Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

== SHANTARAM == === GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS === This has to be one of my favourite books ever. When I first saw it - a huge monster of a book - I thought that it would be too big for me, but believe me the 936 pages just fly by, do NOT be put of by the scale of this book. Shantarm is a semi autobiographical novel from author Gregory David Roberts who escaped an Australian maximum-security jail and moved to Mumbai to spend almost ten years in the ...
...the next ten years. Shantaram is a fictional book but it is influenced by real events that Roberts experienced in India. In his time there Roberts led a varied life - he set up a free health clinic in the slums, acted in Bollywood movies, worked for the Bombay mafia as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler and even into Afghanistan as a gunrunner. === THE BOOK === What genre can I give this book - it is part thriller, part adventure, part love story, ...

oldchem 16.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

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. After adopting the name Lin he eventually fled to India, a country he fell in love with. 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 ...
...novel follows his 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 Mujahadeen. This gripping novel, which is substantial to hold, is a breeze to read. You won't want to put it down. The writing style is clever and descriptive enough t immerse you in a story where you quickly move ...

supermanj 16.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

...more intersting if it was. Shantaram is a book loosely based on the life of Gregory David Roberts who escaped from an Australian prison and fled to India (here's where the fiction begins). He sets up home in Bombay where he meets a group of new friends and the story charts his relationships with these people amongst a backdrop of Indian Mafiosa and Afghan Wars. Whilst it can be at times an engrossing read and paints a beautiful picture of India and ...
...opinion can often become extremely long winded. His lengthy descriptions often become very repetitive e.g. virtually every women in the book is the most beautiful girl in the world with the greenest eyes that sparkle like sea etc etc and he feels the need to describe virtually everything down to its finest detail. This is a long book and whilst I'm an avid reader I found it at times quite a challenge to keep going through some parts of the story ...

darrjo23 25.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

This is a book written by a fighter for fighters. it captures the poverty and criminal underworld of Bombay and makes a fascinating read. The language is tight and the plot well-drawn. If you thought Slum-dog Millionaire was good, you should read this. The hero, or anti-hero, is a fighter by nature, but the book records the daily struggle that the poor of India go through, just to get from one end of the day to the next without ever feeling sorry ...
...of his life that the hero makes as he continually battles through (not winning them all). In the sense that we are all fighters this a book for everyone and it has some part of all our lives in it but the sheer stubborn refusal to give in of the major character would be hard to match or beat. Interlaced with that is some serious philosophical consideration. This will doubtless be turned into a major motion picture, but the words will always have ...

clb-profis 24.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

An awesome story of a guy who will not give up, a refreshing perspective on "no matter how bad it gets it would get worse" shantharam is a story based on real life that exposes its readers to surreal circumstances, once picked up can never pt down a brilliant piece that explores layers in both human perceptions through run away convict and the Mafia community of a world unknown to him. The best part of the book is it takes one back to the time with ...
...lives of this "invisible society " that is structured around our social fabric and comprehending the reasons and sympathisisng with the circumstances which would other wise not be acceptable.The book ialthough is so complex with multi discplinary facets of individuals who lead a very ambigious life surprisingly that dosnt sink into the reader while reading, It hits like a jolt when contemplating about what was read, over all a must read book ...

dprd 29.10.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts