Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

153 reviews

fivefeather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Seven Moons is a twisting rat's-nest of a story - easy to get lost in, but constantly engaging, and always moving forwards. Brutal, graphic, and darkly witty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, War, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Genocide

Minor: Car accident, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Animal death, and Death of parent

allisonz6's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Suicide, Genocide, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual content, and Child death

Minor: Suicide attempt

nickibreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Captivated the entire time. Writing style was quirky, plot was original. I was surprised by all of the twists, and felt so invested in the stories of all the characters, who were complex. Wow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, and War

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Murder, and War

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Minor: Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, and Genocide

mattiaforc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Police brutality, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

lauralee_lu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

ketreads's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was such a surprisingly fantastic book.

I was drawn to the book, let's be real, by the gorgeous cover art initially. After reading the blurb and learning, it had both mystery and fantastical elements, it sounded like a perfect choice for my 'Storygraph Reads the World' for the country of Sri Lanka. 
Shehan Karunatilaka does such an impressive job of making you care about Maali and his plight throughout the story, even when it quickly becomes apparent that Almeida isn't the most kindhearted of main characters. The rich descriptions, fantastical weaving of both mythological, after life, and real world political corruption, come together into this singularly impressive book. 

While I wouldn't say I had immense joy in reading this, the topic and details the book gets into is both dark and upsetting realities of Shri Lanka's political climate at the time, I did find the book impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Blood

lindsayorme's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was an interesting read. I went into this with very little knowledge of the civil war in Sri Lanka, but came out with a general understanding of the time and what it was like to live within it. This was partially a result of the book, but I was also intrigued enough to engage in my own research, which I think was the best way to read this book and if this doesn't sound like an interesting time to you, then this book may not work as well for you. The second-person prose was an interesting choice that I wasn't sure about at first, but I think it worked for the story, or at least didn't take away from the narrative the author was trying to tell. Magical realism in a book about civil war was a choice I was intrigued but wary about going into this, but the balance between the realistic and unrealistic worked in this context to show Maali's life, his photography and the brutalities of the civil war. Aside from the brutalities of war that the book showed, it was actually quite funny and sarcastic and witty at times, which was a good contrast to some of the intense content covered. There were parts of this novel that were a little repetitive and slow-paced, which is why it wasn't a five star for me, but I enjoyed the reading experience, even if the content and storyline of the book was not necessarily "enjoyable". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder, Car accident, Drug use, Death of parent, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Torture, Racism, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Sexual content

molliekneath's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, War, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Torture