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by Gregory David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2004

A roman-à-clef rejoinder to Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City, splendidly evoking an India few outsiders know.

“The truth is, the man I am was born in those moments, as I stood near the flood sticks with my face lifted to the chrismal rain”: an elegantly written, page-turning blockbuster by Australian newcomer Roberts.

The story is taken from Roberts’s own life: an Australian escapes from prison (he committed armed robbery to support heroin addiction) and flees to Mumbai (here, Bombay), where, hiding in the slums, he finds himself becoming at once increasingly Christlike and increasingly drawn into the criminal demimonde. The narrator, Lin, now going by Shantaram Kishan Kharre, takes to healing the sick while learning the ways of India’s poor through the good offices of a guide named Pribaker, who’s a little shady and more than a little noble, and through the booze-fogged lens provided by dodgy Eurotrash expats like aging French bad boy Didier, who “spoke a lavishly accented English . . . to provoke and criticize friend and stranger alike with an indolent malignity.” Measuring their lives in the coffeespoons of one monsoon season to the next, these characters work in the orbit of fabulous crimelords and their more actively malign lieutenants, all with murky connections to the drug trade, Bollywood, and foreign intelligence agencies (as one tells our narrator, “All the secret police of the world work together, Lin, and that is their biggest secret”). Violence begets violence, the afflicted are calmed and balmed, friends are betrayed, people are killed, prison doors are slammed shut, then opened by well-greased palms. It’s an extraordinarily rich scene befitting Les Misérables , a possible influence here, or another less obvious but just as philosophically charged ancestor, James Michener’s The Drifters . Roberts is a sure storyteller, capable of passages of precise beauty, and if his tale sometimes threatens to sprawl out of bounds and collapse under its own bookish, poetic weight, he draws its elements together at just the right moment.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2004

ISBN: 0-312-33052-9

Page Count: 960

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004

LITERARY FICTION

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BOOK TO SCREEN

THE SECRET HISTORY

by Donna Tartt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1992

The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. During the only one that actually comes off, a local farmer happens upon them—and they kill him. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. And so he too is dispatched. The narrator, a blank-slate Californian named Richard Pepen chronicles the coverup. But if you're thinking remorse-drama, conscience masque, or even semi-trashy who'll-break-first? page-turner, forget it: This is a straight gee-whiz, first-to-have-ever-noticed college novel—"Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally thought to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black petri dish of melodrama and distortion." First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids—while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's—and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. Les Nerds du Mal—and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1992

ISBN: 1400031702

Page Count: 592

Publisher: Knopf

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992

More by Donna Tartt

BOOK REVIEW

by Donna Tartt

SEEN & HEARD

HOUSE OF LEAVES

by Mark Z. Danielewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2000

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and...

An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted-house tale.

Texts within texts, preceded by intriguing introductory material and followed by 150 pages of appendices and related "documents" and photographs, tell the story of a mysterious old house in a Virginia suburb inhabited by esteemed photographer-filmmaker Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green (an ex-fashion model), and their young children Daisy and Chad.  The record of their experiences therein is preserved in Will's film The Davidson Record - which is the subject of an unpublished manuscript left behind by a (possibly insane) old man, Frank Zampano - which falls into the possession of Johnny Truant, a drifter who has survived an abusive childhood and the perverse possessiveness of his mad mother (who is institutionalized).  As Johnny reads Zampano's manuscript, he adds his own (autobiographical) annotations to the scholarly ones that already adorn and clutter the text (a trick perhaps influenced by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ) - and begins experiencing panic attacks and episodes of disorientation that echo with ominous precision the content of Davidson's film (their house's interior proves, "impossibly," to be larger than its exterior; previously unnoticed doors and corridors extend inward inexplicably, and swallow up or traumatize all who dare to "explore" their recesses).  Danielewski skillfully manipulates the reader's expectations and fears, employing ingeniously skewed typography, and throwing out hints that the house's apparent malevolence may be related to the history of the Jamestown colony, or to Davidson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a dying Vietnamese child stalked by a waiting vulture.  Or, as "some critics [have suggested,] the house's mutations reflect the psychology of anyone who enters it."

Pub Date: March 6, 2000

ISBN: 0-375-70376-4

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Pantheon

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2000

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by Mark Z. Danielewski

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The Literary Edit

Review: Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram is one of those books that I’ve meant to read for years. I don’t remember when I first heard about it, simply that it’s been recommended to me a number of times, particularly since starting my blog. Yet, up until recently, it remained on my shelf, gathering dust like my hundred-or-so other unread novels, while I patiently waited for the perfect time to begin this novel of epic proportion

About Shantaram

“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.”

So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas – this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

About Gregory Roberts

Gregory David Roberts was born in Melbourne, Australia. A gifted writer and student, he became addicted to heroin when his marriage collapsed and he lost the custody of his daughter. When he committed a series of robberies with an imitation pistol, he was described as the Gentleman Bandit. Sentenced to nineteen years in prison, he escaped and journeyed to New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and Europe. For ten of those fugitive years he lived in Bombay-where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Recaptured in Germany, he served out his sentence there and in Australian prisons. Upon his release, he established a successful multimedia company, and since the international publication of Shantaram, he is a full-time writer, at home in several countries.

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The Shantaram Novel's Plot Led Charlie Hunnam To Ponder "The Meaning Of Life"

Here’s a refresher on everything that goes down in the novel-turned-Apple TV+ series.

Based on Gregory David Roberts’ bestselling 2003 novel of the same name, Apple TV+’s Shantaram centers on a fugitive bank robber named Lin Ford (Charlie Hunnam) in 1980s Bombay (now Mumbai), India. When Hunnam discovered Roberts’ partly autobiographical story of redemption wrapped in action, adventure, and romance, it made quite an impact.

“When I first read this book, I was thinking a huge amount about God, about philosophy and psychology, and about my experience in the world,” the actor, who spent several days with the author in Jamaica, recently explained to The Hollywood Reporter . “These are all subjects that Greg writes about, and he really swings for the fences. He not only tasked himself with telling an extraordinary story and delivering compelling drama as the story goes along, but he also tasked himself with figuring out the meaning of life through this text, you know? What is the nature of God? If God does exist, what is God?”

