Shantaram

by Gregory David Roberts

book data

7,107 ratings, 4.25 average rating, 1,877 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		50%
4		31%
3		12%
2		3%
1		1%

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published

October 13th 2004 by St. Martin's Press (first published 2004)

details

Hardcover, 944 pages

isbn

0312330529 (isbn13: 9780312330521)

description

Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly aut…more

[close] Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means "man of God's peace," which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that's only the beginning.

He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident "doctor." With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla's connections are murky from the outset.

Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic; in fact, some of his prose is downright embarrassing. Throughought the novel, however, all 944 pages of it, every single sentence rings true. He is a tough guy with a tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially anyone he knew. He is a magnet for trouble, a soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. His story is irresistible. Stay tuned for the prequel and the sequel. --Valerie Ryan

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Mar 02, 2008

Jen rated it:

(review of isbn 0312330537)

Read in March, 2008

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 New Zealand prison escape. LinBaba becomes irksome and tiresome after Part 1, repeatedly offering little nuggets of pseudowisdom to summarize what he has learned from a particular person or situation. (I actually real...more 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 New Zealand prison escape. LinBaba becomes irksome and tiresome after Part 1, repeatedly offering little nuggets of pseudowisdom to summarize what he has learned from a particular person or situation. (I actually really despise the aforementioned phrase "nugget of wisdom" but I find it accurate here to really emphasize the fact that these "nuggets" are fleeting and become utterly meaningless because there are apx. 10 per page). Along with the wisdom, most of the novel consists of the protagonist vacillating between moral extremes as either a savior of street and slum or a thug loyal to a Bombay mafia don. For all of these roles, and all of the blurring of good and evil, though, the novel still comes up short in terms of complexity --- in thought, theme, and characterization. I particularly found Lin's trust and god-like admiration of Khader, his mafia boss and father figure, too simplistic and naive.
Everything was just a bit too dizzying and dazzling, like Roberts knew this was going to be picked up by Hollywood. Lin insists upon showing readers that he has connections in all of Bombay's divergent milieus --- from Bollywood, to the slums, to the mafia, to the expats and the heroin dens, LinBaba knows all. He even goes to Afghanistan in the midst of the Soviet invasion. This novel needs more unity and focus; moving from one incident to another, with a bit of wisdom in between, gets tedious and vexing.

All that negativity aside, this was a grand adventure story and was, for all my complaints, entertaining. Roberts obviously has a flair for dialogue, capturing the dialects of German, French, and Indian speakers, and Prabaker, Lin's best friend in Bombay, is a standout character. Actually, he was the best part of the novel for me, and far more realistic and entertaining than anyone else. (less)

Like this review? yes (26 people liked it)

6 comments

Apr 08, 2008

Linus rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: dimwitted psuedo-philosophers, the author's mother

My god. What an incredible load of drivel this is. Though there is room in the world for large stories largely told, Gregory David Roberts' self-aggrandazing pseudo-autobiography teems with ludicrously bad prose, characters so flat I'd like to use them to keep water off my bathroom floor, dimwitted philosophy, and self-love. I quite literally had to stop reading from embarassment at the sex scenes ("my body was her chariot and she rode me into the sun"? ye gods), and repeatedly found m...more

Like this review? yes (21 people liked it)

2 comments

Jul 24, 2007

MacK rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

bookshelves: contemporary, world-lit

Read in December, 2007

I had been told that this was a beautiful love story. And it was; in between the parts where he mopes over lost loves so much that you feel like you're back in a middle school girl gripefest.

I had been told that this was a philosophically profound book. And it was; except for the passages where Roberts smug knowledge of "complexity" made you want to punch every philosophy major you ever knew right in the face as a proxy.

I had been told that this was a riveting p...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

1 comment

Feb 12, 2008

Mairead rated it:

(review of isbn 0312330537)

bookshelves: the-heart

Read in February, 2008

I've raced through this book. I launched from the starting block and whipped around the track, throwing off any ounce that kept me from pounding those pages into oblivion. And while I should feel exhausted and spent, I feel a calm energy, winding through my body like the inevitable thrum of traffic in Bombay or the warm steam unfurling from a cup of hot chai.

