Many thanks to Netgalley, Bolinda Audio, and the author, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An unforgettable narrative of the civil war that still has its claws on Srilanka through the lens of a reknowned war photographer who is stuck in the in-between for seven moons. Maali Almeida had a lot of forms and no one really knew his whole story, not even him. When he wakes up and finds that he is actually dead and now waiting to be 'processed' into the light Maali decides to spend the 7 moons alloted to him to stay in the in-between to figure out how he died. As he slowly starts to remember bits and pieces of his colourful life which was punctuated by death and war and gore, through the reactions of his loved ones. We travel through the world of closeted Maali, a brilliant photographer who drifted through life aimlessly and was finally reaching a place of solace. Who, why and what, happened to him? he does not know and he needs to and as soon as possible as it might change everything and may be even the course of this war.

This book was so so hard to get through. This book puts out the gore, the bloody politiocs, the selfish people who are destroying a beautiful and rich country to shreds. The war that began when the colonizers grazed their lands, years later still stealing lives in one form or the other. The very real canvas in which Maali's life is set is just painful. The prose is simple and beautiful and the mystery of the story, is kept under wraps till the very end and the ending of the story will surprise you. The setting of the inbetween is almost magical. I am so glad I read this book, considering this not really the kind of book I would have picked up on my own.

TW: Blood, Gore, War, Death, Bomb blasts, Sexual assaults, war crimes, betrayal, mental health rep, suicide, religious symbolism.

I began by loving this book, then being confused and (whisper) bored but by the end found myself really engaged again.

The book is many things, a love story, a paean to friendship, a satire, an exploration of what it means to be human and a political commentary on Sri Lanka. It is also a thriller revolving around the mystery of who killed Maali Almeida, to be solved by the ghost of the man himself.

I can’t help feeling that it is a little too complex for those totally unfamiliar with Sri Lankan politics to grasp without some background reading beforehand but it is beautifully written and, in the audiobook version I was given to review, beautifully read.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for an arc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

I’m so highly upset with this. I was so certain I’d love this book but I just didn’t enjoy it at all. I decided to DNF this at 60% purely because I was dreading listening to it again.

My reviews usually include a synopsis but this will be a struggle because, quite frankly, it confused me. Maali is dead and has no recollection of the events that happened. He’s stuck in a sort of purgatory for 7 moons while he figures out why he’s there.

This was written in second person which I’ve discovered I hate. I felt like I was listening to a meditation story throughout this and it left me with absolutely no connection to the main character. The jumble of characters and lack of character building also left my connections to them in a muddle. Every time a character was mentioned, I had to rack my brain for who they actually were. It just left me in complete confusion!

Going into this, I was so excited to hear the wonders of Sri Lanka and learn more about their culture. Instead, all I gathered was the corruption from their politics. That’s it. It was a highly political read which doesn’t appeal to me unfortunately.

Overall, if you like second person, political and highly intellectual reads, this could be the book for you. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time, energy or brain power required to actually understand what on earth was going on in this book. I must say though, the audiobook performance was outstanding.

Maali Almeida, this novel's title character and hero, opens the story by waking up dead. A photographer and fixer during Sri Lanka's civil war, he can't remember how he died, and now he finds himself in an afterlife with a surprising amount of bureaucracy. He has seven 'moons' (days, not months) to hang around the world of the living, after which he needs to choose where to go next. As he watches his loved ones dealing with his disappearance the readers slowly learn Maali's life story - but the reason for his sudden death remains unclear. Is it linked to the many compromising photographs he has taken, the negatives of which are now being hunted by all manner of dangerous players? And can he do enough from beyond the grave to protect his best friend and his boyfriend from being caught up in the crossfire?

It took me a while to get into the story, because it dots around a lot in time, and I did find it hard to follow at times. Maali is not an immediately likeable character and his behaviour isn't always good, but eventually I did come to like him. I did find his friend and partner easier to warm to, and I became invested in the story as I hoped they didn't meet the same sticky end that Maali did thanks to his photos.

It's a complicated story, often dark, but with a surprising amount of dry humour as well. It takes in a wide range of topics in its scope, and eventually becomes quite compelling towards the very end when Maali is on his seventh 'moon' as events in both the living and spirit worlds are coming to a dramatic head. I did quite enjoy it, even though I didn't always find it easy to keep the thread. But it's certainly more engaging than a lot of Booker Prize winners.

