Rating: 
Summary: A fine book
Review: I enjoyed this book very much and agree with other reviewers that it sheds a lot of light on the creative process and, I would add, the natural process of aquiring and eventually losing a mentor. Read this after "My Other Life" for complementary narratives.
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Summary: Literature's Linda Tripp Tells All!
Review: Paul Theroux has always been an excellent describer. His descriptions of Africa in this book are excellent. Theroux's travel books attest to his superb eye and keen ability to write down what he saw.Unfortunately, this book, which attempts to tell the story of his friendship with the writer V.S. Naipaul, requires more than the talents of a good describer. For this book, Theroux needs to dip into psychology, to try to figure out why he was so upset when Nailpaul snubbed him on a streetcorner and why their friendship went awry. In short, Theroux needs the talents of a novelist for this book, and he is not a good novelist. Theroux is chiefly a describer. As one who believes that V.S. Naipaul is the finest writer writing in English, I was hoping for some revelations about Naipaul. But what I got was a settling of scores. To me it was plain as day that this book was inspired by Theroux's hurt and pain at having been snubbed. A book needs more than revenge as its motivation if it is to be a good book. Theroux reminds me a little of Linda Tripp. He should have, as V.S. Naipaul suggested he do, "take it on the chin and move on" when Naipaul wanted to end their friendship. That was good advice. It would have spared Naipaul's readers and Theroux's readers from having to read 500 mean-spirited pages in a second-rate book.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and finely written
Review: Apart from the human and literary interest in this story, there is a good deal of simply wonderful writing, probably some of the best writing Theroux has ever published. One wonders how much of the detailed dialogue is invented, and for that matter how much of the story is actually fictional. It seems too good to be true.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting yet Self-Righteous Book
Review: Theroux comes across as a bold, sesitive, thoughtful, egomanical and self-righteous guy.....but the insight into the creative/personal relationship between the two writers makes it worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: again a theroux story picked out of life
Review: It is very uncommen for a writer writing a story like this if anyone can do it it is theroux. very well written. I'm looking forward for the new theroux.
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Summary: In-vidias reactions ??
Review: I get fed up with people moaning about Theroux. I have heard it ever since I read Patagonia. So many find him smug and critical. Well what would we have if he wasn't ? Alan Clarke, recently dead, got similar press but we would be less for it. Now. It seems likely that Naipaul and Theroux had similar feelings about infies [inferiors] and Theroux enjoyed the company of an eccentric in preference to some of the bores he met on his travels. Better to have him write about his relationship now than have some academic guessing what happened after they are both gone. I could not put the book down and still wonder what turned Naipaul against Theroux. We are not told. I expect it is the latter's increasing fame. Or possibly the old man marrying the young domineering second wife. Do not be put off. It is compelling reading. Rave on Paul.
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Summary: More Theroux magic
Review: What a sad ending to a powerful friendship. Paul Theroux has been liberated and freed, but V. S. Naipaul has not.
Rating: 
Summary: Latterly, Quite Readable.
Review: Lots of pre-pub fanfare here, a "literary event" worthy of racking up magazine sales. Truth: The book is a page-turner for Naipaul fans. I don't think any less of him. Nor do I believe Paul Theroux's achievement has been accurately presented by the big book reviewers. The "end" is never the end, not really. They're both still living past the pages, assessing the damage, coping with revelations that may, in time, heal. I reserve judgment. A damn good read.
Rating:
Summary: A study of friendship
Review: This book is an interesting study of the rise and fall of a friendship that spans 30 odd years. But, the story is not balanced. We hear a lot about Vidia's idiosyncracies and nastiness. But, whole chunks about Theroux are omitted. We hear more than we care to know about Vidia's second marriage. But what about Theroux? Why and how did his marriage fail? Neverthless, Theroux has written very beautifully about friendship and his description of Africa is, like what Vidia would say - delicious. This is an engrossing book.
Rating:
Summary: A Dish Best Served Cold
Review: From the opening pages of Sir Vidias Shadow, the reader senses that something unpleasant is afoot, and this proves indeed to be the case. Paul Theroux's detailed account of his 'lifelong friendship' with the writer and essayist V.S. Naipaul is a calculating, spiteful attack on the mentor who eventually snubbed him on a London street. That their friendship disintegrated following Naipaul's second marriage would surely be a private matter, but here it provides Theroux with the ammunition required to wage a preposterous attack which finds scarce salvation in the quality of his writing. Those unfamiliar with the work of either Theroux or Naipaul may find the book interesting for its glimpses of political flashpoints in the early seventies, (most notably the violence in Uganda) as well as its panoramic scale and incidental descriptions of literary soirees of the age. (Edna O Brien makes a somewhat unfortunate appearance as the hostess of a party at which Naipaul is at his most fastidious and alarming). Beyond this, the book contains little to divert the casual reader and involving as it is, demands some knowledge of the work of both writers. Those who are familiar with the work of both of these writers would probably concede that in Naipaul's words, 'the achievement' lies with him, irrespective of attention grabbing vegetarianism or lust for fine wines. The final picture to emerge is that of a check-paying Salieri to Naipaul's careless Mozart with revenge being sought in similiar fashion.
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