Sign in with FacebookJen Padgett Bohle's Reviews > Shantaram
Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts
by Gregory David Roberts
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 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.
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.
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this review is spot on! my only disagreement is that i don't think shantaram is worth 3 stars - i gave it 2 on the entertainment value alone. the storytelling is totally shallow and the main character is utterly annoying and full of himself! also, he really should have hired an editor... 930 pages is unacceptable.
I found the nuggets tiresome after awhile too. They became both repetitive and at times contradictory to ones previously stated. I honestly was having a hard time of believing how much damage Linbaba did to himself or suffered by others. But overall I enjoy it and took one solid lesson away "power in the ability to say no "or "yes" if you are Carla.
It's interesting, I hadn't thought of the book as being pseudo-philosophical until I read some of the reviews here. I just saw it as a good adventure. It's not like it's trying to be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence. Come for the adventure, don't stay for the philosophy - as the review above suggests.
I'm so glad I found this site with these reviews. I was starting to loose faith in the mankind's ability to see through the bullshit. Having traveled in India for a number of years, people kept telling me I had to read Shantaram and it was the best book they had ever read. All I can say is I agree with Jen's review, and also with the other person that said was it even worth 3 stars.
http://www.shantaram.com/All the sources (granted they were from the internet and nothing some quick googling couldn't find)I've checked indicate that he escaped from a prison in New Zealand.
I'm really argumentative (baaad trait of mine)and get all defensive easily, but when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Plus, it's difficult to tell someone's intentions without tone of voice and all that nuanced verbal communications stuff --- but it's all good. I should've looked at more than one line in a couple of sources (poached from each other no doubt)and read further.
I wrote a review before i read this...while your review is far more eloquent and well written im glad we have similar opinions cos i thought i was the only one who didnt get the hype :)
I fully agree with your review as well. Although I did come across quite a few interesting ideas in the book, and I appreciate G.D. Roberts' writing style in general, I mostly feel as if the book lacked a proper editor who could get rid of repetition and bring in some structure to give the story more of a natural flow.
I'm on the other side in this. I'm enjoying the reading, writing, descriptions and ideas. Only one-third through, so maybe I'm not qualified to judge yet.
I couldn't agree more with every word you said. There were so many painfully corny dialogues and literally hundreds of pages that could have been exorcised from the content and possibly helped better direct the story. Not sure how this became an "International Best Seller". I was unimpressed.
True.Great read. But self-obsessed and the 'poetic' impressions on karla were more embarrasing than anything else.
This very much describes my experience with the book. I would add that I also liked Didier, perhaps because Lin never really spent time over-analyzing him and his motives (I'm not quite at the end yet, though; maybe that's yet to come).
I liked your review and agreed with all your comments and observations (Prabaker absolutely the best character). Despite all it's flaws and inconsistencies, I still enjoyed Shantaram as a (morally ambiguous) rollicking good adventure yarn! (I couldn't stand Karla or Lisa or Ulla..... In fact, none of the women felt 'real').
I like this review... It does a good job at capturing my thoughts on this book,especially the part above. After he died, so did the rest of the story.