The audiobook narration is very well done - the narrator manages to do distinctive voices for a whole range of human characters, plus assorted ghouls, undead monsters and even animals. Unlike a lot of audiobooks, I could tell which character was speaking immediately from the voice. I particularly like the leopard's voice. It's perhaps not the most ideal book to listen to as opposed to read because of it jumping around a lot in time. If you lose concentration it is easy to get lost. I think part of the reason I found it harder to get into and to follow was because I listened rather than read it. It's not the best audiobook to listen to whilst you're doing anything slightly complex, or when you might fall asleep, as you do need to concentrate.

Overall though this is an interesting book with good characters, an unusual storyline, and a quirky and inventive interpretation of the afterlife. It's more fun and less earnest than the average Booker winner, and certainly more readable - I'm not a fan of books that go for style over substance. But this book has both. If you like literary novels it's well worth reading.

Not surprised to see this won the Booker Prize. As far as storytelling goes, it's incredibly well balanced. It seamlessly flits between pain and satirical humour, flourish and nuance. It's definitely not a breeze to read.

Because it requires so much attention, I would probably recommend a physical copy over an audiobook. Nevertheless it's a difficult real-world topic mixed with otherworldly elements and the whole thing comes together in such a moving way.

This was my first audiobook and there is more for me to transition to someone narrating the story for me. So, yeah it was long and I got lost in-between and and and and. I don't know how I feel about it so far. There were so much happening.. But I liked it for the title before it won so I was eager to read it and I'm grateful for the audiobook from bolinda audio and netgalley. .

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka
2022 Literary Fiction Audiobook 14 hours
Sri Lanka

4/5

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this audiobook

"History is people with ships and weapons wiping out those who forgot to invent them. Every civilisation begins with a genocide. It is the rule of the universe"

Set in Sri Lanka in the 1980s. The central character, Maali Almeida, is a dead photographer who sets out to solve the mystery of his own death and is given one week ("seven moons") during which he can travel between the afterlife and the real world.

I usually prefer the short list for the Booker Prize rather than the winner but I enjoyed The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida not only for the historical perspective but for the way the writing (and the narrator for the audiobook) brought you on a journey.

This was my first audiobook in a while and possibly the best one I’ve listened to. I feel like the second person perspective made it so immersive to listen to. the novel follows Maali Almeida as he experiences his seven moons (the seven days following his death spent in the afterlife to reflect upon his life and choose the next step). It was a fascinating depiction of the afterlife, unlike any I had read of before, it had the strange combination of being part unsettling and part oddly comforting as a concept. Maali is attempting to discover the truth behind his death whilst also finding a way to release his very graphic political war photography into the world posthumously. This is a very dark book in terms of how much violence is involved as it is set in a time of extreme political unrest and corruption so I would advise checking any trigger warnings. The character growth of Maali as he interacts with the other spirits and is exposed to all the other perspectives on religion, life and the afterlife was really powerful, and I feel like he develops his own voice by the end of the novel and becomes a much more likeable character. I think this is one that will stick with me for a while and would recommend it to anyone looking for a magical realism meets historical/ political fiction with a little bit of dark humour. I will definitely be reading anything else Karunatilaka brings out.

Grab this audiobook!

The Seven Books was the WINNER of the Booker Prize, 2022

Sri Lankan all around whirlwind photographer Maali Almeida has died! He is set up in a heavenly in between area, waiting for what is next. He is unsure what has happened but is determined to use the time he has left (seven moons) to "help" his friends and family uncover some very salacious photos he took before his death. As he travel in a. ghostlike way at breakneck speed you will learn all about the political unrest and upheaval plaguing the land and the mistakes he made when was alive. If you love a dense and quickly moving story of a land that may be far away (but not too different from here) then The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is for you!
. #Bolinda #ShehanKarunatilaka #TheSevenMoonsOfMaaliAlmeida

Set in 1990 during the Sri Lankan Civil War, Maali Ameida is a newly deceased photo journalist. He has seven days and night (moons) to decide whether to move into 'the light' or stay in 'the in between' limbo.

Set against a backdrop of curfews, death squads, terror attacks and suicide this isn't for the squeamish.

Maali must learn the scope of his limbo state surrounded by the spirits that walk amongst the living, while trying to work out how and why he died, try to find out the fate of his unseen photos. It's a sprawling epic, rich in Sri Lankan colour, history and myth.

