An undeniable modern classic, Roberts' powerful autobiographical novel follows his incredible journey as a fugitive from an Australian prison as he makes his way to Mumbai slums, Bollywood and Afghanistan.
A novel of high adventure, great storytelling and moral purpose, based on an extraordinary true story of eight years in the Bombay underworld.
'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
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349117546
Number of pages: 944
Weight: 643 g
Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 44 mm
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
I was given this book to read by a colleague.
WOW!!! What am amazing book and an amazing journey.
Shantaram whisks you into a different world, a world of homour and poverty, where people appear to be happy with their...
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Just loved this book, what an amazing life the author has had. His descriptions made me feel I was actually in Bombay, I could hear the sounds, see the sights and smell the aromas of life in Bombay. He has a wonderful... More
Fantastic book, had seen this a few times before finally getting round to buying it. What a long book but what a ride! Page turner, invokes so many emotions...been to India many times, haven't read a more... More
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