Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts ------------------------ 4.5 Stars

One of the great parts about summer, is that I finally have some real time to put toward reading. I purchased Shantaram over a year ago, and it's been sitting on my Kindle as I wanted to make sure I had a good chunk of time to invest into this page 944 page behemoth. Well, I finally had that time and enjoyed it immensely.

While not as well known as other longer books I've read, this book did not disappoint (though, all other books I've read at this length did earn 5 stars). If you are not familiar, briefly, it's a story about an escaped convict from Australia who winds up in India and gets connected with unsavory characters while also falling in love in different ways. More than anything, this was a book about Bombay, India, a city and country that I was mostly unfamiliar with.

At 944 pages, it really is a saga. Many, many things transpire and the book had a strong plot that kept me interested and wanting to pick it up often. It's a tough couple hundred pages to get through at the start as the author is setting up the varying storylines, but once it gets going, it's a fascinating story.  It also had a lot of great dialogue between interesting characters; which I enjoyed immensely.

The book also was a love story. Not just between Lin, the main character, and a girl, of course, but other people/things as well.  He was in love with India, with the slums, with a godfather type figure, with friends, etc. Further, the book was a look at what love does to people and how it motivates self-interest. The book was also about crime and violence, which, of course, is fascinating. Besides being a criminal to begin with, Lin gets back to his old habits in parts of the novel. War was also given it's fair due with a trip to Afghanistan during it's war with Russia (timing is 1980's for the novel).

So, why not 5 stars? Well, as much as I loved the novel, I did feel like the author would it pour it on a bit heavy sometimes with some of his writing. To say some of the prose is flowery and exaggerated is a large understatement. While most of it comes off as fitting and just part of the book's style, there are some parts that are just cheesy. Also, like I mentioned, it was tough to get into.  Any book earning 5 stars should not take 200 pages to get you connected and fully engaged.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book to most people. If you have any interest at all in learning more about the sights and sounds of India, I would highly recommend. Even not, it's a great read and great story!