This novel won The Booker Prize 2022, and I chose it as part of my efforts to broaden my reading genres. I'm pleased I chose the audiobook, I may have struggled to get into reading the book. There are Sri Lankan names, place names, acronyms and terms in every other sentence.

The audiobook narrator Shivantha Wijesinha bought it to life, and once settled in I was very impressed by the characters voices and rhythms. Some of the demon voices are genuinely scary.

Very powerful, there are big reflections of life and death, war and peace, the beauty of Sri Lanka and the devastation caused by the Civil War.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bolinda Audio

I can one hundred percent see why this book won the Booker Prize. I loved it! I thought it was superb. She an epic story!

Pienso que es bueno salirse de las lecturas más habituales de nombres conocidos para encontrar obras que nunca esperábamos que nos fueran a impactar. Es por esta razón que decidí darle una oportunidad a The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, esperando una historia con algo de fantasía, pero Shehan Karunatilaka utiliza este recurso solo para mostrarnos la convulsa historia política de Sri Lanka el siglo pasado, sin ahondar mucho en la parte no realista de su historia.


Maali Almeida es un reconocido fotógrafo de guerra que muere en circunstancias que no se aclararán hasta muy avanzado el libro. Según le informan en la ajetreada sala de espera de la muerte, dispone de siete lunas para arreglar sus asuntos pendientes y pasar al más allá. No es muy original el planteamiento, parece un poco la secuela de Ghost aunque sí que me parece divertido las trabas burocráticas que conforman gran parte de las escenas de Maali en la antesala de su futuro definitivo.

Maali no sabe quién le mató si es que lo hicieron, pero sospecha que está relacionado con las fotografías de guerra que ha hecho a lo largo de los años donde expone las corruptelas y la crueldad de aquellos que están en el poder o de los que luchan por arrebatárselo. Afortunadamente, hay unos cuantos párrafos dedicados a explicar la sopa de letras que conforman todas las siglas de las distintas facciones enfrentadas.

Para una total desconocedora de la historia de Sri Lanka como soy, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida sirve para conocer un poco los tejemanejes de las grandes potencias en la isla, que tras sufrir su pasado colonial tampoco salió muy bien parada tras los acuerdos de 1948. El hecho de tener tan cerca un vecino tan poderoso como India tampoco sirve para su “tranquilidad espiritual”.

Hay otro aspecto que define al protagonista de la obra, su homosexualidad encubierta. Es algo que le define intrínsecamente, pues tener que ocultar su naturaleza le obligará a mantener tan solo relaciones esporádicas con la inestabilidad que conlleva.

La novela está bastante bien escrita y resulta interesante, pero como digo su encuadre en el género fantástico es poco más que casual, por la necesidad de tener un instrumento que le permita relatar los sucesos de su vida pasada. Si en vez de hablar de fantasmas nos refiriéramos a viajes en el tiempo o alguna otra añagaza del estilo, el libro tampoco sufriría demasiados cambios.

En cuanto a la narración en audiolibro, obra de Shivantha Wijesinha, me parece correcta, pero tampoco me ha entusiasmado. Es cierto que el libro se me ha hecho un poco largo aún sabiendo que solo iba a extenderse durante siete lunas, porque mi capacidad de absorber horrores de la guerra tiene cierto límite.

OK friends, still not sure how I feel about this one! As usual I think this may be a classic case of the Booker prize winner being far too clever for my tiny brain BUT having said that I still enjoyed it even if 90% went over my head 🤣

It’s a good thing that this is a satire because quite honestly if there wasn’t that humour and the fantastical element to it, this would be the most depressing and horrifying novel ever. It paints a heartbreaking picture of 1990s Sri Lanka, where massacres and political corruption are not just accepted but expected. But the way this is explored is so original, through the spirit of Maali, a war photographer who’s been brutally murdered and is in a kind of limbo trying to shed light on some of the crimes he’s witnessed and photographed whilst also wanting to make amends to those closest to him.

I did struggle to keep up with the narrative and who was talking/the time/what the eff was going on but I think that’s because I have so little understanding of Sri Lanka’s history so it was a lot to take in, plus the “afterworld” is a bit mad with a lot of weird and wonderful characters! This one is shocking, brutal, entertaining and unlike anything I’ve read before and I think it’s one I’d read again to take a bit more in each time. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read this one and I think it would make an amazing book club read - so much to discuss!