Outside of offering his insight , Roberts wasn’t directly involved in his 900-plus-page novel’s adaptation. Instead, he preferred to take a hands-off approach in order to allow the project to take on a life of its own. As such, viewers might notice some differences, but here’s a refresher on how all the major events played out in Shantaram’ s literary version.

What Happens In The Shantaram Book?

Shantaram opens on Lindsay “Lin” Ford, a fake-passport-toting convicted bank robber who’s newly arrived in Bombay after fleeing a maximum security prison in Australia. He hires a guide named Prabaker, who quickly becomes a close and faithful friend and shows him some of the city’s dark underbelly. While in the city, Lin also meets and instantly falls in love with an elusive Swiss woman named Karla.

After growing close, Prabaker invites Lin to his home village of Sunder, where the fugitive confronts the demons of his crime and the family left behind that continue to haunt him. Through healing reflection, Lin ultimately finds profound inner peace, earning him the Indian moniker Shantaram, which translates to “man of peace.”

On their return trip to Bombay, the two friends are robbed, and Lin is left with nothing. So Prabaker arranges for him to move into a hut. After a fire breaks out, Lin uses his rudimentary medical training to help those injured and is soon operating the neighborhood’s de facto medical clinic. His good-doings attract the attention of Bombay’s head criminal, Khader, who takes Lin under his wing.

In the interim, Karla visits Lin in Bombay, asking for his help in rescuing her friend Lisa, who’s trapped working as a prostitute for the villainous Madame Zhou. Though they’re ultimately successful, the operation doesn’t quite go to plan, quickly earning Lin an enemy in Madame Zhou.

So when there is a cholera breakout, Karla returns the favor by helping Lin battle the epidemic, bringing them closer than ever. Right after they consummate their relationship, Lin is arrested by Bombay police and thrown into the horrific Arthur Road Prison — an act of retaliation from Madame Zhou. There, he endures months of abuse and torture before Khader is able to use his contacts to secure Lin’s ultimate release.

Following his release from jail, Lin goes to work in Khader’s mafia, learning the passport and currency black markets, in an act of gratitude. But after Prabaker dies in a car crash, Lin returns to abusing heroin before Khader and Karla collaborate to rescue him from an opium den. Once he gets clean, Lin agrees to accompany Khader to Afghanistan to deliver weapons to rebels fighting Russian invaders. When they get there, Lin eventually learns that Khader hadn’t been straightforward about his motives for bringing him on the trip. He also learns about Khader paying Karla to bring him back to him, and after becoming enraged, he refuses to accompany his friend on the next leg of their journey to Pakistan. Days later, a fellow soldier brings Khader’s dead body back to camp.

Eventually, the surviving troops decide to make a break for Pakistan, and after coming under fire, Lin is knocked unconscious. He awakens safely in Pakistan, however, and returns to Bombay to settle some unfinished business. That includes finding and eliminating a trusted mafia elder named Ghani, who turned out to be in charge of the murderous Sapna vigilante campaign against the rich.

The second order of business involves Lin getting some long-awaited revenge on Madame Zhou. When he arrives, however, he finds that someone beat him to it and has already burned down her brothel. Instead of killing her, he leaves his enemy in her misery.

How Does Shantaram End?

With Khader’s death leaving the mafia in shambles, Lin agrees to join his friend Nazeer in another holy war in Sri Lanka. Before he departs, however, he has a final talk with Karla, revealing he no longer loves her. Lin also returns to Prabaker’s village to visit his late friend’s family. There, he meets Prabaker’s infant son, whom he notes looks just like his father. Following a final rousing speech about peace, love, and happiness, the book ends with the final phrase, “We live on,” setting up the next chapter.

This article was originally published on Oct. 14, 2022

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Shantaram: A Novel Paperback – October 1, 2005

Now a major television series from Apple TV+ starring Charlie Hunnam! “It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.” An escaped convict with a false passport, Lin flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of Bombay, where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter the city’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere. As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas―this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart.

• Book 1 of 2 Shantaram
• Print length 944 pages
• Language English
• Publisher St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date October 1, 2005
• Dimensions 5.45 x 1.55 x 8.15 inches
• ISBN-10 0312330537
• ISBN-13 978-0312330538
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

“ Shantaram is a novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art, a thing of exceptional beauty. If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, every thing in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond: He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world.” ―Pat Conroy “ Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-round performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of the likes of Henri Charrière, Rohinton Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full.” ―Moses Isegawa, author of Abyssinian Chronicles and Snakepit “Shantaram is, quite simply, the 1001 Arabian Nights of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life. Anyone who walks away from Shantaram untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years.” ―Jonathan Carroll, author of White Apples “Shantaram is dazzling. More importantly, it offers a lesson...that those we incarcerate are human beings. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Some of them, after all, may be exceptional. Some may even possess genius.” ―Ayelet Waldman, author of Crossing the Park “Utterly unique, absolutely audacious, and wonderfully wild, Shantaram is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard.” ― Elle “ Shantaram had me hooked from the first sentence. [It] is thrilling, touching, frightening...a glorious wallow of a novel.” ― Detroit Free Press “[A] sprawling, intelligent novel…full of vibrant characters…the exuberance of his prose is refreshing…Roberts brings us through Bombay's slums and opium houses, its prostitution dens and ex-pat bars, saying, You come now. And we follow.” ― The Washington Post “Inspired storytelling.” ― People “Vivid, entertaining. Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly impresses.” ― USA Today “Few stand out quite like Shantaram …nothing if not entertaining. Sometimes a big story is its own best reward.” ― The New York Times “...very good...vast of vision and breadth.” ― Time Out “This massive autobiographical novel draws heavily from Roberts' vida loca. Don't let the size scare you away – Shantaram is one of the most gripping tales of personal redemption you'll ever read.” ― Giant Magazine “This reviewer is amazed that Roberts is here to write anything. Swallowed up by the abyss, somehow he crawled out intact….His love for other people was his salvation…Powerful books can change our lives. The potency of Shantaram is the joy of forgiveness. First we must regret, then forgive. Forgiveness is a beacon in the blackness.” ― Dayton Daily News “ Shantaram is loads of colorful fun, [it] rises to something grand in its evocations of the pungent chaos of Bombay. ” ― Minneapolis Star Tribune “ Shantaram is a true epic. It is a huge, messy, over-the-top irresistible shaggy-dog story.” ― The Seattle Times

About the Author

Excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., st. martin's griffin, chapter one.

