Shantaram discussion

This is a really big book, probably the thickest novel that I've ever read with so many developed Characters; but a fun and breezy read. I really enjoyed it, until the story reaches a point where the spontaneous adventures suddenly ends in India and spirals into a grim, long-drawn-out story about the Afghanstan war during the Russian's invasion; for a moment you forget the book is about India. But, all in all, it's a great book. I highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to India, or not. The authour really transports the reader through the zhoupadpattis of Mumbai and the hearts of its people.

And this book is awesome if you want to expand your bad language in hindi vocabulary " Madachudh, Bahinchudh and gandu"...etc...

Thanks for that; I have been walking past it in bookshops for ages wondering whether to try it. It's now on my "to read" list

You're welcome, and let me know what you think of it.

I loved this book a real insight into how the majority of Indians live

Have any of you gone to his website. I was amazed to find that alot of the book was true. He councils drug addicts and does alot of charity work for the impoverished. www.shantaram.com

Am now three hundred (ish) pages in and loving it. The subject matter is fascinating and the writer has an interesting turn of phrase.

Rhys wrote: "Yep definitely recommend it. Mathis is right though; it gets a bit thick in the middle and you wade through it for a while. Having been to India a couple of times, I think it gives a pretty realist..."

Huw wrote: "Am now three hundred (ish) pages in and loving it. The subject matter is fascinating and the writer has an interesting turn of phrase."

I'm glad you're enjoying it, Huw. This definitely a book to return to again and again.

This book changed my life and the way I viewed India and the Indian people. I loved this book!!!!

Have you tried or ? Both are genuinely fiction but are fascinating and avoid any romatic view of India

Lynn wrote: "This book changed my life and the way I viewed India and the Indian people. I loved this book!!!!"

Launchingstars wrote: Check out his website. You will find his lifes time line and you won't believe how much of the book is true. He spends alot of time advising people with additions. Amoung many other things, he still works with the slum people. He recently updated the site with a ton of new additions. Also see his facebook page. www.shantaram.com

I couldn't put this nook down. Such a fascinating story and wonderful read.

I hated this book ... one of the few I put down before finishing. I found the characters unsympathetic, the writing abysmal, constant repetitions boring, an author with an overinflated ego and as for learning about India - really? Many many better books for that. I would not recommend anyone to waste any time struggling with this monstrosity.

Jen wrote: "I hated this book ... one of the few I put down before finishing. I found the characters unsympathetic, the writing abysmal, constant repetitions boring, an author with an overinflated ego and as f..."

AGREED! This is one of the only books I have put down before finished. 70% done and just couldn’t finish it. I have such little time for myself to read, so when I do, I should be reading books that I am enjoying.

This book is way too big to have no real plot, except for his running from the law to keep out of jail (and we all know how that ends before we even open the book right?). I kept finding myself saying “is this the story that will finally take off?” Nope; just another mini story of a guy with a super ego mentality, who is nothing more than a thief held up on a pedestal by the people in his life. And he always gets to save the day. Bleh.

This book was very anticlimactic for me.

Amy wrote: "Jen wrote: "I hated this book ... one of the few I put down before finishing. I found the characters unsympathetic, the writing abysmal, constant repetitions boring, an author with an overinflated ..."

That is the beauty of this book. It takes you to so many subliminal Odyssey page after page. Yes this novel is way too long and it takes time to finish. Even I have read 3/4th of the novel and still it seems like a long way to go. But certainly this book will forever be in my hearts.

This book is one of the best I've ever read so far.Shantaram is fascinating and awesome! Since then, my interest about India was transformed into a desire to visit this place one of these days. :-)

I have a deep interest in India and this book really set me in the right direction, until I got to the middle of the story and I realized that the end was no where in sight... I haven't finished it and I have tired to three times :-(

Shantarum is one of my favourite books. A hard enviorment yet he writes an inspiring book about the underside of India. There is such a realistic but exquisite view of his fellow man and also of himself. This is no fairytale, and he is no superhero but a real human but sympathetic to the condition of Man. A slow read but one that gives new understanding.

For those thinking about reading this book, please note that it takes some patience to "get into" it. But it's worth it. I've read it twice. I doubt that a Westerner could understand Indian life just from reading a book, but it certainly has given me a better understanding of how things work. BTW, I went on Google Earth after reading it and his descriptions were so vivid that I went right to the area he spoke of...even saw Leopold's!
I highly recommend it.

