Shantaram

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What to expect

A novel of high adventure, great storytelling and moral purpose, based on an extraordinary true story of eight years in the Bombay underworld



'A literary masterpiece... at once erudite and intimate, reflective and funny... it has the grit and pace of a thriller' Daily Telegraph
'A publishing phenomenon' Sunday Times
'A gigantic, jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga' Daily Mail

'In the early 80s, Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and heroin addict, escaped from an Australian prison to India, where he lived in a Bombay slum. There, he established a free health clinic and also joined the mafia, working as a money launderer, forger and street soldier. He found time to learn Hindi and Marathi, fall in love, and spend time being worked over in an Indian jail. Then, in case anyone thought he was slacking, he acted in Bollywood and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan... Amazingly, Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two versions. It's a profound tribute to his willpower... At once a high-kicking, eye-gouging adventure, a love saga and a savage yet tenderly lyrical fugitive vision.' Time Out

Critics Review

A literary masterpiece... at once erudite and intimate, reflective and funny... it has the grit and pace of a thriller
Daily Telegraph
Powerful and original... a remarkable achievement
Sunday Telegraph
A publishing phenomenon
Sunday Times
Extraordinarily vivid... a gigantic, jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga
Daily Mail
Utterly unique, absolutely audacious and wonderfully wild, Shantaram is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard
Elle
[A] sprawling, intelligent novel... full of vibrant characters... the exuberance of his prose is refreshing
Washington Post
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 reward
New York Times
Very good... vast of vision and breadth
Time Out
It has a heartfelt, cinemascope feel... A sensational read
Publishers Weekly
[A] jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga of lives laid bare
Ireland on Sunday
A curious mixture of adventure story and travelogue... [a] vivid and compassionate panorama of the places and people he encounters
Guardian
[An] elegantly written, page-turning blockbuster... splendidly evoking an India few outsiders know
Kirkus
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, 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 Charriere, Rohinton Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print... 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 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

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
c collender 19/05/2023
5.0
5.0
Just wow. This book requires some commitment, but it will blow your mind. It’s a love letter to Mumbai and all its brilliant madness. The narrator is just amazing - helping to easily keep track of the cast of dozens of different characters - expats, refugees and locals - with as many different voices and accents. Can’t recommend this one enough.
kellifb 25/02/2023

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