The 2022 Booker prize-winning novel by critically acclaimed Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, is a unique piece of writing that evokes multiple and often conflicting emotions as we turn from one page to the next, as we move from the surreal to the sublime, as we move between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Set in 1990, Karunatilaka packs in a punch with a no holds barred commentary on the sorry state of the socio-political environment in Sri Lanka, in the background of the civil war, linked to the Tamilian vs Sinhalese identity, told beautifully through a fictional story.
The story is of dead Malinda Almeida, a talented (war) photographer and a closet gay man, who has lived a privileged debauched yet famously dangerous life, both due to his profession and his gender, in the good and bad circles of Colombo. Now dead, and stuck in the in-between for 7 moons before he can be taken by the light (or the evil), depending on how he uses the time he has, the entire story runs through him trying to find out who his murderer is (because he doesn’t remember). He does that by trying to get help from his living pretend-girlfriend Jaki and secret lover Dilan, while also trying to protect them, and simultaneously grappling with his own reality as a ghost, fighting off the evil, navigating a race against time.
I HATED the book because it’s painfully honest about the hypocritical and broken society we live in. Showing a mirror, it forces us to see the dark, ugly crevices of our lives that we choose to ignore every day just so we can continue to make a living and meet our own selfish individual and family goals. From casinos to prison camps, to war-torn areas, to shady sex corners, to buried bodies in a lake, to corrupt policemen and Govt officials, to political games of profit from war, the book exposes the world as it is, with an ugly naked truth perspective. But it also does it in a cynical, dark way that sometimes is almost too clever for itself, and at times leaves the reader a bit cold. And that’s probably the biggest flaw of the book. After the first quarter of the book (say two out of the 7 moons), when we are impressed with the brilliance of the imagination, storytelling, point of view and wit, the middle half of the book puts a distance between the reader and itself. In that, we are left observing everything that is happening almost as a commentary, missing the all-important connection and empathy with the lead characters. During those pages, we are left with a book that speaks to our minds brilliantly, but not enough to our hearts.
The other thing I missed was for an entire book living in the world of the ghosts, there wasn’t enough new imagination of the dead world. It had scenes and tropes we have seen before, like good ghosts, bad ones, the evilest one, the final light taking them, ghosts trying to talk to living through a clairvoyant, ghosts getting trained to move things in living world… sounding too much like our all-time favourite and first of its kind Hollywood blockbuster Ghost, by director Jerry Zucker, starring the groovy Swayze and all-time-sexiest Demi Moore.
I LOVED the book because of the sheer ambition of the author, Karunatilaka, in commenting on such a wide array of issues that plague contemporary society in general, and Lankan society in particular. Civil war, politics of war, gender inclusion, dysfunctional families, generation gap, middle-class hypocrisy, social class divide, the absurdity of life (and death), geopolitics of money, imperialism including by the victim countries like India, endemic individual apathy of those with resources to do something… I can go on and on. The book also brings Sri Lanka alive in a beautiful and ugly way. The style of writing is poignant with a dark sense of humor. However, the winning stroke is when the heart-breaking mystery of his murderer is finally revealed, it reminds us that in the end, it’s all our personal demons and ghosts that are the bigger criminals, more than any politician, or terrorist or warmonger. That’s what gets us all in the end, after all.
The characters in the book are really well-built, especially the protagonist, Maali Almeida, through who’s eyes we see the whole book. The metaphorical digressions through conversations with dead priests, leopards, dogs, tourists, and other dead people and dead animals, add an additional layer of commentary that at times lifts the story, and at other times annoys. And the language and storytelling is impactful, though not always a light or easy read.
The writing style is like Orhan Pamuk-meets-Douglas Adams. And as that suggests, this book is not everyone’s cup of tea or rather not everyone’s game of poker, if we stay true to the ethos of the book. Let me know if you give it a try, but do it at your own risk.
