Yeah every character is unique and likable. I think this is the first book in which I loved all the characters

I thought about using it as a book club pick for the library I work at but there are too many copies out at the moment for me to reserve a good amount of copies for the club.

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It seems to be a divisive book. I read it with a group of friends (6 of us), one gave up quickly, one is pushing through but not enjoying it, one finished but didn't like it, and the last three of us quite liked it but agreed that the novelty of the style wears off as the book progressess.

I love a cosy mystery but it was just too twee for me and I gave up!

I liked it and thought the prose was quite good. I did have to watch a 1.5 hour YouTube video on the Sri Lankan civil war after reading the first few pages to get a basic grasp of the context though! I don't think you're likely to feel more engaged as you go on - I felt like an outsider all the way through - but the book does pick up and the final crescendo is pretty powerful and surprisingly moving. I'd say it's worth pushing through for.

So I aimed and missed by assuming that someone I met on social media was active. Sorry. Depression and grief can absolutely interfere with attention span and focus. I do recommend the bookclub and classicbookclub subreddits.

Coursera offers university courses online. You could also start with short stories and novellas. r/suggestmeabook is a good resource for finding literature.

love love love these books!!

Thank you for the advice! Definitely will look into goodreads and maybe joining a book club, I just hope I can find one that we all align in our book interests? But I can figure that out! Is there any places that you know of for those online book clubs? Thanks so much for your reply!

Definitely understand how that could play a factor in attention span. I don’t know how much it relates to me though, because I’m truly not on socials much at all? This is even only my first or second post in the two years I’ve had an account! But I suppose how much time is too much is relative to the person, so it definitely could be affecting me. I really feel like what plays a huge part is just that I went through a rather rough time and my mind has just had this fog ever since? So when I sit down to read, sometimes I don’t feel as capable of deciphering the language of the old books I want to get into or I feel like I’m not catching metaphors like I did back then. And I just remember school having such a good curriculum that helped me break the barrier on some reads back then, so I thought it would be interesting if anyone knew of something that I could follow along with kind of like we did back then! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!

Edit- I’ll look into those and see how the discussions are, thank you so much again!

Johan Hari's book Stolen Focus is one of several that shows how social media is designed to be addictive and shortens attention span.

Making a commitment to read for a minimum amount of time each day and doing it can help.

Edit, r/bookclub and r/classicbookclub and r/fantasy among others choose books to read as part of a group with discussion.

Join local or online book clubs and/or Set a reading goal on goodreads

I listened to this on audiobook and while it was a good concept, it didn't grab me the way I thought it should. I put it down to being distracted while listening but it's interesting to hear it isn't quite clicking with other people.

Joyce is my queen

Ah I loved it!! It’s particularly interesting if you’re a South Asian and know a bit about the history of the civil war in the country. It mixes a lot of themes so it takes time to grow on the reader.

I have been telling everyone I know to read these books- they are a gem. To be fair, the mystery towards the end of book one gets a bit unwieldy, but he refines his style by book two so that the plot comes together in a more straightforward manner. Characters are great and by the end of book three they all felt like my friends. It also did a good job of highlighting the good things about getting old without glamorizing it unnecessarily

I really enjoyed it but I enjoyed it from the start. So maybe it's just not for you. I accept it does drag in the middle.

Yeah, I've only gotten about a hundred pages further than you - and I've given up, at least for a while. Which is a real shame - I was so excited for this book, that I ordered it as soon as it was available from Penguin India, when it was still called 'Chats With The Dead'. I've tried to read it several times now, and I just can't stay engaged. The whole situation with this book is baffling to me, I absolutely love his previous novel, 'The Legend of Pradeep Mathew's - it's in my top-10, maybe top-5, I love Karunatilaka's articles, and the premise of 'Seven Moons' is really intriguing to me - but it's just not working for me - and then it wins the Booker? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm super-happy that he won & is getting more recognition - I'm just somewhat befuddled that he got the Booker for this novel, when his last book was so much better, imo. Maybe that's part of why they gave the award to him now - trying to rectify the oversight kinda-thing. So, yeah, unfortunately I can't say that I stuck it out much further, even though it's from one of my favorite authors. But, you can read 'Pradeep Mathew' instead, that book is so worth the time! Even though it's kinda-sorta about cricket, and is even more non-linear, I was hooked just a few pages in, and I've re-read it a dozen times since!

I just finished reading this! I recognized Richard Is man’s name from UK panel shows and thought I’d give it a try. I really enjoyed it - didn’t know there were more; I will look them up.

Those three books are some of my favorite whodunits. I love all the characters and their development through out the books.

I wish I could have liked it as much as you did. I was bored the entire time, unfortunately, though the characters were lovely.

I described it as Agatha Christie at a posh retirement community.

Could not disagree more.

The book was very mediocre. The 2nd book wasn't any better, and I have no intention of reading the third

Thanks, I was trying to decide what to use my about to expire Audible credit on and could not make up my mind, but this book sounds great, and I'd never heard of it until your post!

They're super lovable - I enjoy the constant callbacks in the sequels, and the situational developments for all the characters over the series (including minor ones), and Joyce's wry unreliable first-person chapters.