Shantaram: A Novel
by Gregory David Roberts
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Book Reviews of Shantaram: A Novel
Book Review: Brilliant storytelling, too many life lessons for me though...
Summary: 4 Stars
The scope of this book is truly amazing. The story and the characters are absolutely captivating and lovable. I remember all of the characters as if I had known them personally for years. The main character accomplishes so much more in this book than almost any other book I have read and his journey is incredible. The book takes you to fascinating places you have always wondered about, but they are places that you will probably never ever see because of the risks involved of getting there and being there.
I could go on and on about how great the story and the characters are (5 stars for sure), but I want to talk about the author and writing style...
Don't hate me for saying this but there were many times throughout the book where I got the sense that the author was a little full of himself. He keeps harping on about all these life lessons and towards the end it got a little tiring. I would have preferred if he would have left it up to the reader to determine the morals involved with the protagonist's story rather than blatantly pushing a message across to the reader over and over again. I ended up trying to block these bits out and found the book much more enjoyable this way.
I'm not telling you this merely for the sake of complaining, but I know there are other readers out there who think like me, and I want to tell them to just get past the author's at times condescending tone, so that you can enjoy the truly wonderful journey.
Book Review: Sophomoric and flowery but also bare knuckling riveting
Summary: 3 Stars
Very uneven. Writing is hyperbolic and fractured, with a cloying
flowery prose--less is more would be a good rule for any further
books.
Metaphors on steroids--many misused words. He gets a lot of mileage
of of Kant's Categorical Imperative--treating it as an exotic delicate flower of truth
given to him by his moralistic bereft father-figure.
A very contrived ending--all is tied together in implausible fashion; and strongly disappoints:
And makes the defects
even more palpable--like a thunderstorm of acid poured on my mellifluous soul.
It is like a poor man's Alexander Theroux.
That said--the stories are captivating--and the rawness and
riven storytelling can not be denied. It takes you into the darkest interiors
of the human soul, condition and culture: as well as the triumphs, loves and beauty
that can be also be seen--sometimes in the very same place.
In spite of the defects the book nearly transcends them for me and probably does for
most--who are enthralled to riveting stories--that look at an underbelly few would
never see or even know that exists.
I have to strongly recommend it--because the stories are fascinating and raw as raw can be:
a prison where the lice is so bad--you have to roll up your shirt small fold by small fold
to kill them.
Book Review: By far the best book I have ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was one of the most moving, beautiful experiences of my life (in terms of books). Gregory David Roberts has a way with words that makes your heart expand at the beauty and gravity of the writing. there were several occasions where I had to stop to write down a passage of the book because I wanted to remember it and refer back to it later. It's not as though I read this book for a class or anything, it was just so phenomenal that by the end, there were so many pages folded to indicate beautiful or moving passages, that the upper corner of the book was considerably fatter than the lower corner.
This is a book about everything. Love, hate, jealousy, understanding, friendship, uncertainty, growth, etc, action, calm, traveling, honesty, crime, mob stuff, war, peace, wealth, poverty, tragedy, joy, hardship. you name it, it's in here. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved this book. I was in the middle of trying to finish final exams and work so it took me a month to read the first 150 pages and then one short glorious week to finish the entire rest of the book. a week - nearly 1000 pages. how often are people moved to accomplish that? I couldn't put it down. i had to read it in one swallow, and I wish that I could still be reading it. I read it over a year ago now and I still think of it all the time. I think someday I will get around to rereading it because it was definitely the best book I have ever read. it is a MUST READ!
Book Review: EXCITING READ!
Summary: 5 Stars
Shantaram came to me highly recommended by someone who has read constantly over the last 30 years. I began this book and simply could not put it down! I tried to make myself read it slowly because I knew when I was done I would not find another of it's caliber for 5 years or more. I mostly read books in the field of sprituality or quantum physics. This admittedly is out of those fields and yet it's theme, forgiveness, is what I am all about. India has always been close to my heart; not quite sure why, and yet it brought India home to me in a way that no others have done. I believe that all people, especially students, should read this book because it will impact them to strive to be better individuals in a way that is very basic. It will change attitudes to make them better, in that one will behave more compassionately, and kind to all the people we meet in this world. It has already had a profound impact on me in treating others as equal, so that the world in which we see them as unequal will disappear. It will make you laugh out loud, cry and put it down for a spell, just to ponder it's philosophies, and catch your breath. No matter what your position in this world, I believe that this book is a MUST read for anyone who wants a real thrill ride, with some sound philosophy behind it. My husband is an avid reader as well and he read this 933 page book in 3 days, because it is THAT good! This is a book no one should miss.Book Review: two thirds of this nine-hundred-thirty-three page adventure deserve four stars, or better...
Summary: 3 Stars
Seems to me the author did himself and the audiance a disservice by not making this a memoir--and you can be certain of one thing: it would have clearly been one hell of a powerful memoir.
As it stands, the first two-thirds, as stated, are gripping and believable; the trouble is, for me, when he gets into all the mafia nonsense. Some of the twists and turns are far-fetched and just plain ridiculous (and comes across as scenes right out of the Godfather--a film that is way overrated, by the way.)
Some, not all, of the philosophizing is a nuisance; and then you've got this mafia head who sort of comes across like a Don Corleone immitation (and that struck me as total B.S.; you've got the gang wars, more B.S.,and so on--and it really wasn't necessary.)
For the life of me, I don't get why the writer had to turn the incredible ordeal and journey he'd lived through into this (during last third of the book) screwie soap-opera type of tale. It boggles the mind.
On the other hand, sadly I do know: pot-boilers (sometimes) sell better than memoirs. It still doesn't lessen the sadness for me, because the book is absolutely brilliant in places and is proof the writer has talent and could have stayed clear of the soap opera shananigans.
The book deserves an honorable *** & 1/2 stars, only there is no way to do it with this system that amazon has going.