'We're going to stay at an ashram,' his friend announced. 'It's run by the Rajneeshis, at Poona. It's the best ashram in the country.' Continues... Excerpted from Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts Copyright ©2005 by Gregory David Roberts. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 944 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0312330537
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312330538
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1.55 x 8.15 inches
• #41 in Crime Action & Adventure
• #67 in Organized Crime Thrillers
• #710 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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About the author

Gregory david roberts.

Gregory David Roberts (GDR), is an author, songwriter, composer and artist. He’s best known for his best-selling novel Shantaram, which has sold over 7 million copies and was hailed “a masterpiece” by critics. It has been translated into 44 languages and is sold in over 116 countries. 

A TV series based on Shantaram is due to air on Apple TV+ in October 2022; starring Charlie Hunnam as the lead. 

The follow-up novel, The Mountain Shadow was released in 2015.

In 2021, GDR published The Spiritual Path, which takes us on a gripping personal journey of wonder and insight into science, belief, faith and devotion, where Roberts describes the step-by-step path, he followed in search of spiritual connection. 

GDR released his debut album Love&Faith in 2020, co-produced by GDR and Dale “Dizzle” Virgo (Drake/ Rihanna/ Kendrick Lamar).

Expect the unexpected from this creative maverick as GDR continues to expand his music repertoire, write and create art. 

www.gregorydavidroberts.com

Customer reviews

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Customers say

Customers find the book captivating, unforgettable, and full of profundity. They appreciate the vibrant, vivid descriptions of the city of Mumbai. They also describe the emotional impact as honest, intense, and gripping. Readers describe the content as insightful, detailed, nuanced, and successful. They find the storyline breathtaking and interesting. Opinions are mixed on the book length, with some finding it long and easy to immerse in, while others say it's too long and episodic. Reader opinions also differ on the plot, with others finding it direct and unimposing, while other find it slow, boring, and heavy-handed.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the writing style vibrant, genuine, passionate, and sincere. They also appreciate the witty dialogue and accuracy of the descriptions. Readers also mention that the journey is compelling and Bombay comes alive.

"...The vibrant and vivid descriptions of the city of Mumbai, its bustling markets, and the diverse characters that inhabit its streets breathe life..." Read more

"...There is a great deal of charity in the soul of Linbaba, he is always trying to support his friends, and the poor people who live in the slums...." Read more

"...First, the good. Roberts is a gifted story-teller ...." Read more

"...scenes that took place in prison made me cringe, and yet they seem very realistic ...." Read more

Customers find the storyline breathtaking, chock full of action, and thought-provoking. They also describe the book as a work of fiction that encompasses action, mystery, romance, thrills, and historical proportions. Customers also say the ending was perfect.

"...In conclusion, Shantaram is a captivating and unforgettable odyssey that will leave you breathless, contemplating the intricate beauty of life itself..." Read more

"...stars despite exasperating faults because the story and story-telling are so enthralling ...." Read more

"...The ending was perfect , in my opinion. I could envision a sequel or a movie in the horizon...." Read more

"...It is an epic story , one of those bigger than life novels that spins a whole series of subplots into one, where characters grow and change, and in..." Read more

Customers find the content insightful, epic, and spiritual. They also describe the book as soul-felt, smart, and powerful.

"...It challenges our preconceived notions , forcing us to question our own moral compasses and the intricacies of the human condition...." Read more

"...It was one of the most exhilarating, romantic, and illuminating experiences in my life.Shantaram is a huge book at 933 pages...." Read more

"...The descriptions of people and places are detailed and nuanced and insightful . You really do feel like you are on the streets of Bombay...." Read more

"...The writing is so genuine, passionate and sincere, in its description of the tumultuous life of India's largest city and all the eccentric..." Read more

Customers find the book captivating, unforgettable, and funny. They also appreciate the narrator, who adds so much life to the characters. Readers describe the book as dramatic, interesting, and dramatic. They mention that the plots are several and endless.

"...Page 58.There are many funny and shocking stories in the book , including a description of how the locals in Bombay treat a person who is..." Read more

"...This story has it all --intrigue, corruption, misery, humor, joy , pain and love. The writing is outstanding...." Read more

"...dwellers, sages, and his trusty companion Prabu are deeply poignant, joyful and heart wrenching...." Read more

Customers find the characters interesting and jump off the page. They also say the book portrays Mumbai and India in an in-depth way.

"...The protagonist, Lin, is a complex and fascinating character , flawed and yet utterly relatable...." Read more

"...Beyond that, Roberts creates some great characters . Some reviews say the characters are straight out of central casting and/or are two-dimensional...." Read more

"...The book is full of colorful characters : Prabaker, the Indian street guide who takes a liking to Lin...." Read more

"Beautiful language. Interesting characters . Just getting into it. My actual book is hard cover and is quite heavy...." Read more

Customers find the relationships honest and intense. They also say the book makes them feel special. Readers say the mesmerizing prose beautifully weaves a tapestry of emotions, taking them on a rollercoaster journey. They say the story is personal and full of color and depth of character. They mention that the book finds kindness in the most unexpected places. They appreciate the beautiful imagery and lovely people.

"...Roberts' mesmerizing prose beautifully weaves a tapestry of emotions , taking readers on a rollercoaster journey through love, loss, redemption, and..." Read more

"...It was one of the most exhilarating, romantic , and illuminating experiences in my life.Shantaram is a huge book at 933 pages...." Read more

"...story has it all --intrigue, corruption, misery, humor, joy, pain and love . The writing is outstanding...." Read more

"...There is a real power to his thoughts on forgiveness . He says it is forgiveness that characterizes the human race...." Read more

Customers are mixed about the book length. Some mention that it's long, but easy to become immersed in it on page one. They also say it fits among its peers. However, some customers feel the book is too long, intimidating to a slow reader, and episodic.

