seven-moons-of-maali-almeida.md (1798B)
1 +++ 2 title = "I Suppose This Is Modern Fiction And It's Pretty Good" 3 date = 2024-04-12 4 [extra] 5 book = "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" 6 author = "Shehan Karunatilaka" 7 finished = 2024-04-01 8 rating = "★★★★☆" 9 +++ 10 11 When I started this book, I thought "ahh yes a book about the ghost of a 12 dead gay Sri Lankan photojournalist." By the end, I was thinking "ahh 13 yes a book about the ghost of a dead gay Sri Lankan photojournalist!" 14 This paragraph makes more sense out loud, where the emphasis is clearer, 15 but the crux of my point is that at first I was bewildered by its 16 subject matter but by the end of the book I was thoroughly appreciative 17 of the work and in fact enjoyed it very much. 18 19 <!-- more --> 20 21 I was looking for a book to get me out of my reading slump. I had 22 started several, and was making little headway through any of them. When 23 I began on this book I would not have thought it would be any different. 24 Yet it was! The world is fascinating and its mythology completely 25 original. Maali is complicated and, as such, makes me want to keep 26 unraveling his story. 27 28 I learned a lot about Sri Lanka through reading this. This has had 29 immediate payoff as I have been making niche jokes and references to my 30 Sri Lankan friend and really catching him off guard. I should probably 31 back this up with some actual historical research given the book's 32 general lack of commitment to the nature of reality. 33 34 It was good to read some surrealist fiction. I haven't done much of this 35 since last spring, when I was in a class on the subject. There are 36 actually cool things to come on that specific front, which I will try 37 and remember to link here when they come to fruition. 38 39 If you are looking for something to intrigue you and sort of make your 40 brain cells feel fuzzy, this might be the book for you.