Declare Books To Shantaram (Shantaram #1)
| Original Title: | Shantaram |
| ISBN: | 192076920X (ISBN13: 9781920769208) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.shantaram.com/ |
| Series: | Shantaram #1 |
| Characters: | Lin Ford, Karla Saraanen, Lisa, Prabaker, Abdel Khader Khan, Abdullah Taheri, Nazeer, Didier |
| Setting: | Bombay(India) Afghanistan Australia …more India …less |
| Literary Awards: | Commonwealth Writers' Prize Nominee for Best First Book (the Pacific Region) (2004) |
Gregory David Roberts
Paperback | Pages: 936 pages Rating: 4.27 | 151064 Users | 12581 Reviews
Details Of Books Shantaram (Shantaram #1)
| Title | : | Shantaram (Shantaram #1) |
| Author | : | Gregory David Roberts |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 936 pages |
| Published | : | 2004 by Scribe (first published 2003) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Psychology. Self Help. Philosophy |
Commentary During Books Shantaram (Shantaram #1)
"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.Rating Of Books Shantaram (Shantaram #1)
Ratings: 4.27 From 151064 Users | 12581 ReviewsJudgment Of Books Shantaram (Shantaram #1)
The author says the book is based on his real life. He had one crazy life. Heroin addition, bank robbery, prison break, escape to India. Its worth reading this book just for his descriptions of India and the culture from his perspective. The way they build the sky scrapers, how the building has its own subculture (the builders) living next to it is amazing. This book is well worth a look. It's a tad bit long, but interesting.The New York Times nailed Shantaram when they said that it is "nothing if not entertaining." The problem is trying to find what else it is. Nine hundred pages of page-turning narrative and I wonder if I have gained anything by it. The characters lack fullness and complexity, the narrator is absurd, and the language suffers the burden of passages so heavily cliched and saturated with bite-sized pseudo-philosophical tidbits as to reduce the novel to little more than a self-help book. Here's one
Have you ever been in a relationship that you were just done with but you were hoping they would end it and so you suffer through, day after day, rolling your eyes every time that person does that THING that you HATE and, yah, it was kind of fun at first but if they keep doing that THING that you HATE, you are going to end up saying something really mean and you really don't want to do that because they mean well and are nice but they just drive you up the wall?You know what you need to do? You
Let's get this straight from the start: according to the author this book is based on real events but its a novel, a work of fiction not an autobiography. And thats ok with me; except this book is clearly based heavily on the authors life and I couldn't help asking myself where exactly in this tale is the fact and where is the fiction? It did make for a strange experience. Anyway, some known facts about Gregory David Roberts: - An self confessed heroin addict, in 1978 he was sentenced to 19
If I met the protagonist, Linbaba, in the flesh, I'd, well, I'd beg my meatiest friend to rough him up. Repeatedly. Lin's adventures in Bombay are apparently based on humble author Gregory David Roberts's exploits playing savior and mafiosi there while in hiding after a daring escape from an Australian prison (thanks for a fellow goodreader for correcting me ---I had previously written New Zealand). LinBaba becomes irksome and tiresome after Part 1, repeatedly offering little nuggets of
Excellent review. Thank you.
Shantaram is about the life of an escaped Australian convict with the alias Lin who comes to India in order to evade his torturous fate in the prison. After landing in Bombay (now Mumbai), he befriends his tour guide Prabhakar and other expatriates who are involved in some minor illegal crimes in the city. As a man on a run, he tries to make sense of his life while he travels across the spiritual city.On his journey, the events and people around him cause his life to take a wild turn. He embarks
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