www.the-storyteller.in

Do you believe in the afterlife? What would happen once you are dead? Is that the end for you or the beginning of greater good? 

Do you have any idea how remorseful a war can be? How many lives are at stake and the impact of a war in a whole country?

To find all these answers we can dive into the book “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” by Shehan Karunatilaka. 

Description 

The book starts with the death of a war photographer, gambler and gay slut Malinda Albert Kabalana commonly called as Maali Almeida by those who had known him when he was alive. Maali woke up dead in a place which looked like a celestial visa office. His Nikon 3ST camera was still intact to his neck with a smashed lens, one shoe, three chains and without any memory of his death. He found himself in the queue to meet the receptionist and figured out that he had a total of 7 moons (7 days) in his hand to find out his killer.

The satire literary fiction book is based on Sri Lanka’s civil war which started in 1983 and continued till 2009. Maali, who was killed in 1990, saw his body being chopped and washed away in Beira River, was the one who took all kinds of photos during the war. He worked with all the major parties in the country making all of them the suspect of his death. He met ghosts, ghouls, pretas, demons in afterlife, took help from them and tried to interact with his living friends to save them and lead them to find his hidden photographs which will rock Sri Lanka.

My Review

Pros 

• When I read the blurb, I found it intriguing. What could a ghost do to give justice to himself? Well I found my answer. The way afterlife characters are depicted is praiseworthy. Author has added all the characters from grandmother’s story to the book. Also, the book cover is fascinating and main attraction for the user to pick up the book. A demon face with contrast color combination justifies the book.
• The mystery will keep the readers hooked till the end of the book. Once I completed the reading and replayed the events in my mind, I found satisfaction. The book has answered all the open questions, solved the crime and provided justice to all the characters.
• The book provides lots of information on Sri Lanka and its political agenda. It includes the 1983 riot, Air Lanka Flight 512 bombing in 1986 and mentions the conspiracy against India’s then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi.
• The visual description and perception of eyewitnesses from a war prone zone is giving ample knowledge on suffering, loss and misery people had to tolerate to survive.
• The book showcased the life of individuals from LGBT community, their fear, humiliation, perception of society and how to overcome all these to live a carefree life which provides a very strong social message. 

“No matter what gender or sexuality we possess, every person has their freedom to live their life as per their rule. It doesn’t matter what society will think as long as you are true to yourself” – authorminnie

 Cons

• As a non-Sri Lankan, I found it difficult to understand all the political parties involved in the civil war. I had to search on the internet to understand the history of the country. 
• Lots of words are used in the local language, which I couldn’t understand. Lot of characters with difficult local names are involved in the book which made me memorize the names in order to understand the reference and characters. 

Awards and Recognition

The book won the prestigious 2022 Booker Prize, the announcement being made at a ceremony at the Roundhouse in London on 17 October 2022.

To know more about the Booker Prize, please check here.

Conclusion

Overall, the book is an emotional roller coaster, which showed horrors of war, tears of innocents and curse of the dead bodies in afterlife. It respected each and every soul in real life including animals and taunted the society to be fair with everyone. I enjoyed the book, though it took almost a fortnight to finish it.

PS: I got this book from my cousin as a gift when she visited my house recently. Thanks dear for the book, because of which I could get my hand on a good book and learnt about the Booker Prize award.