Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Shivantha Wijesinha
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

Winner of The 2022 Booker Prize

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida won the Booker prize last year, so I wanted to read it. I expected it to be good, and it was a pleasant surprise. I like unique books, and this one certainly was different.

Maali Almeida, a war photographer, gambler, and cheater, just died and came to the afterlife. At first, he finds himself in a waiting room. Maali learns he has seven moons (days) here and, in the meantime, can go to places he visited while still alive. He wants to know what happened to him and who killed him. Each chapter stands for one moon.

I knew nothing about the events in Sri Lanka in the eighties, so, at first, I was confused. But this cleared out a bit at some point. The story dragged a little in the middle, and there were quite some characters, so it was difficult to follow all of them.

The novel deals with a rather difficult subject, but the author writes about this with special humor that makes the story easier to read. I also liked the narration of this audiobook. Shivantha Wijesinha handles many characters, distinctive voices and dialects very well.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a unique novel on more than one level. It is very imaginative. The second-person narration feels natural here, and I got used to it quickly. I would highly recommend the novel, but I suppose, as with many, it won’t suit everyone’s taste.

Thanks to Bolinda Audio for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

I found this book really interesting, however despite regularly listening to books on audio, I found this one really hard to follow. That said. I did think it was a really different and interesting concept. I think I would rate it higher if I had read a physical copy.

The Seven Moons of Mallow


This audiobook has been a success. It's been a pleasure to listen to this audiobook. The narrator perfectly captured the plot's essence. Despite some darker moments, I found this to be lighthearted in places and written in a quirky style. I had a good time overall. to listen to. The narrator perfectly captured the plot's essence. Despite some darker moments, I found this to be cheerful in places and written in a quirky style. I had a good time overall. This audiobook has been a pleasure to listen to. The narrator perfectly captured the essence of the plot. Although this has some darker moments, I found it to be lighthearted in places and written in a quirky manner.

Amazing book...
Read in one sit, super interesting and different
I highly recommend for everybody
Thanks netgalley for sending me a copy

I took this in audiobook format with to Sri Lanka, with the specific intention of reading it on the island. I felt from what I had read that it would offer insight into the atrocities amid the civil war of the 1980s and thus, sitting on a train, watching the scenery fly past (well, dawdle past), listening to the story, I anticipated gaining an extra dimension on what I was seeing through the window; as well as enjoying a good story.

This is jaunty storytelling (heightened by the lilting voice of Shivantha Wijesinha) has a ghost at the heart. Maali has been murdered and he intends to find out who killed him. He is in a nether world. In his life, he was closet gay, with a boyfriend back in Colombo. He was a photographer with little moral compass, a committed gambler and generally colourful personality. He has seen the vice and corruption and has a stash of photographs which somehow need to get printed and out into the world.

It is a tome that doesn’t stop to take breath, it left me at times a little confused because it exuberantly introduces a multitude of characters who add colour to the narrative but can also feel a bit overwhelming. I guess one just has to look at the colours on the book cover to understand that this will be a vibrant read.

It is fantastical story that will turn your head, inform and tease. You may be left wondering what it is exactly you have read once you have finished it. It is another novel with ghostly ambitions endeavouring to highlight some of the ills in society, like 10 minutes, 38 seconds of Elif Shafak, Lincoln in Bardo by George Saunders and Eternal City by Mark Thompson.

I loved the narrator on this audio book - he really brought the characters to life and made it a joy to listen to.

As for the story itself, it was incredibly well written with fantastic descriptions and language, a fascinating plot and plenty of dark humour. Maali is a wonderful main character and his character development throughout the story is brilliant.

There are points throughout the story where conversations are dragged out or add little to the plot and that made the story drag at times but overall, a highly deserving Booker Prize winner that I'd highly recommend.

The narrator was excellent narrating all those characters. This is not my type of book... There was heavy fantasy/paranormal themes and I thought the homophobic language very harsh. Its was creative but I found it difficult to follow the premise the author was trying bring forth. #TheSevenMoonsofMaaliAlmeida #NetGalley



.

The audiobook narrator Shivantha Wijesinha bought it to life, and once begun I was very impressed by the characters voices. Thanks to a great author we have warmth, wisdom and emotional intelligence, this book was a huge pleasure to read!

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

In 1990 Colombo, Maali Almeida finds himself stuck between life and the afterlife. He is given seven moons, the equivalent of night and day, to complete the bureaucracy and medical checks necessary for moving on. While exploring the endless series of offices and waiting rooms, he is approached by a dead communist and revolutionary Sena, who claims that they were both killed by the same death squad and that he can teach Maali to whisper to the living in order to get revenge...

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was a genuinely fascinating read. The novel tells the story of Maali Almeida, a war photographer, a gambler, a homosexual man, a liar and an atheist. Described in an honest narrative, with many faults and mistakes, Maali is a man who would work for anyone ready to pay for his services. In his journey, he revisits his life and the turbulent modern history of Sri Lanka. I won’t deny that my knowledge of this country is minimal, but that did not spoil the pleasure of reading. Still, I believe some prior knowledge would add more depth to the narrative.

This book was a very positive surprise for me. I expected it to be well-written, but I never thought it would be as thrilling and funny. Apart from the descriptions of the atrocities of war, many scenes and dialogues, especially those including Sena, made me laugh loud. Still, I admit it is a rather dark and sometimes macabre kind of humour. The sensational theme of the novel, Maali’s attempt to contact his friends and convince them to publish the controversial photos he took in secret, which could affect the government, made it hard for me to stop listening to this audiobook.

