learnt that this was a very personal project for him as he had lived through the civil war before his family emigrated to Australia. In an interview he states: “I have walked the streets and spoken to the people and been to the places in this book. I have tasted Sri Lanka’s grief and cried her tears”. A powerful testimony and I felt that he was the perfect narrator for this important novel.

Overall, I found ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ an outstanding work of literary fiction and a worthy winner of the Booker Prize. It is a complex narrative that combines satire with surrealist moments as well as being a powerful drama that exposes the brutality of civil war.

Very highly recommended.

A tour de force!

I listened to the audio copy but now I must buy the hard copy as there are so many parts I want to read again. I want to see how the novel is laid out on the page and revel in its humour and wonderful language.

A magnificent book, beautifully narrated.

I'm sorry it took me so long to discover - and review - this book. Amazingly, I had forgotten I had it.

Couldn’t have loved this more. Complex and thought-provoking, made me wonder what might lie ahead of us all… and where I would end up. Was completely engrossed by the political plot - couldn’t stop listening!

I will be coming back to this book in the later time as for now it was unfortunately a dnf. I was not in the mood for the genre.

Audio review: The narrator was phenomenal. Really brought life to each character, gave the 2nd person voice of the author it’s own flare and delivered a nuanced and sensitive performance without ever losing the edge of the dark humour.





Main review: I went into this not knowing anything about it. If I end up reading a Booker Prize nominee, it’s usually by accident because the book has attracted me in some other way. This was an impulse request that I almost regretted afterwards, worried that I’d picked something I wouldn’t like. In fact, I was initially put off by the second person pov. However after listening for about 20mins, I was drawn in by the story set against the backdrop of a conflict I know nothing about. As far as I can tell, this book leans on Sri Lankan folklore in it’s choice of storytelling mode. The main character (who at points is also you since the narrator/ author speaks to you in 2nd person) is a war photographer named Maali who died under mysterious and probably violent circumstances. He doesn’t remember what happened to him but travelling through a world of ghosts and ghouls, he has seven moons to come to terms with his life and death, whilst leading his boyfriend, girlfriend and mother to negatives of photos he took that could clarify everything. The story then travels almost portmanteau style through time, following the course of the Sri Lankan civil war – a time of violent upheaval and just plain violence, with a least six political factions (or basically well organised gangs) all squabbling over the territory. Being a gay man in 1983 Sri-Lanka was already difficult due to religious, cultural and socio-political reasons before you add in a civil war. But don’t let that make you think Maali is a saint. He’s an average human with plenty of flaws – a gambler, a serial cheater and fairly divorced from his own emotions. He’s also a really compelling character to act as vessel for this kind of story. I’ll stop there because I don’t want to head into spoiler territory but this is full of unflinching descriptions, mordant wit, cynicism but also hope, as well as being a deep dive into the meaning of life, death and religion. It’s beautifully written and utterly compelling. I loved it.

I wanted to read this novel since I first heard about it, however I was intimidated by its size; although it took me a while to get into it, I loved it and this audiobook made the experience even richer.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish listening to this book as I found it very confusing. I’ve only ready one other book that is written in the second person and I find it an alienating experience. Disappointed as I’d read wonderful reviews about this title.

this was okay, but read very juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

This story is epic. It's frustrating to be a late reviewer as there's nothing new to add that hasn't already been said beautifully by others before now.

The narrator is occasionally nasally, taking one out of the narrative.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida centers around a closeted photographer who dies during the height of the Civil War in Sri Lanka. The audiobook narration was excellent and kept me engaged throughout, although there were times that I felt the book dragged and went into unnecessary details.

My downfall for this book was likely the fact I listened to this as an audiobook. I think it's one that required a bit more focus and commitment than I was able to give at the time. I felt confused at certain points, although I have read a few other reviews and it doesn't look like I was alone in this feeling. I didn't feel a strong desire to pick this book up so three stars from me.

I can really understand now why this book won so many prizes

It's such a unique and different tale and the cover is really eye-catching as well. Do yourself a favor a go read this one.

Rating 4.5/5

I think this is possibly the first book I have read that is written in the second person and I always thought it would feel strange reading it that way just because it isn’t often used, at least not in the books that I usually read. I don’t know if it is purely because of the concept of Seven Moons or if it is also because I listened to it as an audiobook but the second-person narration worked really well, it made me feel so much more involved with the story.

I’m not going to lie it was definitely the cover that caught my eye on this one, I knew I wanted to give it a shot from that alone. I often assume, and I know what they say about assumptions, that books on the Booker Prize lists are quite serious and more character-driven, so because I noticed it was a winner I thought it was going to be very serious, especially as Maali is a war photographer. Thankfully it turned out to be so much more than I expected, it was at times serious and violent but could also be humorous and magical, and whilst it is fairly character focussed there was a good aim for Maali to work toward which made for an interesting plot.

