Almost same as Shantaram, more positive but that's what made it more corny. A little bit too long, but a good read, after all. I don't agree with any review which shred it to pieces. Remember Papillon and Banco. I think I liked Banco as much as Papillon.
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In isolation a decent book, as hard as it is to seprate from the masterpiece of book 1. This book tried too hard and didn't hit those peaks. Felt there was too much philosophy and was disappointed with the characters in this book compare
d to the last book.
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Like "Shantaram," I started reading this on a series of long haul flights that I had to stay awake for. The pay off for dragging it through airport security is that it does the job well. Four hours into a seven hour flight, I was still entertained and hadn't left the teeny tiny confines of my economy seat. I'm usually not the biggest fan of purple/florally prose, but it works for the overwhelming deluge of plot and characters in "The Mountain Shadow."
I don't think "Shantaram" necessarily needed to have a sequel, and I don't think I needed to read "The Mountain Shadow," but I'm happy that I did. I definitely would not have been able to pick up/put down this book since so much is happening and it's a little hard to keep track of, but it's good if you need something for long stretches of time (planes, trains, jury duty, etc.). I hold to the idea that "Shantaram" would have worked as multiple books instead of just one behemoth, and am still mind boggled that this exists as a sequel and at the thought of what a third, and even fourth, sequel might involve.
I do wonder if DGR suddenly realized that his manuscript was, once again, reaching a slightly ridiculous heft, because a few sub-plots [spoiler!!!]the Gemini Georges in particular that were humming along suddenly got wrapped up towards the end and that was that. Not that I wanted another 100 pages, but it would have been nicer to either give them what they were owed, or just omit it entirely.
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