Gregory David Roberts

The reviews on this one are diametrically opposed - you either love it or hate. Count me in Team Lin, as I loved the book, for all its flaws.

Basic story here is a that an escaped convict from Australia flees to India and falls in love with Bombay. He gets himself enmeshed with the lives of people in all strata of the community, and ends up working out a few demons along the way.

First, as to the negative accounts of "white saviorism" and "cliche" I would like to point out that whatever the show more author may or may not have done, m he definitely lived in Bombay. And he lived all overarm including some of the slums. I'm frankly tired of the tired critiques from people who say 'the white guy shouldn't write about that.' What's he supposed to write about if not his life? Should he make all the characters a bunch of other white guys in the middle of Bombay - some kind of West Side Story without any color? That's just backwards. Fictionalized though it may be, he did the thing everyone says to do, he wrote what he knew.

Second, while there may be a bunch of philosophizing throughout the narrative, it strikes me as somewhat shallow to complain about that. Maybe those folks haven't reflected enough to come up with their own philosophies, or are too dim to open their minds to other philosophies. Would I agree with every last nugget? Of course not, but I didn't agree with all my philosophy readings either - the point was to expose yourself and think about it critically. .

Finally, I didn't like the love story either. Again, though, I feel like that's the point. Lin's love story with Karla is more about their addictive nature than it is about true love. Karla is clearly not in love with him, not really. She's not meant to be likable, nor is she meant to actually be the perfect ideal of a woman in the way that Lin always describes her. It's just another broken piece of his life with which he hasn't dealt.

For those who say the prose is overly sanguine, I'd recommend those folks not read [[Thomas Wolfe]] or [[Pat Conroy]] either. Look, if you don't like that kind of writing, go read something else and quit degrading this.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended!!!!! show less

This is one heck of a story. Yes, based loosely on Roberts' life, but with huge amounts of classic tall tale and adventure story thrown in. A fantastic throng of characters buzz around each other in the hive that is Bombay of the 1980s and the reader is given a sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes sad, but always exciting view into the lives of many of the millions of people of India - it's truly a tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

More important than the plotline (and the show more philosophic digressions), though, is the (sometimes quite flowery) language, with which Roberts describes the country: its smells, its colors, its mood, its viciousness, its music, its dancing, its food, its love, its joy, and foremost, its people. There is such a warmth and affection, even when describing the virtual pits of hell, that permeates the writing that even small details take on a little bit of sparkle.

Note, however, that it is mainly a criminal's tale about joining the mafia, so be prepared for some rather violent passages and quite a few ruthless characters. show less

What a ride! Obviously based from Roberts's own life, this book takes us on an epic journey from Australia, to the bowels of Bombay and the war in Afghanistan, back to India. With all the plots and events, what I loved most was the care Roberts takes to describe and inject life in every person the narrator crosses, whether friend or foe. There is genuine love for the people, the culture, the dynamic of the places that he goes to and we get a true sense of what life is like in generous and show more sensuous details. While it was a long read, I never got bored and was intrigued to see how it would end: it is such a slice of a life well-lived that it could go on forever, hopping from character to character.
Overall I was wildly entertained, learned (both in good and bad) about India and felt I was walking right next to the narrator in his fearless adventures. show less

This book is nothing but Orientalist, superficial, vainglorious, navel-gazing, exploitative, sophomoric philosophising wrapped up in a great big bow of white saviourism and misogyny. Normally I stick it out with books I start to hate to make sure there isn't some redeeming twist at the end but after slogging through over 3 hours of this 43 hour(!) audiobook I couldn't take it any more. Seriously, what is this drivel: “Some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help show more you find them again. Some truths are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. Some things are so sad that only your soul can do the crying for them.” Super deep, man, but what in the hell are you even trying to say?

Unless there is a wild shift in tone, character, and substance later in the book I think I've read enough to tell that this is self-indulgent, self-righteous, self-aggrandising, self-deluding, self-mythologising garbage. show less