He shot photos for multiple players in its messy and complex political landscape. In life, he slept with men from across the strata of conservative Lankan society. Slut.” This sets the timbre of a character who is droll, sarcastic and restless in death. Maali, a gay, atheist photojournalist in a rather macho culture, tells us that if he’d had a business card, it would have read: “Photographer. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, set in Colombo in 1989, starts with its eponymous protagonist Malinda Kabalana Almeida (Maali for short) inconveniently dead, with no recollection of who killed him but plenty of possible assassins. Sri Lanka, as depicted in this year’s Booker Prize-winning novel, is far removed from all the gorgeous things – lapidarian oceans, ancient ruins, misty tea plantations – that catapulted it into Lonely Planet’s number one tourist destination a few years ago. Himali McInnes reviews this year’s Booker Prize winner, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka.
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