Shantaram, the latest in my conquests of literature about India, has captivated me. While the author's own personal history is...more I've raced through this book. I launched from the starting block and whipped around the track, throwing off any ounce that kept me from pounding those pages into oblivion. And while I should feel exhausted and spent, I feel a calm energy, winding through my body like the inevitable thrum of traffic in Bombay or the warm steam unfurling from a cup of hot chai.

Shantaram, the latest in my conquests of literature about India, has captivated me. While the author's own personal history is enthralling in and of itself, his writing is what spurred me through the frantic pace of this last read. After I read a book it usually contains tiny scraps of paper or kleenex, marking my favorite phenomenal quotes. Usually, I'm lucky to get two or three.

I've got a bakers dozen of scrap paper shreds marking my territory. And my favorite is below:

"Every life, every love, every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning, and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see..Nothing in any life, no matter how well or poorly lived, is wiser than failure or clearer than sorrow. And in the tiny, precious wisdom they give to us, even those dread and hated enemies, suffering and failure, have their reason and their right to be." (pg. 872)

Our narrator is flawed and human. The book jacket advertises his past as a armed robber and prisoner in high-security facility, from which he escaped and travelled to Bombay. His work as a gunrunner, drug dealer, improvised doctor, and more float him throughout the chapters as he meanders in and out of the others lives. These people -- a charismatic cab driver, a carved up man in love, a gang leader with all the answers, a young child obsessed with prayers -- are what drive our protagonist, taking us with him through dawning awareness of self, of others, and of our importance to this world.

Sometimes you read a book to let yourself flow out onto its pages, to work through the black ink and white pulp as a character yourself. This book lets you do that, offering you havens of risk in which you can turn your palm over and consider, am I a good person? What have I done with the inevitable failures and sorrows that life has brought my way?

I hope that you too finish this book with tears of happiness and understanding clinging to your cheeks, pure and clean. (less)

Like this review? yes (11 people liked it)

2 comments

Jun 14, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in January, 2007

This is possibly the best book I've ever read. It was given to me by a friend of mine who loved it, and said that before she read it she had no desire to go to India, but after having read it she couldn't wait to go.

This book is over 900 pages, so I found it a little challenging to start b/c I didn't want to carry it around with me to read on the bus (too bulky) and I was so tired each night that I couldn't read more than a page or two. But I finally got a chance to read a small chun...more

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Jan 12, 2008

Amy Luke rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

recommends it for: Anyone who reads

There's enough reviews on this book I'm not going to summarize it again. I love this book, and yes it's massive but I think I've read it 3 times. It's not perfect but the parts that are great make up for the wobbly bits. I thought I'd throw in some of the lines I liked:

"The world and I are not on speaking terms," Karla said to me once in those early months. "The world keeps trying to win me back," she said, "but it doesn't work. I guess I'm just not the forgi...more

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Sep 05, 2007

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: people going to India

Gripping story. Beautiful descriptions of India and its people. Rhetorical dialogue provides provocative one-line philosophical nuggets:

"Civilization, after all, is defined by what we forbid, more than what we permit."

"The worst thing about corruption as a system of government is that it works so well."

"A lot of bad stuff in the world wasn't really that bad until someone tried to change it."

"The truth is a bull...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

2 comments

Dec 20, 2007

Chuckell added it (review of isbn 192076920X)

This book bugs.

Of course, I knew that I could have defeated the stoned, terrifying swordsman with just my fists. . . .

Fortunately, my friends had given me a gigantic first-aid kit before I left, so I had enough medicine to cure the scores of burn victims. . . .

The guards had given me--the dangerous convict doing hard labor--an extra-long, heavy-duty extension cord that I was able use to scale the prison wall. . . .

I saw in his eyes the shining c...more

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Jan 29, 2008

Christopher rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

recommends it for: no-one

I managed 200 pages of this utter drivel before giving up completely. Poorly-written nonsense which is gathering critical acclaim from people who probably read one book a year.

At one point - during a scene when the narrator is looking at a river - he ACTUALLY writes: 'I was thinking of another river. A river that runs through all of us. The river of the heart.'

I do not have time in my life for this sub-Danielle Steel horseshit.