I appreciated that even though I know very little of Sri Lanka and its culture, politics, and history that I was able to immerse myself and very quickly got a grip on what was happening without feeling like the information was bombarding me. The author’s writing made each aspect of the story so engaging that I could take in the intense political divisions as well as the mythological and fantastical souls that Maali comes across in the afterlife.

Maali is such an interesting character because he seems to court danger, he is gay in a very homophobic country, for work he goes to places of extreme violence, he seems to be playing all different sides during a war, and he can’t seem to help but cheat on the beautiful boy that he loves, but he is also utterly mesmerising. I love that he is so flawed but so comfortable with himself, as a reader you know he isn’t going to always make safe choices which lends a wonderful tension in the story and, especially in the latter half of the book, had me absolutely gripped until the end.

The story isn’t entirely linear but I actually quite enjoyed that, it added to the surreal quality of the cycle of the seven moons and what was happening in the afterlife. One thing that I did struggle with, at times, was remembering who some of the characters were in relation to each other and though I would recognise the name I couldn’t always place how they related to the story quite as easily.

The narration for this book, by Shivantha Wijesinha, was fantastic, he did such an amazing job of giving the characters distinct voices which couldn’t have been easy given how many there were and it made me really enjoy my listening experience.

I didn’t expect to enjoy The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida as much as I did, it is a book that deals with so many different issues and crosses into a few different genres that on paper you might think that it wouldn’t work, but it does. It is engaging and funny and dark and I loved its creativity and its concept, a very pleasant surprise.

This is an excellent book I did not enjoy reading. What a strange oxymoron.

I actually liked so much about this book, including the vivid imagery, unique concept, and the subtly gripping ‘mystery’. As this is a satire there were some actual ha ha moments, plus some dripping commentary on the socio-political landscape of Sri Lanka in the 1980s & 90s. I didn’t even hate the second person narration which normally puts me off. And yet, every time I put it down I was not excited to pick it up again! I think there was a density to the writing that didn’t have me craving it, despite it being a well-packaged story.

If you are interested in reading the 2022 Booker winner, I do highly recommend the audio. The accents, pronunciations, and multiple voices put on by Shivantha Wijesinha are absolutely immaculate. I actually read this in tandem with audio and physical, and I credit this method for finishing the book, because I actually don’t think I could have consumed this book in either of the formats alone.

It’s taken me a while to get to this review, there’s nothing wrong with the book but life happened! What I can say is this was a wonderful book and listening to it on audio got me through a tough period.

I’m not normally one for a Booker Prize winner (I tend to find the winners are heavy literary works that I just can’t get through) but as this one has a slight fantasy twist I thought why not?

In this book we follow Maali as he navigates his own death in Sri Lanka during the civil war in the 1980s. Maali doesn’t remember how he died and he has seven moons, or one week, in which he can travel back and forth between the afterlife and the living world trying to piece together what happened.

The narrative weaves together history, social commentary, and cultural traditions to create a beautiful story that is both educational and emotionally gripping. As i listened to this on audio I was able to enjoy the voice acting of Shivantha Wijesinha who created distinctive character voices making it easy to follow along. The only thing I did struggle with, from an audio perspective, was unfamiliar terms. It was difficult to grasp what were new names, mythologies etc for me without visually seeing them and being able to easily stop and look them up. Although this threw me off slightly it didn’t detract from the story as it unfolded, but it’s probably a note to myself to physically read books that introduce new things to me so I can get my head around them faster.

Although this has a slight fantasy lean, please don’t let that put you off if isn’t your normal genre. The story has so much to offer by way of politics, history, cultural heritage, relationships and more; it’s bound to have something for everyone.

I can absolutely see why this won such a prestigious prize and it’s made me think that there might be a few more Booker Prize winners that I could get along with. This was an easy 5 stars.

Have you read any Booker Prize winners? If so which ones and what did you love about them?

Every soul has seven moons to make it into the light in "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida," where the afterlife is portrayed as a hospital waiting room. Maali, a war photographer, is there and has no recollection of his own death. To do so, he must deal with a world where dogs can talk, spirits may exact revenge, and there is no clear religious allegiance. Written at a breakneck speed over the course of seven moons, the story is a sobering reminder of the brutality and violence that people inflict upon one another.

Despite the subject matter, the book contains just the right amount of humour. The novel manages to be both heartfelt and humorous, with asides that lighten the subject matter.

Karunatilaka's conception of the afterlife is spectacular, borrowing inspiration from Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Catholicism. His writing is so descriptive that readers will become engrossed in his evocative descriptions of the afterlife and its inhabitants. In conclusion, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that takes readers on a journey through life and mortality.