Being a ghost isn’t that different to being a war photographer. Long periods of boredom interspersed with short bursts of terror. As action-packed as your post-death party has been, most of it is spent watching people staring at things. People stare a lot, break wind all the time, and touch their genitals much too much. [loc. 2845]
If Maali Almeida had a business card, it would say 'photographer, gambler, slut'. He is -- he was -- a war photographer documenting appalling crimes during the Sri Lankan civil war; a reckless gambler who lies about his habit; a flamboyant gay man who cheats on his partner DD (a Cabinet Minister's son) with countless random hookups. Maali was a complex man: now he is dead, and in an afterlife of hellish bureaucracy. And he has seven days -- seven moons -- to decide what next: will he enter the Light, or remain a ghost amongst the living? Wil he be able to communicate with DD, or with his best friend Jaki, about the box of photos under his bed that could bring down the government? And will he be able to discover, in one short week, who was responsible for his murder?
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is told in the second person, present tense, with multiple flashbacks and a lot of complex political strife. It's a merciless depiction of homophobia, civil war, corrupt government and a brutal regime that uses torture, imprisonment and disappearance to dispose of troublesome -- or merely inconvenient -- individuals. Maali is not a wholly likeable narrator, but he has a sharp wit and a refreshing cynicism, and he's well aware of his own failings without feeling much guilt about them. (He also name-checks Arthur C Clarke and claims this 'sci-fi visionary' for Sri Lanka.)
This wasn't exactly a pleasant read, simply because of the brutality and injustice of the world that Maali's haunting: but the juxtaposition of the supernatural and mundane worlds, and the moments of lyricism and raw honesty, made it a compelling read. Karunatilaka gives fairly clear explanations of the different political and non-governmental factions, and balances the sheer nastiness of Maali's death with considerable dark humour.
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