Holly’s Reviews > Shantaram > Status Update

SO CLOSE

9:30 hours left. The length of one normal audiobook. I can literally feel the extra testosterone pulsing through my veins as a result of listening to this book for over 33 hours thus far. I have already downloaded the next audiobook. It is a book about a woman, with a female narrator. I cannot wait. Please send thoughts and prayers.

Okay, we just had what could have been a really great conclusion to the book, but a new (final?) section has started and I have the feeling things are going to get pretty messy (violent and very graphic) again soon.

I DON’T HATE THIS BOOK ANYMORE. Strong argument for powering through and not judging a book by the first 800 pages.

I DON’T HATE THIS BOOK ANYMORE. Strong argument for powering through and not judging a book by the first 800 pages.

Did... did I just start enjoying this book? Definitely am finding the listening waaay less painful, am engaged in the story and characters, and am excited to hear where this goes!! Maybe it was just a hard adjustment period, or maybe I’ve started tuning out some of the flowery language? Anyways... pays to keep going!

I feel like I’ll be updating here a lot to help me get through this. Right now narrator + love interest (Australian & Swiss-American, respectively), are walking through the streets of Bombay, talking about how wretched and poor and miserable everyone there is, and how terrible it is they can’t save everyone, and all I can think of is savior Barbie instagram.

Hoo boy. Only three hours in (audiobook), I’m already suffering. The narrator is so self-involved, and the descriptions of people and places so painfully cliched. It feels like a far too blatant and overbearing attempt at high literature, with its dramatic metaphors and the profound significance assigned to a smile or a glance. Help. 40 hours to go.