To sum up, I would recommend this book to everyone. Do not feel overwhelmed by the prestigious rewards, as the novel is a remarkable narrative written with humour.

Thank-you to NetGalleyUK and Bolindaaudio for a free Audio-ERC in exchange for an honest review.

I usually leave the "audio" bit to the end, but this book was completely brought to life for me by Shivantha Wijesinha's incredible voice acting. I'm not saying I always ENJOYED his voices, but I always APPRECIATED them.

I don't really know where to place Seven Moons. It feels a bit recent-historical-fiction-ish. (I knew nothing about Sri Lanka beforehand, so I have no idea how accurate the portrayal is, but it feels authentic). It's a bit life-after-death-ish. It's a love story. It's about war. It's... complex! The writing is satirical and sardonic and hard-hitting issues are dealt with in a way that feels less jarring than it might have otherwise.

Shehan Karunatilaka does a really good job of the slow build: The gradual investment in the characters; the drip drip reveal. There are twists that feel obvious and twists that feel unexpected, and always the story is building. I started out thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it all that much (partly due to the second person narrative style, which I found jarring to begin with) but by the end was devouring it.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and I am delighted that I did. The narrator was incredible, tone, pace, characters and accents were absorbing and at times petrifying.
The story was written in a style that was refreshing and honest - sometimes brutally so. This book made me laugh out loud and also disturbed me - what humans are capable of to other humans always amazes and often saddens me. Shehan Karunatilaka’s knowledge and research with their own twist was engaging and (occasionally too) atmospheric.


The main character Maali is a fantastic choice for a main character- his determination, his quirky traits, his bad habits and his sarcasm.
I really enjoyed this audiobook and would definitely recommend.

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for this opportunity to provide an honest review in exchange for a copy of this audiobook

For me it’s a 4.5 star listen. (Narrator gets 5 stars)

In one word, this book is powerful. Having had read the physical copy, I was excited to dive into this audiobook and see how the vocal narration might affect the way the story feels.

The narration brings the text to life with flare, passion and a kindness which brings both the harsh and lighthearted moments to reality perfectly. This book is a wild and changing journey, and the narrator is able to carefully bring an array of emotions to light with tenderness in all the right places.

It was fascinating to learn about Sri Lanka -- a culture I knew very little about before reading this book. I can clearly see why it won the Booker Prize. A worthy recipient if there ever was one!

Oh how I have tried with this book. I desperately wanted to like this from all the reviews. I tried the physical book first and then the audiobook. I found it all very confusing. I didn’t quite get the in between world he was inhabiting. Whilst I liked the bits with his watching what was going on with the investigation into his death I found the other bits around the afterlife just too out there. Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. It’s not often I dnf but this was one of those times.

I was very excited to receive a copy of this given the hype around the book as a Booker prize winner.

Unfortunately I found it just OK, there's a lot to admire about the descriptive language, Sri Lanka and the war almost being a character in itself, and the unusual but well-done use of second person narrative, but for me thei characterisation lets it down. I wasn't invested enough in Maali, let alone DD and Jaki, and there were too many forgettable characters who came and went in the 'in-between', I found myself wanting to skip a lot of their conversations.

However, the narration on the audiobook was very good.

set in sri lanka and heaven, very interesting storyline. Loved the narration and brought the writing to life. What really happens when we die? who are we to judge and compare we all die one day. Lovely culture references to Sri Lanka and the many tribes who see Sri lank as home, different gods all in the same place. So the plot is really about finding a stash of photographs left being when the photographer dies, the clock is ticking and there is a limited time to find them, seven moons to be exact. Historical facts are well described and provide a backdrop to the story. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

Queer, historical-fantasy/ magical-realism? Sign me up.

As expected and hoped, this was phenomenal. Vivid description, dark humour, morally ambiguous unreliable narrator and a pinch of a history lesson - this book was a heady cocktail of different genres, with a fascinating cast of characters. We follow Maali in the "in between" - where he has seven moons (or days) to find out who killed him and complete his life's work of getting his photographs into the right hands.

While there were a few moments where the pacing dragged for me, on the whole it was utterly compelling. The narrator of the audiobook really bought the world of Maali Almeida to life - it was a great audiobook experience.

CW: War, gore, death, descriptions of graphic violence, sexual assault, war crimes, suicide

This book doesn’t hold back. A messy MC with questionable morals trying to navigate his afterlife while investigating the circumstances of his murder.

I started reading this as an eBook but found the writing difficult to follow. A conversation between characters was sometimes confusing as to who was saying what. Once I picked this up as an audiobook it was much more enjoyable to read. The narrator does an amazing job and is able to differentiate between every character.

While this isn’t a book I’d normally pick up, I’m glad I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant engaging tale about the recently deceased Maali Almeida who wakes up realising he is dead and has seven days to find out who murdered him and why.
This is an ambitious and imaginative read,

Thank you for granting me access to this audiobook.
So, I had already read this book in its physical form but I was curious about how the listening experience would be. I'm not disappointed at all. I think the narrator gives a stellar performance.

I’d heard only wonderful things about this book and it does not disappoint. Karunatilaka’s story about art and meaning, family and fighting against cruelty is stunning in its ambition, but also feels intimate. By the second moon, I loved Maali and wanted his life to have meaning. But by the seventh, I cared deeply about everyone in his life.

This was a gorgeous story to immerse myself in for a few days. The writing is stunning and I would absolutely recommend it.