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

5 comments

Jan 13, 2009

Stacey rated it:

(review of isbn 0312330537)

Read in March, 2009

I moved this from my "currently reading" shelf to my "read" shelf because there is no "I gave up on this piece of crap" shelf. 600 pages into it, I had to set myself free by throwing it in the toilet. No, seriously, I threw it in the toilet. Then I had to fish it out and clean the deluge of toilet water all over the place created by this tremendously large and heavy piece of crap book. This book makes me angry because I will never get that 600 pages of my life back...more I moved this from my "currently reading" shelf to my "read" shelf because there is no "I gave up on this piece of crap" shelf. 600 pages into it, I had to set myself free by throwing it in the toilet. No, seriously, I threw it in the toilet. Then I had to fish it out and clean the deluge of toilet water all over the place created by this tremendously large and heavy piece of crap book. This book makes me angry because I will never get that 600 pages of my life back. I could have been doing something important like closing my eyes really tight to see an intersting light show or going through my neighbors trash.

A great deal of this book is obviously autobiographical. I base this clever decution on the fact that the author, who is a former convict who escaped from prison and fled to Bombay where he lived in the slums, started a free medical clinic and joined the mafia, writes a book about a guy who escapes from prison and flees to Bomabay where he lives in the slums, starts a free medical clinis and joins the mafia. As such, it is written in the manner of someone who is scared of offending their former host and who also seems concerned that flaws in the main character will reflect badly on himself, the author. This sacrifices any possibility of creating an intersting, dynamic or realistic main character. It is comletely uncompelling and entirely unbelievable. The story of a westerner who integrates himself into Indian society, starting in the slums, should be facinating. To read this, everything and everyone is wonderful, the people are all so loving and beautiful, blah blah blah. Maybe all that is true, but hey there main character, weren't you a little frustrated and embarrassed when everyone in town lined up to watch you take a crap every morning? Everything negative the character experiences is presented as an account of facts, everything positive is a big sappy gush fest. Give me a break.

Then the reader is then regaled with pages upon pages of various characters spoon feeding each other philosphy. Sad twelve year old girls writing poetry could provide more inspiration.

I don't understand why this book gets such good reviews. There are so many amazing books about India. Read one of them. Better yet, just go to India. The money you would spend on this book will get you at least 2 meals depending on where you are. If you've had the misfortune of receiving this book as a gift, use it to kill spiders or keep it by your bedside to throw at possible intruders. Just don't waste your time reading it.
(less)

Like this review? yes (9 people liked it)

5 comments

Sep 02, 2008

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

bookshelves: mindless-entertainment, not-worth-it

Read in September, 2008

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. He...more

Like this review? yes (9 people liked it)

3 comments

Jul 31, 2008

Mayuri rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

The way Roberts describes Indians in this book is like a series of bad caricatures - I cringed terribly. There is the over-friendly and smiling, trusting, barbaric, not very clever, poor Prabaker - (I HATED the way he wrote Prabaker's English. It made him sound like a racist Disney character or like the golum from LOTR) to the cool and smooth Iranian gangster (if you like ridiculous Bollywood movies, this is the book for you!) In typical fashion, the white guy is the hero of nearly every scene, ...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

1 comment

Jul 31, 2008

Lara marked it as i-give-up (review of isbn 0312330537)

bookshelves: i-give-up, i-own, india, memoir

Read in August, 2008

I loved, loved the first part of this book. The author's description of arriving in Mumbai is so similar to my experience - the sites and smells, staying in Colaba, the restaurants visited - it really brought back my trip to a city I loved.

However, I've had to put this one down for a bit of a break. I just have the feeling Gregory David Roberts is pretty far up his own ass and I'm not sure I'm buying what he's selling.

What's making it hard to just sit back and enjoy thi...more

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Jul 11, 2008

Lori rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Turns out this was a 4 star. Maybe even a 5. Let's see how it settle with me. I wasn't sure when I began, oh say the first 200 pages or so! Yeah this is a long long book. I found the author (I'd say this is more a memoir altho it does read like a novel) to be too full of himself at first, and prone to cliches. Like finding living in the illegal slums of Bombay to be the purest life ever. And he's a hardened criminal but opens a free clinic because he's got such a good soul. And the mafia boss is...more

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Aug 07, 2008

Chak rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

bookshelves: like

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Peter Chelk.