"...Perhaps that is why some feel the book is way too long . Much of that page space is devoted to descriptions of the setting. Just savor it...." Read more

" This book is long and I often wondered when I was going to be “hooked .” I think the truth is I was “hooked” from the beginning...." Read more

"...to psychologically deal with the author is exhausting and the content is crazy long with very mixed quality...." Read more

"So I want to start by saying this is a long book ...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the plot. Some find it direct and unimposing, while others find it boring, repetitive, and not quite a literary masterpiece.

"...It can be maddening, dull , inspid. And yet, since I have finished it, I find it coming frequently to mind. It has made its mark on me...." Read more

"...There are very few lulls ; it is chock full of action...." Read more

"...this is an action story, a book for guys not gals, and not quite the literary masterpiece it thinks it is...." Read more

"...Characters are shallow , unchanging and lifestyle choices such as those of the Standing Babas unconvincing...." Read more

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Book Review: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Travel Book Reviews / January 4, 2022 by fulltimeexplorer / Leave a Comment

The book Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts was recommended to me when I traveled through India. It’s remained on my list of books to read for years, mostly because when I looked it up, I spelt the title wrong and couldn’t find it. A month ago, my husband told me it was one of his favorite books. He’s read it twice and decided to buy it for me as a gift. The book is long at almost 1,000 pages so it took me some time to complete it, but I really enjoyed this book.

I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison.

Shantaram is based on the life of the author after he escapes prison in Australia and moves to Bombay to hide from authorities. While in India, he meets a myriad of interesting characters from a local guide who wins everyone over with his smile, a complex woman who doesn’t believe in love, a mafia boss who takes him under his wing like a son, and a slum full of people who have hearts of gold. My favorite part of this book is the characters and their conversations that shed light on the ways of life in India.

‘Driving is not so good,’ Prabaker replied, bracing himself with both arms against the back of the driver’s seat. ‘But I have to say, the spitting and insulting is a first-class job.’

I have to admit that I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half simply because the first half is lighter. The author is discovering India for the first time and he learns some really interesting lessons as he does. From learning how to get a seat on a train, how to bobble your head at someone in the right moments, and how to live in a slum with thousands of people peacefully, the author has a range of crazy experiences. But what really makes the first half great is the author’s interactions with Prabaker, his guide and friend who is absolutely hilarious and impossible not to love.

If fate doesn’t make you laugh, Karla said in one of my first conversations with her, then you just don’t get the joke.

Shantaram is the perfect mix of funny encounters and serious philosophical debates supported by real life experiences that few people in the world ever have. The author goes from having a normal life in Australia to doing heroin and robbing people. Then, he’s living in India under false identities and even going to war with mafia bosses while committing daily crimes in Bombay. Besides the story being fascinating, it’s the way the author writes it that really makes the story come to life. There are few books I’ve read that read as poetically as Shantaram.

But the soul has no culture. The soul has no nation. The soul has no colour or accent or way of life.

I highly recommend this book not just to people visiting India or those who have had culture shock, but really to anyone who enjoys a great story full of lively characters. Shantaram has a way of making you see past initial judgements whether about a place or a person. He shows you the stereotype of everything and then peels it back like the petals of a lotus flower until you see the full picture and beauty within.

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Polly Castor

Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art, shantaram (book review with quotes).

At 933 pages of dense text and small print, this book is long. I am glad to have read it, but even more glad to finally be done with it.

This is basically an auto-biography of a convict who escaped from a maximum security prison in Australia, and who arrived as a fugitive in Bombay, where he became a medic in a slum, a smuggler, a counterfeiter for the mafia, a prisoner in another miserable jail, and even a gun-runner in the remote mountains of Afghanistan, where he ran into enemy guns and survived, while others around him died.

The author’s bio says he was apprehended after 10 years in exile, and served the balance of his sentence, during which time he wrote this book.   Shantaram is kind of like a 1980’s version of a Charles Dickens novel set instead in India, with an extra dash of ego and hubris, and more violence and drugs.

It is a book by a criminal, about crime, and by a heroin user, who has suffered its cost. It is also about falling in love with a place, and the lengths one will go to for a sense of belonging. Additionally, themes within this story focus on forgiveness, choosing love over hate, and that your fate is not fixed, but instead is determined by what you do.

The writing here is detailed, lush, and sometimes overwrought. The author/main character is observant and cogent, with a vast vocabulary greater than mine, and a fairly high opinion of himself, especially given all his bad choices. We all should be as self-assured, resilient, and mindful of our surroundings.

This book is a window into a world that is so very much unlike my own. He accepts that, “Sometimes you must do the wrong thing for the right reasons,” and I do not agree. To me, the wrong thing is just the wrong thing. However, the gangsters were faithful to their moral code, and honorable in their own way. For example, this group stayed away from prostitution, pornography, and selling drugs, which you could make a lot of money from, but they avoided them because they corrupted people’s souls, and hurt them. Therefore these goondas stuck to money laundering, counterfeiting, forgery, and supporting righteous freedom fighters with guns and ammunition. It was surprising to me, how philosophical the gangsters were, and I enjoyed those passages very much.

I’ll share with you here some passages of this unique novel, to give you some of its flavor:

