The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Winner of the Booker Prize 2022
-
-
4.1 • 29 Ratings
-
-
- £4.99
-
- £4.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2023
Now with added author content - a Map of Colombo as viewed from the afterlife + Dramatis Personae
A magical realism whodunnit set amid Sri Lanka's civil war
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest.
But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka's foremost author delivers a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.
'Recalls the mordant wit and surrealism of Gogol and Bulgakov.' Guardian
'Outstanding... the most significant work of Sri Lankan fiction in a decade.' New European
Customer Reviews
Sri Lankan Gold
I confess I have a bias. Having visited the island and loved the place and the people, diving it to this book was easy. I enjoyed a chance to dig into history that happened in my lifetime. 7 Moons reminds me that news broadcasting is a pasteurised account of reality.
The afterlife angle was a rollercoaster of funny loops, emotional corkscrews and spiritual drops that kept the plot veering onwards. But, like all rollercoasters, it slowed towards the end and finished with a sense of anticlimax.
Certainly a challenging read, but a truly novel novel.