Review by @federicabalbi

It is 1990 and Maali Almeida (‘Photographer. Gambler. Slut.’) is new to his ghost non-body, hovering over his town, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Around his neck hangs the Nikon, now broken, that he’s been using to shoot pictures of the past years of civil war, of the bodies it left behind, often civilians, and of journalists, terrorists and politicians. Slowly, memories come back to him, but he can’t recall how he died.

Shehan Karunatilaka’s second novel is rocambolesque and often brutal. The life and after-life of the war photographer become the lens to witness the smaller conflicts that compose the chaos of civil war, its intricacies and multiple agents. From the narrative emerges a society that is broken into factions, nourished by racial and religious hatred as well as political corruption and the remnants of colonisation. The educated young generation, represented by Maali, his lover Dilan, and best friend Jaki, tries to stand clear of these ideals, and Maali is convinced that his photos ‘will change the world’ by unmasking corruption and the horrors of civil war. In the political and social climate, this only results in danger for the young and brave.

Behind the witty, ironic voice of the narrator and the insolent attitude of the protagonist lies a pessimistic view of society and power. The most representative comment is expressed by Maali’s father to his young son: ‘You know why the battle of good versus evil is so one-sided, Malin? Because evil is better organized, better equipped and better paid. It is not monsters or yakas or demons we should fear. Organized collectives of evildoers who think they are performing the work of the righteous. That is what should make us shudder.’

Maali Almeida’s afterlife is populated by spirits and entities that derive from Hindu mythology and Sinhalese and pre-Islamic folklore. In the present edition of the novel, which was published by Sort of Books and earned Shehan Karunatilaka the 2022 Booker Prize, references to mythology and, especially, political factions and Sri Lankan society, have been edited to be more accessible to Western readers. 

The novel results in an intense modern epic that opens the eyes of the Western world on a part of Sri Lanka’s recent past, the way Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy do for India.