The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is set in 1989 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and follows a war photographer named Maali Almeida. One day, Maali is suddenly and mysteriously killed and dismembered. Perplexed and in a strange celestial office he doesn't recognize, Maali decides to investigate who killed him and why they killed him. Simultaneously, Maali must also deliver a number of photos to the men and women he loves the most to shake up Sri Lanka, the country he so dearly loves.
As a Sri Lankan, Karunatilaka had inside information related to the country, its political situation, and the people who live in it. But Karunatilaka chose to write about 1989 in Sri Lanka for a particular reason: he thought that writing about "forgotten tragedies would be less problematic, as most of the antagonists of [the] 1989 [insurrection] are dead." But, according to Karunatilaka, he was wrong. After all, Sri Lanka has been affected by brutal dictators who affected Sri Lanka in horrific ways. Not only that, the sons of dictators became leaders, furthering the destructive cycle. This, Karunatilaka said, informed his thoughts and his choices in writing the novel.
As in 1989, Sri Lanka faced a number of hard things in 2022. Shortages of common household goods and food became commonplace and violence thusly erupted in the streets. While Karunatilaka's book was written after the events of 2022, he used his experiences and thoughts about 2022 to reflect on 1989, writing: "No, it [2022] is not bleaker than 1989, because this time it is the people who are crushing the state." And that is the ethos of his novel: states and their leaders that crush and oppress their people are, to put it simply, evil.
Another influence on The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is the Aragalaya movement, which is being spearheaded by young people in Sri Lanka. The movement roughly translates to "struggle" and is aimed at forcing change in the government in Sri Lanka - in one way or another.
On the surface, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a novel about a cocky and loud war photographer who is horrifically murdered one day and must find out who killed him. On a deeper level, however, the novel is about the effects of power on a leader, the effects a dictator has on his population, the human condition, and the power of social change brought on by a group of people.
