I just finished this short novel, the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's 2007 film of the same tittle. I quite enjoyed this story, which was written by a somewhat obscure Historian/Theologian Mircea Eliade, despite the fact that it almost fails utterly as a comprehensive work of literature. The work is basically a thinly developed plot used as a vehicle for presenting various philosophical/metaphysical/humanistic ideas and concepts such as the relation of religion to human perception of time, the development of language, religion as metaphor, etc. Despite my inner literary critic balking at some of the devices used link these explorations, I quite enjoyed the freedom of movement the main character, Dominic Matei, had in all that he experienced or contemplated. The author was so free/ignorant of the requirements to make an organic piece of literature, that there was no point in the book where I had even the faintest idea of where he would go next, Delightful.

If any of you have seen the film, its quite similar to the book, with only a few details and scenes change and omitted, respectively.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXtD1vdxfa4