I didn't think I'll pick this up until I came across the audiobook version of this book on @netgalley. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka is the story of a war photographer in Srilanka in the later 1980s who finds himself dead and in a sort of halfway office before he moves into the light. Maali Almeida doesn't remember who killed him because it could have been any of the warring factions he had photographed throughout his career. He wants to find out who killed him, but as a parting shot, splash his stash of controversial and secret-spilling photographs all over Srilanka. Maybe that will stop the war that has ravaged his country and killed millions, including him. But time is running out, and he has just seven moons to contact the two people he loves the most and lead them to these photos that would jolt Sri Lanka.
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What I liked about the book was even though it was disturbing and morbid, it also had wit and humour. The parallel world of ghouls and spirits the author creates is a vivid commentary on the cost of human lives, or the lack thereof, in racial politics and civil wars, how those claiming to champion the causes of one faction against the other don't care about the lives lost. Even the aid organisations, other countries and NGOs are just self-serving vehicles, making money out of someone else's misery. I think the book is a perfect satire about one of the most horrific chapters in Sri Lanka's history.
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I quite liked listening to this book. You could give it a go.
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That's all for today. Thanks.
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Ciao.

LOVED this story. so cool and unique. one of my favourites so far of the year. It's not surprising in the slightest that this book won the Booker prize for 2022!

Contrary to my usual behaviour I actually read a couple of reviews of this Booker winner because you can never tell whether you're going to be utterly befuddled or completely delighted by what's taken the judges eye in any year.

In one of the reviews it was noted that this was the basic storyline of Ghost. I'd always assumed Ghost was based loosely on Hamlet and probably Will based it on some folk tale about revenge after death.

Anyway, it still took me a while to get into the audiobook because of the various voices (and often the speed in which the narrator delivered the words) took me a short time to get used to. (Some of the demons more or less growl and one or two of the living positively race through their speeches).

I wasn't totally sold on the story because it does tend to go around in circles (as does Maali) for a while. I understand he's never been dead before so isn't sure what to do but still ...

He does come to terms with the fact that he's been killed but doesn't remember who by and the whole book consists of him trying to save the controversial photographs he took at various sites and also finding out how he died. Both of the outcomes are quite a disappointment but not surprising.

It left me with a distinct feeling of pity for Sri Lankans, who seem to have been lurching from one bloody conflict to another for a very long time. The book is an indictment in any country run by the unscrupulous, easily bribed officials that seem to inhabit any country these days.

This story follows the late Maali Almeida who appears to be trapped in some form of pre-after-life, between death and whatever comes next (it made me think of the waiting room in Beetlejuice, but that might just be me!). He then has seven moons (seven nights) to find his killer or be stuck in this limbo. Well that's how it starts anyway, but it soon turns into a quest to get his the photographs he took in life, that depict corruption and high-level wrongdoings, our into the public eye to show the truth.

This was not an easy listen, by any means. There is a lot of dark humour, but it does not do a lot to detract from bleakness of a lot of this tale. It is however very well written with a whole host of colourful characters that ultimately told a great story.

The book starts out with the main character being dead and as it progresses, he explores the afterlife, begins to remember how he died and sees how his loved ones are dealing with his disappearance. We explore politics and conflicts within Sri Lanka, as well as attitudes towards queer people in the early 90s.

I really needed to concentrate and read this book slowly to make sure I was taking it all in. It's not the easiest of plots to follow, with (dead) characters dipping in and out and there are flashbacks to explore Maali's past. It took me a little while, but once I got into it I felt very compelled to continue and find out where the story would take us. The main character is morally questionable when it comes to his actions within his relationship, so he isn't totally likeable, but it also makes him very interesting. However I didn't feel much of an emotional connection to him, which I think is mostly as a result of the writing style....we didn't get much of an insight to how he actually felt in the moment or justification for his actions.

However I did enjoy the process of reading this and the ending felt very satisfying and provided a sense of closure. I found viewing aspects of a different culture and politics very interesting and would certainly recommend others picking this up if the concept sounds interesting.

I listened to the audio of this book, which was excellently produced and narrated, even if some of the regional British accents weren't perfect.

The narrator of this book is fantastic!
The story itself never drew me in, it was too weird for me personally, and didn't make sense.

i wanted to like this but i found the tone to be crass and childish. the storytelling could have worked with some playful moments but here the efforts to be gratuitous yet funny did not do anything for me as a reader.