• “The choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.”
• “I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum security prison.”
• “The ancient Sanskrit legends speak of destined love, a karmic connection between souls that are fated to meet and collide and enrapture one another. The legends say that the loved one is instantly recognized because she’s loved in every gesture, every expression of thought, every movement, every sound, and every mood that prays in her eyes.”
• “Civilization… is defined by what we forbid, more than what we permit.”
• “A dream is the place where a wish and a fear meet. When the wish and the fear are exactly the same, we call the dream a nightmare.”
• “I will explain. Nothing exists as we see it. Nothing we see is really there, as we think we are seeing it. Our eyes are liars. Everything that seems real, is merely part of the illusion. Nothing exists, as we think it does. Not you. Not me. Not this room. Nothing.
• “The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men. It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. The truth is that we all, everyone of us…are moving toward God.”
• “Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied.”
• “Sometimes I think that the size of our happiness is inversely proportional to the size of our house.”
• “Suffering, of every kind, is always a matter of what we’ve lost. When we are young, we think that suffering is something that’s done to us. When we get older… we know that real suffering is measured by what’s taken away from us… Suffering is hungry, isn’t it?  Hungry for anything means suffering. Not hungry for something, means not suffering. But everybody knows that.”
• “You know the difference between news and gossip, don’t you? News is what people did. Gossip tells you how much they enjoyed it.”
• “It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would’ve annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness… Every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we love, and we love because we can forgive.”
• “Our life, it probably began inside the ocean…and for almost all of that long time, all the living things were water things, living inside the sea. Then, a few million years ago…the living things began to be living on the land, as well…But in a way you can say that after living inside the sea, we took the ocean with us. When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in. That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea. It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean , in her body. And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears.”
• “Cruelty is a kind of cowardice. Cruel laughter is the way cowards cry when they’re not alone, and causing pain is how they grieve.”
• “It is all about greed and control. These are the two elements that make for commercial crime. Any one of them on its own, is not enough. Greed without control, or control without greed won’t give you a black market… When greed meets control, you get a black market.”
• “The universe… has been getting always more complex since it began. It does this because that is its nature. The tendency towards complexity has carried the universe from almost perfect simplicity to the kind of complexity that we see around us… it is always getting more complex. It is moving toward something. It is moving toward some kind of ultimate complexity. And that final complexity, that we are all moving to, is what I choose to call God. If you don’t like that word, God, call it the Ultimate Complexity. Whatever you call it, the whole universe is moving toward it.”
• “This is why killing and stealing is wrong– not because a book tells us they are wrong, or a spiritual guide tells us they are wrong, because if everyone did them we would not move toward the ultimate complexity that is God, with the rest of the universe. Why is love good? Well, what would happen if everyone loved everyone else? Would that help us or would it hold us back? Yes, universal love would greatly accelerate the movement toward God. Love is good. Friendship is good. Loyalty is good. Freedom is good. Honesty is good.  We knew these things were good before…but now with this definition of good and evil, we can see why they are good, Just as we can see why stealing, and lying and killing are evil.”
• “Motive matters more with good deeds than it does with bad… it’s the good deeds we did that can save us.”
• “Fanaticism is the opposite of love. A wise man once told me– he’s a Muslim by the way– that he has more in common with a rational, reasonable-minded Jew than he does with a fanatic from his own religion. He has more in common with a rational, reasonable-minded Christian or Buddhist or Hindu than he does with a fanatic from his own religion. In fact, he has more in common with a rational, reasonable-minded atheist than he does with a fanatic from his own religion. I agree with him, and I feel the same way. I also agree with Winston Churchill, who once defined a fanatic as someone who won’t change his mind and can’t change the subject.”
• “A good man is as strong as the right woman needs him to be.”
• “There’s a theory that snoring at night in sleep is a subconscious defense reflex– a warning sound that frightened potential predators away from the mouth of the cave when our lower Paleolithic ancestors huddled in vulnerable sleep. That group of Afghan nomads, cameleers, sheep and goat herders, farmers, and guerrilla fighters lent credibility to the idea, for they snored so thunderously and with such persistent ferocity through the long, cold night that they would’ve frightened a pride of lions into scattering like mice.”
• “Anything that can be put into a nutshell should remain there.”
• “Every atom in the universe has the characteristic of life.  The more complex way that atoms get put together, the more complex is the characteristic of life. A rock is a very simple arrangement of atoms, so the life in a rock is so simple we cannot see it. A cat is a very complex arrangement of atoms, so the life in a cat is very obvious. But life is there in everything, even in a rock, even when we cannot see it.”
• “Be able to answer these two questions: What is an objective, universally acceptable definition of good and evil? And, what is the relationship between consciousness and matter?”
• “I do not think that light is God. I think it is possible, and it is very reasonable to say, that light is the language of God. Light may be the way that God speaks to the universe, and to us.”
• “Glory belongs to God of course; that’s what the word really means. And you can’t serve God with a gun.”
• “You can’t reason with a man who has no sense of money and is value. It’s the one thing all civilized men have in common, don’t you agree? If money doesn’t mean anything, there is no civilization.”
• “She found it strange and incongruous to hear me describe criminals, killers, and mafiosi as men of honor. The confusion, I think, was hers, not mine. She’d confused honor with virtue. Virtue is concerned with what we do, and honor is concerned with how we do it. You can fight a war in an honorable way– the Geneva Convention exists for that very reason– and you can enforce the peace without any honor at all. In essence, honor is the act of being humble. And gangsters, just like cops, politicians, and holy men, are only ever good at what they do if they stay humble.”
• “All the secret police of the world work together, and that is their biggest secret.”
• “The word mafia comes from the Sicilian word for bragging. And if you ask any serious man who commits serious crimes for a living, he’ll tell you it’s just that– the boasting, the pride– that gets most of us in the end. But we never learn. Maybe it is not possible to break laws without boasting about it to someone. Maybe it’s not possible to be an outlaw without being proud in some way.”
• “Fate always gives you two choices, the one you should take, and the one you do.”
• “He’d been able to deal with that pain because he’d accepted his own part in causing it.”
• “I know now that when the loving, honest moment comes, it should be seized, and spoken, because it may never come again.”
• “Every human heartbeat is a universe of possibilities.
• “Every human will has the power to transform its fate. I’d always thought that fate was something unchangeable: fixed for every one of us at birth, and as constant as the circuit of the stars. But I suddenly realized that life is stranger and more beautiful than that. The truth is that, no matter what kind of game you find yourself in, no matter how good or bad the luck, you can change your life completely with a single thought or a single act of love.”

This book isn’t for everybody, and it is a time commitment to undertake. I put it down at around page 700, during the part taking place in the war in Afghanistan, and lapsed on reading it for a couple months, before I could return to finish it.  I needed to read a whole lot of something lighter, for a while.

Some reviewers hate this book and call it drivel; others rave about it and call it a masterpiece of stunning art, and they reread it multiple times. I am neither of these. It was interesting, and I got something out of it. I understand the criminal mind better, and got a deeper, more intimate glimpse of India than I’d had before. Now praise be, I will move on.

