Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

25 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

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

thesvnthsense's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual harassment and War

ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, War, Blood, Sexual content, and Car accident

lucyatoz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka was the Booker Prize 2022 Winner.

The book is set in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1990, and tells the story of the death of Malinda Albert Kabalana a.k.a. Maali Almeida, a photographer documenting the civil war, who is also a compulsive gambler and a closeted gay man. He wakes up, confused and dazed, in a crowded office where he is informed that he has seven moons in the "In Between" to attempt to communicate with his family and friends, to find his photos and negatives that will bring down the government.

The story, told in the voice of an omniscient narrator, was sometimes fast paced and engaging, other times it slowed down and became drawn out. It does include some heavy subject matters including war, torture, suicide, genocide and matters of life and death.

I borrowed this book from Taunton Library and listened to the audiobook on BorrowBox. I read this for prompt 5, Magical Realism, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Violence, Blood, Murder, Kidnapping, Genocide, Torture, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Rape, and Child death

Minor: Drug use

slimyfan's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Gore, Violence, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Torture, Car accident, Death of parent, Homophobia, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, Animal death, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Addiction

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I am honestly not sure what to make of this book. The folklore is incredibly lush, and this definitely taught me more about Sri Lanka than 16+ years of school but it was a bit of a slow start.

Maali was… not a good person but he tried to do right by his family in the end, and i really liked him becoming a helper. DD… I’ll be honest he pissed me off. The entire time he’s being skeptical & unhelpful while Jaki risks her life for their friend/lover… his dad literally had his bf murdered and he just ate it up & got a WHITE boyfriend weeks later… their relationship was awful but still YIKES. 

Sena… what a bitch boy. 

The ending was a bit sad but hopeful, I need to think on it more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Colonisation, Death, Toxic friendship, War, Torture, Violence, Homophobia, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

sumunun's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, and Sexism

peonydancer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

As someone with a Sri Lankan Tamil background, I had mixed feelings about the book. Whilst I loved the inside jokes that anyone from there would tots get about the culture, history, society, etc, Maali himself was a pain in the ass lol. Plus, the book didn't really show the war for what it was and how it started; it started with ultimately, the Anti-Tamil Porgroms enacted by the Sinhalese government and carried by its citizens; the mass murder and displacement of Tamil civilians. Still, I enjoyed the scathing commentary - a very unique book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Classism, Genocide, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Death, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Homophobia