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Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
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Shantaram (original 2003; edition 2016)

by Gregory David Roberts (Author)

Series: Shantaram (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
7,3372291,232 (4.13)1 / 321
Fiction. Thriller. HTML:

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 guerrillasâ??this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart.… (more)

Member:crobins42
Title:Shantaram
Authors:Gregory David Roberts (Author)
Info:Wydawnictwo Marginesy (2016), 800 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
Tags:None

Work Information

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (2003)

  1. 90
    A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (reenum)
  2. 60
    The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (jtho)
    jtho: Another great story set in India that shows us both the seedy sides and the beauty.
  3. 30
    Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta (firebird013)
    firebird013: Another vivid exploration of Bombay - with much autobiographical detail
  4. 30
    A Passage to India by E. M. Forster (Booksloth)
  5. 20
    Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (mcenroeucsb)
  6. 00
    What Is the What by Dave Eggers (jtho)
    jtho: Two favourites - both with almost unbelievable stories based on real life, hardship, humour, amazing friendship, and the benefit of hindsight.
  7. 00
    Animal's People by Indra Sinha (Booksloth)
  8. 01
    Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (kaledrina)
  9. 01
    The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri (Limelite)
    Limelite: Another sweeping story about the lives of the poor in Mumbai set during the same time period but told by an Indian narrator rather than a white Australian.
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Group TopicMessagesLast Message 
 Name that Book: Long book about India6 unread / 6AnnFisher1, July 2011

» See also 321 mentions

English (211)  Italian (4)  French (4)  Swedish (3)  German (3)  Finnish (1)  Dutch (1)  Norwegian (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (229)
Showing 1-5 of 211 (next | show all)
Gregory David Roberts nasceu em Melbourne, Austrália, sendo Shantaram a sua obra mais aclamada. Condenado a uma pena de dezanove anos por uma série de assaltos à mão armada, escapou da Prisão Pentridge. Durante a fuga viveu dez anos em Bombaim, onde fundou uma clínica gratuita para pessoas carenciadas, e onde trabalhou como falsificador, contrabandista, traficante de armas, e soldado de rua às ordens de um dos ramos da máfia de Bombaim. Recapturado, cumpriu a sua sentença, após a qual estabeleceu uma bem-sucedida empresa de multimédia. Roberts é atualmente escritor a tempo inteiro e vive em Bombaim.
  pfreis86 | Feb 23, 2024 |
Very well written but subject matter didn’t hold my interest ( )
  ChristineMiller47 | Jan 9, 2024 |
A very distinctive read. This is described as a novel, though it appears to be highly autobiographical - which frankly is extraordinary. Essentially it's the story of an escaped convict who flees from Australia and winds up in Bombay (and is quickly dubbed Lin). Falling in love with the city, he accumulates a wide and diverse set of friends. This actually feels like two books smooshed together - one is a heartwarming comedy of Lin's friendship with some of Bombay's lowest classes, and his time living and working in a Bombay slum; the second is of Lin's increasing involvement with the Bombay mafia (with considerable moral ambiguity). Both are fine and interesting (and, perhaps surprisingly, pretty convincing) but they sit together a little uneasily.

On the downside, the writing sometimes draws attention to itself a bit - an obscure word may be rolled out when a more common word would do. It's almost as if the writer wishes to demonstrate his erudition (possibly to counter preconceptions due to his criminal activities). And the passages devoted to matters of the heart are best got through quickly.

In addition, the book ends a little arbitrarily. There are many loose ends, and several events which would have delieverd more closure. Still, at more than 900 pages it's not as if you feel short changed.

One of the best things about the book is the author's delight in and devotion to India. He really explores a much wider spectrum of India society than most people ever would (foreign or, I venture, Indian). His enthusiasm is evident and infectious (and, I have no doubt, sincere).

So a really fascinating novel. It's a little ungainly in some ways, and ends up provoking a confusion of emotions. But in all that lends an air of it being a story that the author had to tell, which, in the end, is pretty endearing. ( )
  thisisstephenbetts | Nov 25, 2023 |
Still in 2 minds about this book. It's an epic story of an Australian who has escaped from a vicious Aussie jail, and ended up in India. Over the next decades he lives in a slum, becomes a middle ranking mafia man, junkie and ends up fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan. Meanwhile he meets many colourful characters, who teach him many things, some he doesnt learn that quickly.

As a fictional story this is a bit farfetched but interesting. However there is the nagging thought that this is supposed to be a true-ish story (about the author's own life). Whilst he/the story tries to come off as "deep" ultimately he comes off as very shallow. He develops unquestioning friendships (bordering on adoration) with people who ultimately betray him. He discards those good people in his life with apparent ease in order to move himself onwards within the mafia world (only to be betrayed by the people he worships and losing the good people around him). ( )
  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Here's what I wrote in 2009 about this read: "Wow, this autobiographical novel packs a *HUGE* punch, and even more so as a follow-up read to Chandra's Patriot Games. Roberts' personal story is almost bigger than life, and he credits India, especially Mumbai, with redeeming him. Tons of info about him and the novel online. Will Johnny Depp really make into a movie??" P.S. He never did author Apple+ did run at least one season as of 2023. ( )
  MGADMJK | Jul 31, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 211 (next | show all)
"Get things moving with this sprawling epic about an ex-bankrobber making a new life for himself in the poverty-stricken slums of Bombay."
 
The book is full of vibrant characters.
 
"A sensational read, it might well reproduce its bestselling success in Australia here."
added by bookfitz | editPublishers Weekly (Aug 23, 2004)
 
"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."
added by bookfitz | editKirkus Reviews (Aug 1, 2004)
 
'Shantaram': Bombay or Bust
 

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Gregory David Robertsprimary authorall editionscalculated
BĂĽtzow, HeleneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bower, HumphreyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Frydenlund, John ErikTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guglielmina, PierreTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mazan, MaciejkaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mingiardi, VincenzoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Palomas, AlejandroTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schmidt, SibylleTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sjöström, Hans O.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
For my mother
First words
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.
Quotations
At first, when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. What we should fear and dread, of course, is that we won't stop loving them, even after they're dead and gone.
They'd lied to me and betrayed me, leaving jagged edges where all my trust had been, and I didn't like or respect or admire them any more, but still I loved them. I had no choice. I understood that, perfectly, standing in the white wilderness of snow. You can't kill love. You can't even kill it with hate. You can kill in-love, and loving, and even loveliness. You can kill them all, or numb them into dense, leaden regret, but you can't kill love itself. Love is the passionate search for a truth other than your own; and once you feel it, honestly and completely, love is forever. Every act of love, every moment of the heart reaching out, is a part of the universal good: it's a part of God, or what we call God, and it can never die.
And I'd learned, the hard way, that sometimes, even with the purest of intentions, we make things worse when we do our best to make things better. (p.81)
It was at once his most endearing and most irritating quality, that he always told me the whole of the truth.
But repression, they say, breeds resistance in some men, and I was resisting the world with every minute of my life.
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References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Fiction. Thriller. HTML:

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 guerrillasâ??this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart.

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