It tool me quite sometime till I got in to the book, but after that it the reading became very smooth.
I have to admit that I had no idea about India till I read Shantaram. A good book for a change...different subject, different characters not like the ones we meet in our daily life.
I also recommend The White Tiger. I just finished reading it and it gives a great insight of lifestyle differences in India.

Amazing how he took his time with each word. The craft of this novel is incredible. Nothing like it.

Megan wrote: "I have a deep interest in India and this book really set me in the right direction, until I got to the middle of the story and I realized that the end was no where in sight... I haven't finished it..."

Megan, another book about India that you might want to check out is: The Far Pavillions by M.M. Kaye

Julz wrote: "This book is one of the best I've ever read so far.Shantaram is fascinating and awesome! Since then, my interest about India was transformed into a desire to visit this place one of these days. :-)"

No doubt. Sometimes, in the middle of the day, I can walk around in that world. Amazing.

Linda wrote: "I loved this book a real insight into how the majority of Indians live"

Kind of how we all live - what it takes just to get to a point of love. In addition, watching the news with what's happening in the middle east rings even truer with this book.

What an amazing job.

It's an incredible book.I really enjoyed reading it.And this is the first book I've ever completed. Lin baba is so great. Gregory wrote this book with all his heart.

I read this book and thought the story was great, in parts. But all that dialogue where he's expounding on life! Man! Nobody talks like that. And the silly Austrian girl annoyed the crap out of me. Shortly afterwards I read a similar book: Acid Alex. Oh my god, you cannot compare them. Acid Alex is a real life-story, not some bits of a life cobbled together with fiction. Each to their own though I guess...

I loved this book! It remains on top of my list and all of those I recommended, loved too.
Maybe you need to be in the 'right time of your life' to understand the meanings hidden in this story.
For those that couldn't finish I would suggest to find an Italian author that had lived in Asia and India too. He is Tiziano Terzani, he had lived as a western that learn to understand and 'to breath' the Eastern way to live, growing a big respect and adopting many ways to be till the end of his life.
I love him.

^_^

Michela wrote: "I loved this book! It remains on top of my list and all of those I recommended, loved too.
Maybe you need to be in the 'right time of your life' to understand the meanings hidden in this story.
For..."

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of books by Tiziano Terzani who were translated in English.
But, please, don't compare Terzani, who was a journalist able to write and who made interesting and deep observations on the culture and the people of the countries in which he lived with Gregory David Roberts.
He has nothing to do and to share with Gregory David Roberts who was a fugitive and continued to live as part of the local mafia of Bombay.
Terzani's books are like documentaries with the addition of personal opinions; Shantaram is fiction, exaggerated fiction with characters without personality and Roberts "philosophy" is trivial.
If you love Terzani, don't compare his books to Shantaram (si rivolta nella tomba).

dely wrote: "Michela wrote: "I loved this book! It remains on top of my list and all of those I recommended, loved too.
Maybe you need to be in the 'right time of your life' to understand the meanings hidden in..."

well mine wouldn't be a comparison, was supposed to be just a different suggestion for those that want to approach the eastern culture, nothing more, nothing less..

Michela wrote: "dely wrote: "Michela wrote: "I loved this book! It remains on top of my list and all of those I recommended, loved too.
Maybe you need to be in the 'right time of your life' to understand the meani..."

I loved both for different reasons and maybe because I lived in Asia and I had the possibility to live closely with such different people: rich and poor that I found both, each in his own way, so human and so close of what I experienced there..

Michela wrote: "well mine wouldn't be a comparison, was supposed to be just a different suggestion for those that want to approach the eastern culture, nothing more, nothing less.. "

Ok. I didn't want to seem rude or presumptuous but me too I love Terzani's books and I couldn't appreciate Shantaram and Roberts' writing. I don't think we can find a lot of India in Shantaram; instead, in my opinion, we find Roberts' megalomania.
But everybody has his own tastes and Shantaram is one of these books that you or love or hate. For me it is the second, I'm sorry ;)

dely wrote: "Michela wrote: "well mine wouldn't be a comparison, was supposed to be just a different suggestion for those that want to approach the eastern culture, nothing more, nothing less.. "

Ok. I didn't ..."

