What I liked best about Shantaram was its emotional sincerity (oh, and Prabaker of course). I laughed out loud, cried in my soul and cringed at the harsh conditions and events Lin experiences. Roberts based the premise of his novel on his life and although he claims most of the novel is fictional, I am willing to bet that a lot of the heart that is found in this novel stems from more than a vague outline of the novel's premise.
In summary, Shantaram is a great adventure tale about the imperfection of the human condition. It could be argued that the author is guilty of committing several purple prose offenses, but that is easily overshadowed by the more relevant sincerity by which he writes. From a harsh perspective, I could definitely see 200 pages being easily trimmed from the story, but the overall experience was memorable, enjoyable and inspiring.
4/5 Magical beans