One of those "excellent art but I didn't enjoy reading it" kind of books.

Maali Almeida is dead. The cause of death is unclear, but thankfully Maali gets to take on a spectral form in a colourful afterlife and observe what happens next. Over seven days, we find out more about our hero, his friends, his body, his work, and the political landscape of Sri Lanka.

The book was narrated in second person which works only sometimes. It didn't work here, where Maali was both narrator and audience. I felt this made the narration even more needlessly choppy and confusing. I say even more because a lot of things were said indirectly or alluded to in passing, so important plot points could easily be read over and missed. I know some readers like that kind of enigma in their narration, but it was lost on me.

And, of course, the elephant in the room: it reminded me of Shafak's 10 minutes 38 seconds. A lot. And I cannot help but compare it to that book and tell you to go pick that one up instead.

1.5 stars rounded up because some of the writing was indeed good and I can see this working for some people.

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko