The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Sri Lankan photojournalist Maali Almeida is stuck in purgatory and determined to find out how he died. Maali is no saint, and his questionable antics—both his sexual exploits and the questionable work he took on during Sri Lanka’s civil war—come back to haunt him as he slips in and out of places he had been when he was alive.

I loved the irreverence, the humor, and the insights into a civil war I knew little about and I was endlessly fascinated by the portrayal of purgatory and the afterlife.

This novel set in Sri Lanka blends murder mystery with historical fiction and upends expectations at every turn.

The story opens with anti-hero Maali waking up to find he's a ghost. I was immediately in his corner despite his being a shady character. (His business card: "Photographer, Gambler, Slut.")

When Maali learns he has seven moons (one week) to move into the Light, he opts to spend his precious time investigating his own murder. I was immersed in this world of the In-Between (think: ghosts, ghouls, demons) and real-life Sri Lanka during its war years. 

This book stomped on my… show more.

At first glance, this book is not my thing at all: it is very conceptual, very fantastical, and has a second-person narrative voice. But I’m a well-behaved book-club member, so I cracked it open and was blown away from the very first page.

This is superb, beautiful, masterful writing. It’s writing that makes you want to go back to school so you can have another go at learning how to do it yourself. Read it to remember that a good sentence is a thing of beauty, to learn a bit of Sri Lankan history – and for a laugh too,… show more.

So brilliant and weird! This one won the 2022 Booker, so it’s no surprise that the prose is outstanding.

When the Booker gets experimental, though, that doesn’t always mean the narrative is ‘this side’ of coherent - and I do like a story. Seven Moons sails close to the wind, I think, but what a trip! Phenomenally original  - rightly reviewed as “kaleidoscopic’, it transported me, with the murdered narrator, to an unexpected afterlife where all that makes us human – and animal – is rendered in chaotic fluorescence. But there is always a plan.

It was masterful and great… show more.

I chose this book because I have a slight obsession with books that have the protagonist’s (or main character’s) name in the title. Such books span all genres, and time periods and this one is fantasy (or at least, speculative fiction). This fact only added to its charm because I love fantasy, sci-fi, and all sorts of speculative fiction.

The premise is fascinating: Maali Almeida has to solve a murder. There’s just one problem: Not only is the murder in question his own but he has only seven days (in the afterlife) to achieve his goal. I’m usually not a… show more.