There were times I felt like this was one of the best books I ever read, most of the time I didn't think that at all, and occasionally I thought it was one of the worst.

I read this mainly on the tube and during part one I was instantly transported to India as soon as I opened up the book. I could hear, taste and smell Mumbai and loved every second of reading the book. I found most of my favourite one liners and profound observations on human nature came from the first half of the book and for a while, this was my favourite book. 

And then, what made me like this crazy book turned me off. There was too much detail. Too many wise lines and some of those metaphors were so obscure, I didn't even get what he was trying to describe. I stopped liking the book when the action moved to Afghanistan and it didn't quite win back my affection after that. I lost track of the thousands of characters and my mind started to wander.

I did shed tears over this book but that may say more about my state of mind than of the writing skill of Roberts. A number of people I work with have met the author and apparently he's a bit of a jerk. That much is obvious from this book. 

On the whole, I enjoyed reading Shantaram and it was, as many others have described it, highly entertaining.