--- product_id: 470157941 title: "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: WINNER OF THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE" price: "$12.72" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/470157941-the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida-winner-of-the-2022 store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: WINNER OF THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE **Price:** $12.72 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: WINNER OF THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE - **How much does it cost?** $12.72 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/470157941-the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida-winner-of-the-2022) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description WINNER OF THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE A searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts who cluster around him can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka. Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka's foremost authors, Karunatilaka is back with a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths. Review: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Book Review - Book Review: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Author – Shehan Karunatilaka Publisher – Penguin India . What’s peculiar with acts of insurgencies, pogroms, and civil war? Well, they paint a sordid tale of human suffering, blotched with patches of red filth strewn on streets, the unbearable stench of mutilated bodies crying in pain amongst piles of rotting carcasses, all in the pursuit of envisioning a righteous/egalitarian society at the cost of innocent lives. The perfidious power of our cerebral mind contorts and creates a belief system that people in authority deem fit and when driven by inept consciousness, it fashions bloodshed to usurp flailing egos. . War is gruesome, it stunts the economy of a nation and its repercussions are heinous. It creates this heavy, thick dense air, that’s ominous in nature reeking of torture, grief, and pathos. It leaves an indelible mark on society, shattering its core. The author Shehan in his book ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ breaks all the stereotypes and pens a fictional story of a gay photographer who finds himself entwined in the scheming political war of secession where his incongruent ideas fail to reverberate with the men in power who wield machinations of political governance. . This book predominately walks us through the lens of our main protagonist Maali Almeida, who wakes up dead in a world confounded with eerie, mysterious beings and finds himself in situations that are unduly of him in real life. He realizes he’s dead and has only seven moons/days to identify his killer and to get the pending task accomplished before he makes a transition from the in-between to the other realm (light). This book beautifully describes the world of the dead, especially the ones who were massacred during the Sri Lankan Civil war and portrays a tale of retribution for the ones who were brutally sacked to death by their perpetrators. . The author does a commendable job of weaving an innocuous tale of life after death that’s beautifully cocooned with political satire. Our protagonist is unabashedly queer and has a lot of secret admirers, whose imperturbable demeanor is worth mentioning. The characters are flawed and relatable where one feels a sense of empathy when they unknowingly land themselves in trouble for all the wrong reasons. The uniqueness of the plot along with its gallant portrayal of characters makes it an immersive read. . I loved reading this book right from the word go. How did Maali get entrenched in this chaos? Who killed him and for what? Will Maali achieve what he intends to in spirit within seven moons? What about his love life? Will he cross over? Well if these questions intrigue you, go and get a copy of this book, for it’s a firecracker and you’re going to love this one… Review: Political-mytho-fantasy-fiction that'll stay with you for a long time! - "Magic isn't evil or good. Or black or white. It is like the universe, like every missing God. Powerful and supremely indifferent" Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida . . . I'd definitely give it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫! ⚠️ Trigger Warning ⚠️ Here's why you should pick it up: 🌕 A morally gray protagonist who is trying to avenge his death under mysterious circumstances 🌖 Stories of war brutality that shake you to the core, yet remind you that the perpetrators are the ones that are far from the battlefield. It's graphic and gore right from the word go. But it's also something you won't be able to put down. 🌗 Finding purpose, yet losing everything in the pursuit of it all 🌘 History of Sri Lanka, it's folklore and it's politics 🌑 Friendship, Love (doomed romance), LGBTQ+ main characters that drive the plot forward 🌔 Cheeky, witty yet thought provoking writing of the The Booker Prize winning author 🌓 The idea that it's the choices that we make and the people we meet that make us who we are today I highly recommend this gripping novel and despite it's length, it's worth every turning page. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #5,655 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #131 in Fantasy (Books) #240 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery (Books) #320 in Contemporary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 6,277 Reviews | ## Images ![The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: WINNER OF THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81BTALmMbxL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Book Review *by P***H on 19 February 2023* Book Review: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Author – Shehan Karunatilaka Publisher – Penguin India . What’s peculiar with acts of insurgencies, pogroms, and civil war? Well, they paint a sordid tale of human suffering, blotched with patches of red filth strewn on streets, the unbearable stench of mutilated bodies crying in pain amongst piles of rotting carcasses, all in the pursuit of envisioning a righteous/egalitarian society at the cost of innocent lives. The perfidious power of our cerebral mind contorts and creates a belief system that people in authority deem fit and when driven by inept consciousness, it fashions bloodshed to usurp flailing egos. . War is gruesome, it stunts the economy of a nation and its repercussions are heinous. It creates