Whew! This whirlwind of a book was a reader's feast. The recurring themes of forgiving, choosing love over hate, recognizing each person's ability to change his fate, and "doing the wrong thing for the right reasons" can make this book read like a self-help book or confessional visit at times. Yet, it is also a lush (and sometimes overwritten) swashbuckling adventure, an ambient study of Bombay, a crime novel, a doomed love story as well as a philosophical travelogue akin to "On the Road ...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

Jul 10, 2008

Mehrsa rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in September, 2008

I haven't enjoyed reading a book this much in a long time. Even though it was over 900 pages, I didn't want it to end. I wanted to know more about Lin's life and just keep hearing about his insights and about India and whatever he wanted to talk about. This book is a semi-autobiographical story of a man who escapes prison in Australia and escapes to Bombay and lives there for many years. First he sets up a clinic in the slums and then he works for the Bombay mafia and in the meantime, he just ha...more

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Jul 09, 2008

Cathy rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Cathy by: my sister and my friend Mona

I absolutely loved this book! I am surprised, because it's a bit different from what I usually read, and lately I haven't found many books that have been to my liking, but this one is probably one of my favorite books ever!

It's true that I was a bit annoyed at first, because Roberts uses very "flowery" language at times including lots of metaphores like: "My eyes were lost, swimming, floating free in the shimmering lagoon of her steady, even stare", "Her youn...more I absolutely loved this book! I am surprised, because it's a bit different from what I usually read, and lately I haven't found many books that have been to my liking, but this one is probably one of my favorite books ever!

It's true that I was a bit annoyed at first, because Roberts uses very "flowery" language at times including lots of metaphores like: "My eyes were lost, swimming, floating free in the shimmering lagoon of her steady, even stare", "Her young face,..., looked as if it had been carved in volcanic stone by the rush of a river", "Her eyes were the colour of amber, set in rose gold, ... , and the high curves of her cheekbones were the mountains from which her amber eyes studied the world." But, strangely enough I came to really like his descriptions. Yes, they're a bit over the top at times, but they never fail to get the message across and they're seldom used without a purpose.

It's also true that in parts, especially towards the latter half, the book is pretty violent. The main caharcter, Lin, works with the Bombay mafia and encounters many fights and murders, and Roberts doesn't shy away from very vivid descriptions of these events either. However, somehow, the focus is on the people, not the actions, and so as horrible as the events may be, they didn't bother me, because I was so focused on the characters.

At first I liked the book, but it was a bit slow. Around page 100 it really picks up speed and becomes very funny and I laugehd out loud many times. Roberts' love for India and it's people is so evident in this entire book and it made me feel good! He writes with so much affection and pokes fun at himself more than anyone, and I really enjoyed his wisdom - we westerners don't always know best and just because something is "wrong" to us, doesn't mean it's really wrong, just different!

Honestly - I'd recommend this book to just about anyone. It's a long read (over 1,000 pages) but I enjoyed every minute of it and I'm returning my library copy today and ordering myself my own copy online - I can't imagine not reading this book again!(less)

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Jan 26, 2008

Valerie rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

bookshelves: bio, fiction

Read in January, 2008

I'd written a lenghty, thoughtful review of this and many other books I read on vacation and lost it in a computer crash so, in trying to catch up, the best book I've read in ages is getting sadly shortchanged. This book was beyond fantastic. I am obsessed.

Yes, it's a little purple and the guy's theory-of-good-and-evil philosophy that I think is supposed to elevate it into the canon ain't all that. BUT, this book was written by an ex-mafia Australian prison escapee heroin addict philo...more

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Jan 12, 2008

Debra rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in February, 2008

This is one of those rare books that I couldn't put down at first and then WANTED to read slowly at the end because I so didn't want the pleasure of reading it--all 1000 pages of it--to cease. It's got the spiritual quest of The Razor's Edge; the redemptive beauty of The Kite Runner; the descriptive adventures of The Sorcerer's Apprentice; and the drugs, brutality, prostitution, and violence of The Godfather. While I might have enjoyed the time the narrator spent navel-gazing(and the resultin...more

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Oct 01, 2007

Lanai Bayne rated it:

(review of isbn 192076920X)

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: Everyone

Upon reading the below, opening paragraph of David Gregory Robert's Shantaram, I knew that the book I was holding in my hands was special. Maybe even special enough to change my life. After countless hours of laughing out loud, suspenseful moments and fighting back a few tears, I was right.

"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 ...more

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