Book Review: ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,’ by Shehan Karunatilaka
Shehan Karunatilaka's new novel, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" is the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. It's about the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka. The eponymous narrator is a gay atheist photojournalist who worked and hustled with all sides during the conflict. He has seven nights to figure out who killed him and why. . ... “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is about humanness in a strange, sprawling, tragic situation.
Shehan Karunatilaka's new novel, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" is the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. It's about the manifold brutalities in Sri Lanka during its 26-year civil war. The eponymous narrator is a photographer and a prostitute. He's a few steps ahead of Gabriel García Márquez’s Col. Aureliano Buendía facing the firing squad. Like "One Hundred Years of Solitude," the novel breaks with conventional modes of storytelling to reveal humanness in a strange, sprawling, tragic situation.
