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vshashank666's review
5.0
Slow burner. All encompassing. Brilliant touch points on philosophy love and the city of Mumbai. A brilliant miasma of crime love politics. Worth a read.
applegnreads's review
5.0
I really did enjoy this book. Its length makes me think that I may never read it again though and that is a shame. However, I will certainly read something else by this author. Who knew life in an enormous city could be so fascinating?
suvranshu03's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mcf's review
4.0
Until those last 300ish self-indulgent pages, it was a real pleasure to read: Confidently sprawling, populated by engaging characters, and written with a sense of humor. If only it had ended at page 700 and not page 1000.
bfpierce's review
3.0
I really enjoyed the writing style and the overall theme of the book, but I felt it really dragged in places and some of the 'interim' chapters seemed pointless.
tonytharakan's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading "Sacred Games" only after watching its popular Netflix adaptation. And it's a good thing I did, since this 2006 epic thriller by Vikram Chandra is hard to put down despite its 900+ pages. The TV series had either good or bad characters but in the book, protagonist Sartaj Singh is as nuanced and flawed a character as mobster Ganesh Gaitonde. I like what did the show creators did with originally blink-and-you-miss-them parts such as Kukoo, but the novel is packed with a vast array of characters that transform Mumbai city into a living, heaving mass. I will watch upcoming seasons of the Netflix series, but it will be hard for a show to match Chandra's craft and the sheer scale of his magnum opus. Highly recommended.
citizen_noir's review
5.0
I read most of this book during a two week trip to India at the start of 2018. While I didn't travel to Bombay (Mumbai), where this novel is set, reading Vikram Chandra during the vacation reinforced the gritty feel of India's teeming streets in the cities that I did visit - something that I would describe as both a feast and an assault on the senses.
Here's how he describes Bombay in one passage:
This crime novel traces the lives of two characters: Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India; and Inspector Sartaj Singh, a Sikh detective on the Mumbai police force who is trying to figure out why Gaitonde killed a woman and then committed suicide in a special "safe house"nuclear bunker in Mumbai.
I loved how Chandra depicted both of these characters, with wonderful details about what motivates them, why and where they seek companionship, and how they execute their individual crafts (criminal and detective). I also loved the dozens and dozens of minor characters woven through these pages. Most of all, I enjoyed reading a work of fiction that explored so many interesting parts of Indian history and culture, from Bollywood to the unfortunate caste system.
This is an epic tale, a great crime novel, and reader be forewarned, at 900 pages a long read! I do think it’s worth the time spent and I'll be looking for more books by Vikram Chandra down the road.
Here's how he describes Bombay in one passage:
[A]fter a year away from Mumbai I still got attacks of yearning, I craved the spittle-strewn streets of that great whore of a city, while waking up I felt that pungent prickling of auto-exhaust and burning rubbish at the back of my nostrils, I heard that swelling rumble of traffic heard from a high hotel rooftop, that far sound that made you feel like a king. When you were far away from the jammed jumble of cars, and the thickets of slums, and the long loops of rail, and the swarms of people, and the radio music in the bazaars, you could ache for the city. There were some afternoons when it felt like I was dying a little. Under the foreign sky I could feel my soul crumbling away, piece by piece. And I felt a loneliness I had never imagined, that I wouldn’t have earlier believed could exist.
This crime novel traces the lives of two characters: Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India; and Inspector Sartaj Singh, a Sikh detective on the Mumbai police force who is trying to figure out why Gaitonde killed a woman and then committed suicide in a special "safe house"nuclear bunker in Mumbai.
I loved how Chandra depicted both of these characters, with wonderful details about what motivates them, why and where they seek companionship, and how they execute their individual crafts (criminal and detective). I also loved the dozens and dozens of minor characters woven through these pages. Most of all, I enjoyed reading a work of fiction that explored so many interesting parts of Indian history and culture, from Bollywood to the unfortunate caste system.
This is an epic tale, a great crime novel, and reader be forewarned, at 900 pages a long read! I do think it’s worth the time spent and I'll be looking for more books by Vikram Chandra down the road.
diannaobrien's review
5.0
I am in a love hate relationship with this book. While reading I hated the feeling of "how does this fit together?" Then when I finished it and saw all the parts fit, I wanted to read it again. I do wish I had realized there was a glossary.
emjayvee's review against another edition
5.0
Epic, thoroughly absorbing, rich and evocative. The interwoven stories of the two main protagonists propel the reader along. A host of interesting characters, and places you can hear and smell and taste. Loved it.
jwilly19's review
4.0
Imposing -- but completely engrossing. Truly felt like Chandra created an entire world with this book, and I was said to leave it when I finished.