Shantaram by Gregory David Robert ~ Books I Like

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Shantaram by Gregory David Robert

The epic novel Shantaram follows Gregory's entrancing life in India, detailing his involvement with the mafia as a money launderer, forger and street soldier before being thrown in an Indian prison. The novel follows him to Afghanistan where he fought with the Mujahideen.

The groundbreaking novel 'Shantaram' spans the world between fact and fiction seamlessly. Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and Heroin addict escaped from an Australian prison. He eventually fled to India, a country he fell in love with. He changed his name to Lin. Embracing the wonderful culture Robert's learned Hindi and Marathi, the majority of the latter was learned in a remote village. He returned to Mumbai and began living in a slum, establishing a free health clinic for the slum dwellers.

The novels writing style is clever and descriptive enough to immerse you in a story where you quickly move from adventure to adventure, top of the world to heartache. This novel which Robert's wrote 3 times due to it being repeatedly destroyed in prison is worth the wait. Not only is it an education about India and its culture, it shows the unseen Bombay underworld and takes you on a roller coaster ride of literary brilliance.


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