The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

  Sometimes I don't judge books by their covers, I judge them by their titles.  When I read the name of this book I was immediately interested and wanted to pick it up.  390 pages later, I'm glad I did.    The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (which I'll refer to as Seven Moons from this point on) is a really interesting book that fits nicely into multiple genres.  It is at times a historical fiction book about the Sri Lankan civil war that took place between 1983 and 2009.  At other times it is a love story between two men in a society that does not want to accept their love.  At other times still it is a mystery thriller with the focus being Almeida's murder.  And most of all it is speculative fiction that attempts to answer life's greatest question: what happens to us after we die?  Note how I said in the first paragraph that this book is only 390 pages and yet all the plots I just talked about get enough focus that I feel each story wraps up nicely.  This is not an easy feat.  Balancing these genres alone is the mark of a skilled writer, let alone managing them in such a way that each genre can feel fulfilled in under 400 pages.     Karunatilaka really shows himself to be an incredibly talented writer here.  Not only is his command of narrative and pacing strong, he just paints beautiful pictures with his words as his brush.  His protagonist Maali Almeida is a photographer by trade and as such this is a book that is heavy on imagery.  Karunatilaka is spectacular at painting scenes of horrific bloodshed as well as those of passionate love.  His writing is just so vivid in a way that makes me feel like I'm in each of his settings.    This is an excellent book by a really strong writer and I can't recommend it enough.