this heavy, thick dense air, that’s ominous in nature reeking of torture, grief, and pathos. It leaves an indelible mark on society, shattering its core. The author Shehan in his book ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ breaks all the stereotypes and pens a fictional story of a gay photographer who finds himself entwined in the scheming political war of secession where his incongruent ideas fail to reverberate with the men in power who wield machinations of political governance. . This book predominately walks us through the lens of our main protagonist Maali Almeida, who wakes up dead in a world confounded with eerie, mysterious beings and finds himself in situations that are unduly of him in real life. He realizes he’s dead and has only seven moons/days to identify his killer and to get the pending task accomplished before he makes a transition from the in-between to the other realm (light). This book beautifully describes the world of the dead, especially the ones who were massacred during the Sri Lankan Civil war and portrays a tale of retribution for the ones who were brutally sacked to death by their perpetrators. . The author does a commendable job of weaving an innocuous tale of life after death that’s beautifully cocooned with political satire. Our protagonist is unabashedly queer and has a lot of secret admirers, whose imperturbable demeanor is worth mentioning. The characters are flawed and relatable where one feels a sense of empathy when they unknowingly land themselves in trouble for all the wrong reasons. The uniqueness of the plot along with its gallant portrayal of characters makes it an immersive read. . I loved reading this book right from the word go. How did Maali get entrenched in this chaos? Who killed him and for what? Will Maali achieve what he intends to in spirit within seven moons? What about his love life? Will he cross over? Well if these questions intrigue you, go and get a copy of this book, for it’s a firecracker and you’re going to love this one… ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Political-mytho-fantasy-fiction that'll stay with you for a long time! *by T***D on 12 April 2024* "Magic isn't evil or good. Or black or white. It is like the universe, like every missing God. Powerful and supremely indifferent" Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida . . . I'd definitely give it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫! ⚠️ Trigger Warning ⚠️ Here's why you should pick it up: 🌕 A morally gray protagonist who is trying to avenge his death under mysterious circumstances 🌖 Stories of war brutality that shake you to the core, yet remind you that the perpetrators are the ones that are far from the battlefield. It's graphic and gore right from the word go. But it's also something you won't be able to put down. 🌗 Finding purpose, yet losing everything in the pursuit of it all 🌘 History of Sri Lanka, it's folklore and it's politics 🌑 Friendship, Love (doomed romance), LGBTQ+ main characters that drive the plot forward 🌔 Cheeky, witty yet thought provoking writing of the The Booker Prize winning author 🌓 The idea that it's the choices that we make and the people we meet that make us who we are today I highly recommend this gripping novel and despite it's length, it's worth every turning page. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Zany and humorous, yet thoughtful *by A***N on 29 January 2024* This book, winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, is an incredible combination of an imaginative and almost wild storyline, abundant humor, a scathing commentary on Sri Lankan politics in the 1980s, and thoughtful character sketching of the main protagonist and supporting actors. The premise of this book bears some resemblance to George Saunders' 2017 novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, that revolves around Abraham Lincoln's deceased son and various other characters, all situated in a realm between life and rebirth. Saunders incorporates real historical events from Lincoln's life into his narrative. Similarly, this book follows the journey of Maali Almeida, a photographer who wakes up dead and finds himself in the afterlife. He has seven days, or "moons," to move on or risk being trapped in the afterlife. Karunatilaka sets his story against the backdrop of the communal unrest in Sri Lanka during the 1980s. The plot elements are zany and absolutely delightful and include a 42 storeyed afterlife waiting area, wind as the main form of transport, demons and other Sri Lankan mythological beings, a talking leopard and the important role of an Elvis Presley album. Karunatilaka’s writing is half-part humourous, especially when he comments on everday life in Sril Lanka during that period — “Lankans can’t queue unless you define a queue as an amorphous curve with multiple entry points”, and half part philosophical — “Evil is not what we should fear. Creatures with power acting in their own interest: that is what should make us shudder”. Karunatilka also uses an interesting second-person narrative style which I thought somehow immerses the reader better into the book. There is a fair amount of reference to Sri Lankan events in the 1980s and the roles that various entities such as the government, the JVP party and the Indian army played but that should not be a constraint for a reader not familiar with these events. Karunatilka also helpfully incorporates a cheatsheet early on in the book to underscrore these entities. But most importantly, Karunatilaka is able to flesh out the various characters really well — Maali’s lover, his lover’s cousin and father, a dead JVP activist, a blind astrologer, and several others. Maali Almeida’s character development through the events over the seven days as well as through flashbacks, is particularly well done. He is introduced to the reader as “Photographer. Gambler. Slut” right at the beginning of the book but we gradually then begin to understand his motivations and principles as the story progresses towards his inevitable redemption. Pros: Zany plot, humorous writing, fleshed out characters Cons: Nothing significant ## Frequently Bought Together - Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, The - The God of Small Things: A Novel --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/470157941-the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida-winner-of-the-2022](https://www.desertcart.us/products/470157941-the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida-winner-of-the-2022) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-09-28*