^_^

Mind blowing, just could not keep this book down especially when you have lived in mumbai. just amazing.

Zenon wrote: "Mind blowing, just could not keep this book down especially when you have lived in mumbai. just amazing."

Troll! Your personally directed remark on my review didn't get you much sympathy from other commenters.

Is the second part available for sale in India???

A book that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a difficult read because of the subject matter, but many little pleasures, contradictions, love, hate, educating, truly amazing read. I recommend to everyone.

I liked the book too, but I have to agree with other commenters that Roberts is not a very likeable person. I liked the story, and loved the characters he meets but I can't stand him.

Firstly the voluptuous volume of the book played a foul game on my appetite for reading but eventually Linbabas amicable narration made me put my glasses on.The once armed dacoit is def blessed with some mind boggling observation.This book(I call it the 'Autobiography')resurrects the city of Mumbai during the early 80s.Prabhakars modest essence wafts through the pages.A scintillating read!!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt it was very well written, and I was impressed that in the middle of the book where he is describing his stay at the Indian prison, I felt the description so vividly that I had to skip a couple of pages, my imagination couldn´t take the vividness of the writing! Amazing, I was transported there while reading it! The best book I have read this year so far! It is not a light book, or a book for the faint of heart! Odysiuss comes in 2nd after this book for this year in my list of favorites! And the amazing thing is that it is based on the author`s life, and the ending is very uplifting. Google the author´s life, very very interesting! For me, 2 thumbs UP for this book!

I had a difficult time with the Afghanistan portion of the book, also, but it has given me a much-needed insight into events over there. This is one of my favorite books, and is very different from what I usually read. Am now reading "India" by Patrick French. Because I just have to know more. I loved this book, although parts of it will haunt me forever.

I really enjoyed this novel, it had a good story, great writing, and interesting background of the author, and interesting characters..but my only complaint was that it was just too long.
I hope, Gregory David Roberts , does not make the sequel to this( which he is reportedly working on ) so long also.

I didn't like this book! Didn't finish it because it was putting me to sleep!
I was recommended to me by a complete stranger who was listening to me chat with a friend about a books to read.
Mother always said "don't talk to strangers" should've listened!

one of my all time favourite books.

Shantaram -
Maybe I am the only one I think it is very similarly scripted to Henri Charrière "Papillion" story of a prison escape and the harrowing story that entails.
However, Shantaram quivers with the more vibrant echo of Mumbai and the city is an interesting juxtaposition to his native Australia. The book is a captive read if you get past the initial hump, even for its size. I agree with other readers that the Afghanistan portion is lacking the quality of the rest of the book.

I loved most of this book and read it in three days. The later part with the Afghanistan plot was boring and overly long and I did consider giving up at that stage. But having come so far I just couldn't give up on it. It worth reading.

Well, I have to expand on my Afghanistan comment. Reading that part of the book has really informed my understanding of what's going on in that part of the country. The madness, the tribalism, the corruption. It's a vortex, and until you read something like this, I don't think you can begin to understand it, as a modern Westerner, I mean. Just a thought. I'm very grateful to have read it, but it was difficult.

God I hated this book. I thought it was a bit of a rip off of Papillon which has all the same weaknesses and just as little charm. The main character just did not fire any interest for me.

That's what I said;-)

I won't deny it's a page turner and that I had a good time reading it - but then again, I also had a good time reading The Da Vinci Code. But unlike Dan Brown's book, the more I think about Shantaram the more I grow to dislike it. This isn't a book I would recommend to anyone apart from that odd acquaintance who won't shut the fuck up even though he hardly ever has something interesting to say. "Here's a book you'll like. Now lock yourself up that room and don't come out till you finish it".

I loved the book, but I could tell it was not for everyone. I picked it up in a book store, read the first page, put the book back on the shelf and left. And returned the next day because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I tried to get other people in the family to read it, but they did not find it interesting. But when their favorite author is Jodi Picoult, I guess it is understandable.

One part I found especially interesting was his description of what happens to your body when you become addicted to drugs, and what happens to it when you try to get over the addiction. Highly enlightening.

nearly everyone i ask, friends & strangers say that Shantaram is the best book they have ever read. It gets my vote too