I’ve finally finished reading Shantaram, on my third attempt to read it to the end!
The Good
I really enjoyed the travelogue aspect of it which took me back to India. I loved the parts set in the slum. He’s clearly spent a lot of time with Indians and has a great deal of affection for them.
The most unpleasant parts of the plot were the best written. His term in jail, the war and the murders and violence were all compelling.
It’s a good story with plenty packed in and has the feel of a number of books of different genres all shuffled together.
The Bad
I didn’t like any of the characters apart from Prabaker. Partly that was because there were just so many characters and he didn’t develop them very much so you didn’t get the chance to know them. Having said that I didn’t like Lin either. He always seemed to be boasting about himself: how he could speak all these languages, how he was a good fighter, how he healed people, how well he did at making money for the mafia etc. I also didn’t like the way he described how close he was to some people towards the end of the book and yet they had hardly been mentioned before that point.
The Ugly
The worst bits were the philosophical discussions (couldn’t stand all that rubbish about God being the ultimate complexity) and Lin’s romantic feelings for Karla and Lisa which made me cringe. I was also going to add all the supposedly clever stuff that people like Didier and Karla spouted but at least Lin pulled Karla up on that at the end of the book.
Summary
I’m glad I read it. It’s not the kind of book I usually go for but it was a remarkable story and made me want to go back to India.
