The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

“The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” is a novel by Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka. The book follows Maali Almeida, a war photographer by day, closet gay, and gambler by night, during Sri Lankan's civil war (1983-1990). This novel mixes second-person storytelling, magical realism, and historical fiction. It won the 2022 International Man Booker Prize.

It guides the reader through the sociological scene of the 80s/90s in Sri Lanka, a country torn by war, ethnic cleansing, and the blood of innocents.

I really loved this book. The concept hooks you in, the execution and characters make you stay. It shows that there rarely is a good and a bad side in a war. Every party has its interests at the end of the day, despite having started with “good” intentions.

It reflects upon death (what is there after it?/people will forget about you eventually/death is always around us, even if cannot see it or sense it.), war itself (how guiltless civilians are just pawns for the powerful, wars are orchestrated and are profitable), hypocrisies in relationships and the true nature of the human being.

Long(ish) books aren't for me as they take me a really long time to read and I just get disenchanted with the story overall. However, the pace of this book kept me hooked from the very first page.

All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Nonetheless, it's raw and graphic, something that not everyone enjoys (and that's okay!). History and geopolitics are very niche interests of mine. To be honest, I had never heard about the Sri Lankan civil war before. Thus, this novel granted me the opportunity to learn and delve into it and other topics.