I give this complex, monolithic book 4 stars.

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Thanks for this review and advise….❤️

Thank you for sharing your thoughts of this book and the quotes from it Polly. Long ago I read it and thought to myself at the time that I may read it again someday. Since then I have studied metaphysics and continue growing with studying Christian Science; I now look at everything through a different lens. I will continue to wonder if I should read it again while being grateful for the quotes you share thinking that may suffice.

Thank you, Polly, for sharing all the wise words in this book with us. Now we won’t have to plough through it ourselves unless we really feel a need!

Shantaram is one book that I will always recommend people read. It is real and it is raw. It is an extraordinary book.

just…wow

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[…] were already words spoken in our home. But when I read and encounter new words ( like recently in Shantaram or the Priory of the Orange Tree) I look them up, enjoy them in context and then promptly forget […]

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Book Review: Shantaram

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by Gregory David Roberts

Reviewed by Sarah Grant

Shantaram is an intricately woven masterpiece based on the life of the author after escaping an Australian prison in 1980. With nowhere safe to go, he eventually finds himself in India and this is where most of the story takes place. On the dirty, sordid, but often beautiful and so very human streets of Bombay, Greg finds himself immersed in a world of slum-dwellers who become like family, smugglers, gunrunners and counterfeiters who take him under their wing and the Bombay Mafia who become his safe haven.

A story of love, life, grief, battle, spiritualism and everything in between, set in what you will come to appreciate as one of the world’s most charismatic places. There are so many amazing and sometimes terrifying adventures to be had and you are along for the ride through it all. A thorough examination of the good and evil in all of us and what we will do to survive. I could not put this book down and spent many a sleepless night entranced by the world so magically created by the author.

Recommend it?

Yes absolutely! Don’t be daunted by the size of the book, you will become so immersed in the world within the story, the pages will fly by and you will finish desperate to visit again!

4.5 stars out of 5

We are so excited to have a home for our latest Book Reviews, Book of the Week titles and top page-turner picks from myself and our staff. Check out our feature Book Club titles and browse through the thousands of books available at Bookworld , Australia’s largest online bookstore.

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Book Review: The Epic of ‘Shantaram’

Robert “Jerry” Pfeifer , Staff Writer | December 9, 2022

“Shantaram” is an award-winning novel published in 2003 based on the authentic epic experiences of the author Gregory David Roberts in India. Shantaram is the Hindu name given to Roberts (the narrator) by the relatives of his close friend, guide and side-kick Prabaker in a remote village. Shantaram means “man of God’s peace,” the meaning of which is left up to interpretation. Prabaker also gives Roberts a more casual name, Lin or Linbaba, which he goes by throughout the story. Shantaram is a one-of-a-kind novel that tells a story very similar to how an epic like the Iliad or the Odyssey would but makes it seem autobiographical by describing the world in immense detail and using the first person.

In both the story and real life, Lin or Roberts, the narrator, is an Australian convicted of a 19-year sentence in 1978 for heroin usage and armed robbery. Roberts is an inmate at Pentridge Prison but extraordinarily escapes in broad daylight and flees to India with a fake passport. Roberts remained on Australia’s most-wanted list for nearly ten years. Other aspects of the novel are debated, but these have documented evidence. “Shantaram” takes place within this period of time as most wanted, but the narrative is centered on unrelated experiences unique to India. According to Internet Archive , in an interview with Murali K. Menon of the Indian Express newspaper, Roberts explained the book’s genre intention: 

“With respect, ‘Shantaram’ is not an autobiography, it’s a novel. If the book reads like an autobiography, I take that as a very high compliment, because I structured the created narrative to read like fiction but feel like fact.”

Lin begins the story under the guise of a simple tourist interested in local life who arrives in then Bombay (now called Mumbai), India. Lin gradually falls in love with the country and engages with all the native activities that Prabaker recommends. Unfortunately, Lin gets robbed on the way back from a bar in the slums. With all his money stolen, Lin is required to move out of his hotel and in with his kind friend Prabaker in the slums and get a job as a tour guide and drug hook-up for foreigners. On Lin’s first day in the slums, an enormous fire erupts from one of the slum tents engulfing many others, and although his instinctive thought is to flee, he decides to help his new community members put out the fire. Afterward, with the first-aid experience he gained from his life as a heroin addict, he helped heal many wounded people in the aftermath of the fire and became a renowned and cherished local doctor. In the beginning, he also met with an American woman, Karla, who had long assimilated into Indian life. He instantly fell in love with Karla after she saved him from being hit by a vehicle. This initial connection spirals into a deep love that would last the entirety of the book. These two events spiral into various wild but detailed and riveting adventures ranging from involvement with gangster life, life in India’s Arthur Road Prison, relapse into opioid addiction, forced prostitution to weapons smuggling with the Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan War.

“Shantaram” has recently been adapted into an Apple TV+ series that has long been awaited since prominent actors such as Johny Depp and Russell Crowe showed great interest at the time, and Warner Bros. purchased the rights in 2003. The series has also been applauded on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes , respectively, with audience scores of 7.8 and 81 percent. However, Rotten Tomatoes critics have given it much less praise, with a 56 percent score. The first episode was released on October 14.

“Shantaram” can be convoluted and contains a daunting 936 pages, but it definitely is one of the most interesting books I have read. The book can pointlessly stall with cliché and long roundabout quotes and memories made to seem autobiographical but that are obvious fairy-tale fiction. I sometimes found the melodrama worthwhile as sometimes they encompassed descriptions of Indian life that give unique insight from a foreign perspective, but mainly the plot points and explosive scenes of action, and much of the character interaction, were definitely worth the wait. I recommend this book to fiction and non-fiction readers because it contains elements of both. “Shantaram” definitely serves as a unique and worthwhile read.

Robert "Jerry" Pfeifer is a junior from New Paltz, NY concentrating in political science. He has previously served as a staff writer for the Arts &...

