The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Narrated by: Shivantha Wijesinha

The book is not for the faint of heart. I love listening to different narrators from different countries because it is a very immersive experience.

Unlikeable central protagonists are usually not something that I enjoy, but this time, there were so many points of introspection here that I could not help but champion (towards the end) this man with dubious morals(at least in the beginning).

Maali Almeida is dead. There is no doubt about that. It is 1990, and Sri Lanka is in the midst of a civil war. There is a doubt, however, of how Maali met his end and why. His ‘ghost’ has seven moons to find out more about his death, but he keeps being distracted by all the goings-on in the world he has never seen before.

It is rare for me to ‘like’ a book with this much swearing and bloodshed, but there was a time and place for everything that happened in the book. Each character introduced to us is multi-dimensional, and we get a glimpse at different points of view of all the roles they all play. The way the plot progresses and moral quandaries are there for the reader/listener to explore. 

The highlight has to be the finale. There are two parts that stuck out for me -the reason for the way I am currently rating the book. One is the personal angle of what actually happened to Maali and why. The second is the task that Maali wanted to be carried out from the beyond and what actually happened with it.

The frustrations in this book are genuine, and they leap off the page. There is no satisfaction to be had in the world described to us, something I usually do not appreciate, but once again, in this context, it makes sense for things to end (or for us to leave them) the way we see.

I highly recommend this to people looking for a different kind of book. As long as the reader is okay with not liking the primary character initially, there is more to be seen and heard here.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own listening experience.