Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Author : Gregory David Roberts
Title : Shantaram
Published : 2003
Publisher : Abacus
Pages : 944
Genre : Contemporary Fiction

     So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay'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. 

      Shantaram Is not a book you can take on lightly. When it was suggested to me that I might enjoy it I had no idea as to just how damn long it was. Only when it came thumping through my letterbox did I really give it any thought. I realize I could have easily seen how many pages it was on the order page but hey hoe. This is defiantly a book of many different ideas and the line between fact and fiction is so blurred that there would seem little point in trying to do so. What Robert's delivered to me is the type of long epic sager that doesn't come around to me to often. In part, this is down to the sheer length of the book. Normal I can get through a story in a couple of days. Shantaram, on the other hand, has taken me the best part of a week to get through. 

     The hero of the book felt to me so real and fleshed out. Maybe this is down to the fact there is so much page time devoted no only to who he was but also who he becomes throughout the course of the book. It is a tale of not only what t takes to truly run from everything you have ever known. But it also felt to me like he was in some small way trying to find redemption for his past actions and to be fair some of his present ones. He knows deep down that he will never be the guy who works nine to five and goes to church on Sunday. I guess in some ways he has his own set of rules for living and he tries to do the best by those that come into his life. It strikes me that if you become Lin's friend he will go to the end of the world to help you out. He will take the punishment when things go wrong. To me at least he is an honorable man, you know in his own way.

     This is such an epic book that trying to cover even a small part within this review is a Challenger. But I will try my best, I think it deserves it. For me, despite its length, the further in I got the more I could not put it down. The struggles of this one man have gotten completely under my skin. The author has done the wounder thing of creating a character that I have come to care for on a very deep level. In part, this is down to having such a fully-formed person. But I also think that it comes from the world he has created or rather borrowed from. I got to witness the lush and humid turmoil of Bombay with sounds so deferring and the smells of spices blending blended into a million different combinations. But we also get thrown into the snowy mountains and back down into the vast fields countryside. Therefore, for me there is an urgency that runs through this book, a beat of a drum that kept me and our hero going onwards. 

     When setting out on this journey with the author I was expecting something dark and brutal. A story of a criminal doing whatever he can to survive and not let his past catch up with him. And yes we do get that. At the time it is a hard thing to read another beating or being on the wrong end of someone's anger. But for me, this while it serving its purpose in telling us how hard the life of a criminal can be is not my take away. This is a story of friendship, of looking out for each other come what may. And through these moments I got to witness some real joy in a world trying to push or heroes down. There were times when I truly laughed out loud. I liked that in some part his was down to cultures coming head to head. But it was never played out at the expense of the other. This was written by a man who truly loves India and all it has to offer. It for me is so much more than the story one man's journey. It is also a snapshot of India in the eighties. 

     With the evening starting to become longer it is for me a time to go for the longer reads. With this one, I feel I have done good. There was such a great deal to enjoy about this book. At such a great length it is fair to say it is not perfect the whole way through. There are moments that slow down or the narrative would skip and I would have to try and put the pieces together. And some parts felt completely irrelevant to what I had just been reading. But in part this is life, we have times like this and it goes to build the full picture of our hero. This is a book about hardships and friendships. Of people trying to do the best they can with the hand, they were dealt with. It is also a book of so many Laughs more than I ever thought there would be. And some times a bear hug can go a very different way to what you think.