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Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts: Book Review

Title: Shantaram Author: Gregory David Roberts Series: Shantaram #1 Genre: Contemporary Fiction Audience: Adult Format: Paperback

Lin Ford escaped from prison in Australia by climbing straight over the front wall. He eventually finds himself in Bombay, living a life full of many twists and turns. He earns money by helping tourists connect with the black market services they’re looking for. He eventually finds himself living in a slum. He befriends a mob boss. He goes to war. He falls in love. He truly lives his life.

I’m having the hardest time writing this review! I’ve scrapped it once already. Ack!

It took me about seven weeks to read Shantaram , mostly because I was busy and didn’t have much time to devote to it. I think having that much time to think about what I was reading allowed me to read more objectively than I otherwise might have and focus on “flaws” that I might not have noticed otherwise.

I think a ruthless editor could have cut the length of the book in half. Who was it who wrote, “Kill your darlings?” Oh. Apparently that’s a mystery. Anyway, I was ready to volunteer to murder a few of Mr. Roberts’s darlings. The book repeated itself a lot. I was sick of reading about the green of Karla’s eyes. I was sick of reading about Khader’s philosophy of life, the universe, and everything. I know there was more but those are the things that really stand out. One adjective was never good enough to describe anything. Heck, one sentence wasn’t good enough. “My eyes were lost, swimming, floating free in the shimmering lagoon of her steady, even stare. Her eyes were large and spectacularly green. It was the green that trees are, in vivid dreams. It was the green that the sea would be, if the sea were perfect.” Okay. I hope my husband feels something like that when he stares into my eyes. But I also hope that if he ever decides to write a book, he refrains from inflicting rhapsodies like that on his readers every time he describes me. Because it is Every. Single. Time.

That all out of the way, the language is lush and beautiful, just the way that Mr. Roberts describes Bombay itself. Every passage I choose to quote here is too long to go in a review so I’ll just say that within a few pages, I was breathing the hot, wet air of Bombay, inhaling the rich mix of smells, and being dazzled by the light reflecting off the water.

I could never live in Bombay. Just the thought of the living conditions and the crowds makes my chest tighten in panic. But I was able to look past that and take in the beauty that those who choose to live there see. The co-existence of the ancient and the modern, the kindness of individuals and the rage of the crowd, the majesty of the city that contains unimaginable squalor. That’s quite a feat.

But somewhere along the way, the feel of everything changed a bit. Instead of focusing so much on the city and the people that he loves, Lin starts focusing instead on his life of crime, his pursuit of the ever-elusive Karla, and his pursuit of vengeance. And that’s where I started to lose interest and slow down my reading. His friends in the slum were caring and kind. His criminal friends, while not as one-dimensional as you might expect, were still criminals. I found it hard to like them or to care what exploits Lin might get up to with them. My perception of Lin changed too. Instead of the volunteer “doctor” helping the slum-dwellers, he became pretty cold-blooded and calculating.

I’m in the minority in my rating here. Most people have given it five stars. I definitely see the potential within these pages, but it just needed to be tightened up a lot more for me. If you want to vicariously experience a completely different life in a place and culture that is probably pretty foreign to most of us here in book blog land, I do recommend that you give Shantaram a try.

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You have far more patience than I do to actually make it through this book. It was picked for my book club so I gave it a shot, but about 150 pages in, I gave up and just skimmed the rest. It definitely could have used an editor. Aside from the never-ending prose, my biggest problem with it was that it all seemed fake and self-indulgent to me. I didn't like any of the characters and didn't want to spend any time with them. Given the book's length, that's a big problem LOL.

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SHANTARAM BY GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS … Book Review

SHANTARAM BY GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS 

THE TITLE OF THE BOOK, SHANTARAM , is derived from the Marathi Name that the author Gregory had been given by his Friend Prabaker’s Mother, which means “MAN OF PEACE” OR “MAN OF GOD’S PEACE” . SHANTARAM is a Novel based on many of the Author’s True Life Experiences, and supposedly, some fictional bits added. The Australian Author, Gregory David Roberts , who had been a heroin addict and a convicted bank robber, escaped from the Pentridge Prison in 1980.

The book is a LONG READ, what with some 900 odd pages😳.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ IT???    BECAUSE , it is jammed packed with great storytelling, taking its readers on the many adventures and dotted with some thought provoking Moral Purpose. The Extraordinary Storyline of SHANTARAM, takes us from the moments of Gregory’s breakout from prison, to his journey to, and within, India. There is a sense of actually feeling a part of his journey, from the moment he lands in Mumbai, his stay in the Mumbai slums, His ultimate “pull into’ a Mumbai mafia gang, and how he runs a Free Health care clinic in the slums, on his little medical knowledge from first aid training.

SHANTARAM , or rather LIN or LINBABA as he is often referred to in the storyline, makes time to learn Marathi and Hindi, so he is better able to communicate with all the people he deals with everyday. The storyline also meanders through Gregory’s Love Saga , and to his unfortunate and horrific time spent in an Indian Jail. Some bits are so vivid and gruesome, but this allows the reader to better grip on what Life in Mumbai is all about . The Author touches on only a few aspects of Mumbai Life, making mention of it through his journey, but the in-depth thoughts and stories about the slum and it’s people, are what makes for a real eye opener. SHANTARAM  has numerous characters that make this book so unique, and the author brilliantly captures each character with finesse. There are times while reading the novel, that you would think You are watching scenes right out of a Bollywood Movie, and Bollywood is also what author Gregory had dabbled in a bit whilst he was in Mumbai. Another Character I enjoyed in the novel, was Khader Khan , affectionately called KhaderBhai , who although a DON of the Mafia gang , we see a side of him that brings forth a lot of thought provoking scenes, look out for a couple quotes of his from the book further down. Shantaram’s involvement with Khaderbhai , whom he LOVED as a father figure, leads to his involvement in illegal passport frauds and black market money laundering. And eventually, The GORA (WHITE MAN) is what the The Mafia Don had in mind, for his Jihad purposes to Afghanistan , where LINBABA , now a MUJAHEDEEN , plays an AMERICAN Decoy.

WILL LIN (SHANTARAM) RETURN BACK UNHARMED TO MUMBAI?

You are going to have to get yourself a copy of this BRILLIANT AND GRIPPING book, to find out more .

