I was invested in their “lives” throughout the book. The book also provides a great description of India – the good and the bad – and although I had little desire before, I now want to visit. There were some characters that were just fantastic and I became attached to them: Prabaker (I was devastated by his fate in the book), Qasim Ali, Khader, Didier, Lisa and Karla. I think that because the story was semi-autobiographical the author was able to write it in a way that seemed real (because it partly was) and this allowed him to transport the reader into the events and relationships. With that understanding, I found the story engaging and the characters believable. The major events were true, but the characters were created, often as an amalgamation of people the author met, and smaller details were added to move the story along. I went into this book with the understanding that it was semi-autobiographical. I didn’t hate the book, but it was not the life-changing read it seemed to be for many reviewers.
Not to steal ideas, but to see where my ideas fit in with everyone else’s. For Shantaram, people on Goodreads seemed to either love it (5 stars) or hate it (1 star) – I am one of the few in the middle.
When I finish a book and start contemplating my review I often look at the reviews posted on Goodreads. So it seemed appropriate to write a review and gather input from the other girls to share as well. Part of my reason for choosing to read Shantaram was that it is a former Unputdownable Book Club pick (from before I joined ). But hey, I guess the other five monsters will do the same, so I should probably get used to it… At 944 pages, this beast took me about a month to get through – seriously affecting my reading goal progress (I am more than three books behind where I should be!). It took me awhile to get started, but I have finally finished my first one: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
As I mentioned in my previous post about my 2013 challenge, I have chosen some monsters to read this year.
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