Karunatilaka’s rich, engrossing second novel, the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, opens with its title character in a post-mortem waiting room in 1990.
1, 2022 A murdered Sri Lankan photojournalist strives to put his afterlife to good use.
However, I was very interested in his depictions of Sri Lanka’s war and got dragged into the action almost despite myself. THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA by Shehan Karunatilaka RELEASE DATE: Nov. To do this, he has to figure out the inconsistent rules of the In Between, avoid being consumed by the demon Mahakali, and learn how to be heard by humans.Īs with Lincoln in the Bardo, I was not enamored of Karunatilaka’s conception of the afterlife nor was I very interested in the philosophical ramifications of Maali’s conversations with other dead people, demons, and animals. A photographer, a gambler, an irresponsible and unfaithful gay lover, Maali had a purpose-to reveal the photos he’s taken of the carnage and double-dealing involved in the civil war in the hopes of stopping it.įaced with a grotesque and bewildering afterlife, Maali is determined to get his two friends, Jaki, who is in love with him, and DD, her cousin with whom Maali was in love, to find his hidden photographs and make sure they are seen. He finds himself watching his body being thrown into a lake, but he can’t remember who killed him or why. It’s December 1987 and Maali Almeida is dead. It is part of my Booker Prize shortlist project. Just by coincidence, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is the second book set in Sri Lanka that I’ve read in a few months.
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