I highly recommend this book and it deservedly gets a  FOODEVA MARSAY RATING of

5 STARS OUT OF 5

SOME INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES I ENJOYED FROM THE NOVEL SHANTARAM….

“THE BURDEN OF HAPPINESS CAN ONLY BE RELIEVED BY THE BALM OF SUFFERING” SHANTARAM ~GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS~ “Sooner or Later, fate puts us together with all the people, one by one, who show us what we COULD, and SHOULDN’T , let ourselves become.” SHANTARAM ~ Gregory David Roberts~ “EVERY virtuous act has some dark secret in its heart, and EVERY risk we take contains a mystery that can’t be solved” – Khader Khan (Mafia Don – Shantaram) ~Gregory David Roberts~

AND MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE, OF MANY….

“EVERY act of Suffering, no matter how small or agonisingly great, is a test of LOVE in some way. Most of the time, Suffering is also a TEST OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD.” – Khader Khan (Mafia Don in Shantaram) ~ Gregory David Roberts ~

HAVE YOU READ THIS NOVEL?, DO DROP ME YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENTS FROM THIS READ, OR YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTES FROM IT.

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First Chapter

'Shantaram'

By Gregory David Roberts

• Dec. 26, 2004

In my case, it's a long story, and a crowded one. I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison. When I escaped from that prison, over the front wall, between two gun-towers, I became my country's most wanted man. Luck ran with me and flew with me across the world to India, where I joined the Bombay mafia. I worked as a gunrunner, a smuggler, and a counterfeiter. I was chained on three continents, beaten, stabbed, and starved. I went to war. I ran into the enemy guns. And I survived, while other men around me died. They were better men than I am, most of them: better men whose lives were crunched up in mistakes, and thrown away by the wrong second of someone else's hate, or love, or indifference. And I buried them, too many of those men, and grieved their stories and their lives into my own.

But my story doesn't begin with them, or with the mafia: it goes back to that first day in Bombay. Fate put me in the game there. Luck dealt the cards that led me to Karla Saaranen. And I started to play it out, that hand, from the first moment I looked into her green eyes. So it begins, this story, like everything else-with a woman, and a city, and a little bit of luck.

The first thing I noticed about Bombay, on that first day, was the smell of the different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India, even as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport. I was excited and delighted by it, in that First Bombay minute, escaped from prison and new to the wide world, but I didn't and couldn't recognise it. I know now that it's the sweet, sweating smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it's the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It's the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilisations in resurrection and decay. It's the blue skin-smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood-metal smell of machines. It smells of the stir and sleep and waste of sixty million animals, more than half of them humans and rats. It smells of heartbreak, and the struggle to live, and of the crucial failures and loves that produce our courage. It smells of ten thousand restaurants, five thousand temples, shrines, churches, and mosques, and of a hundred bazaars devoted exclusively to perfumes, spices, incense, and freshly cut flowers. Karla once called it the worst good smell in the world, and she was right, of course, in that way she had of being right about things. But whenever I return to Bombay, now, it's my first sense of the city-that smell, above all things-that welcomes me and tells me I've come home.

The next thing I noticed was the heat. I stood in airport queues, not five minutes from the conditioned air of the plane, and my clothes clung to sudden sweat. My heart thumped under the command of the new climate. Each breath was an angry little victory. I came to know that it never stops, the jungle sweat, because the heat that makes it, night and day, is a wet heat. The choking humidity makes amphibians of us all, in Bombay, breathing water in air; you learn to live with it, and you learn to like it, or you leave.

Then there were the people. Assamese, Jats, and Punjabis; people from Rajasthan, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu; from Pushkar, Cochin, and Konarak; warrior caste, Brahmin, and untouchable; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Parsee, Jain, Animist; fair skin and dark, green eyes and golden brown and black; every different face and form of that extravagant variety, that incomparable beauty, India.

All the Bombay millions, and then one more. The two best friends of the smuggler are the mule and the camel . Mules carry contraband across a border control for a smuggler. Camels are unsuspecting tourists who help the smuggler to get across the border. To camouflage themselves, when using false passports and identification papers, smugglers insinuate themselves into the company of fellow travellers-camels, who'll carry them safely and unobtrusively through airport or border controls without realising it.

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How to Watch Shantaram Online Free

By Shazmeen Navrange

If you’re curious to know where to watch and stream Shantaram online for free, then here are the streaming details.

Shantaram is a thriller drama series that centers around a criminal who serves his time in an Australian prison and later runs away. He reaches Mumbai, India, and restarts his criminal career. He takes on his new identity of Shantaram and makes a name for himself in the renowned city’s underworld business. The series is adapted from Gregory David Roberts’ novel and drew inspiration from his own life.

How to watch Shantaram streaming online

You can watch Shantaram via Apple TV Plus. Apple TV Plus is an over-the-top streaming service that presents you with incredible dramas, blockbusters, inspiring documentaries, exclusive originals, and much more.

In order to watch Shantaram, first head to the Apple TV Plus application or website. There, add all the necessary credentials and sign up.

How to watch Shantaram online for free legally?

You can watch Shantaram for free via Apple TV Plus.

Apple TV Plus does offer you a free trial, before subscribing with an official plan. If you made a recent Apple purchase, you also get a 3 months free trial to check out its content.

What is Shantaram about?

Shantaram follows Dale Conti, whose stealing habits have put him behind bars in Australia. Nonetheless, he manages to escape his prison time and goes to Mumbai as Lindsay Ford. On his way, he meets Prabaker, who helps him to kick-start his criminal career in the city’s underworld. Moreover, he also meets Karla and immediately develops feelings for her. As the series progresses, he gets torn between his precious freedom and his blossoming love. Eric Warren Singer and Steve Lightfoot serve as the creators of the show. The series features 12 episodes and premiered in October 2022.

Shazmeen is an Entertainment Journalist at ComingSoon. She holds a degree in multimedia and mass communication, specializing in advertising, but her ardor for cinema led her into entertainment journalism. While her cinematic preferences know no bounds, she specifically has fondness for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, psychological thrillers, horror, and films with profound philosophical undertones.    

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