Tackling this one for adult summer reading -- It took a loooong time to get into this one. Now that I only have a slim quarter-inch to go, I am finally involved in the story and wish it would go on longer. Some of the characters are impossible to believe (too callous, too stupid), but others seem very real. Most valuable thing about reading this: it conveys a sense of just how tremendous India is, how many different kinds of people live there, and how harsh poverty is.