» Shantaram: A Novel
Price: $8.57
Rating: 4.5 / 5.00 (276 reviews)
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Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Click to Buy
Rating: 4.5 / 5.00 (276 reviews)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Click to Buy
Shantaram: A Novel Details
Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780312330538
ISBN: 0312330537
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 944
Publication Date: 2005-10-01
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: 2005-09-29
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
Items related to Shantaram: A Novel
Shantaram: A Novel Reviews
Customer Rating:Summary: Wow!!
Comment: I absolutely loved this book. It tells the story of a man, who after his marriage falls apart turns to a life of drugs and crime only to end up in a New Zeland prison. After he escapes from the prison, he finds his way to India where he meets some extraordinary people, sets up a medical clinic in the slum where he lives, and eventually works for the mafia. The vast majority of the novel occurs in India, with the New Zealand history revealed in flashbacks. The characters are vivid, and you both love and hate the lead character. I got hooked on this book from the first sentence, and loved it until the end almost 1000 pages later.
Word is that Johnny Depp is planning on making this into a movie, but it's been delayed due to some other projects.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary novel
Comment: Roberts writes like a god; the story is autobiographical, philosophical. Beginning with an escape from prison, the saga takes one into modern day India and from thence to Afghanistan. Our hero describes the different lives he led with the delicacy of a surgeon and the spiritual evolvement of a highly-evolved soul. Falling in love at first sight, the hero is led into a byzantine mist of cultural contradictions, crime and war. The issue of moral proximity is examined from every angle. Roberts is candid about how he fell from grace and how, in the end he found release from the demons that possessed him. I could not put it down and the story haunts me still.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read
Comment: I started reading Shantaram without knowing exactly what to expect. Once I started, I literally could not put the book down. You really live through his stories. It is an unbelievable book that is without question the best book I've ever read. It is a great book for a long plane ride, as it is hard to put down.
Customer Rating:
Summary: See, smell, taste, explore Bombay
Comment: I loved the detailed feel of this book - it felt really authentic. I loved the character of Prabakar - he really made the book for me. I could hear his voice and see his head waggle as he talked.
Really an amazing story. I kept flipping to the back cover to read that this was based on his true experiences. It's really unbelievable at times!
Enjoyable read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Holy Cow!
Comment: This book is beyond belief great! You will feel that you got physically drop-kicked into Mumbai and at the same time feel very relieved that you actually weren't.
More Reviews for Shantaram: A Novel
Editorial Review for Shantaram: A Novel:
"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."
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. 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 guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
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. 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 guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
