Shantaram Review

I have finished reading the novel Shantaram. I bought the book when my friend, Srinivas Reddy, told that the book was great and critically acclaimed.

Plot:

Gregory David Roberts is a armed robber who got penalised for 22 years. After bearing the torture for 2 years (by the guards in the Australian Prison) he escapes and lands in Mumbai in India, with a false passport. He renames himself as Lindsey (which the New Zealand) passport says. He befriends a local tourist guide named Prabaker. Prabaker takes him to his village and stays there for 6 months. Prabaker's mother renames him as Shantaram.

Once, he is back from the village he is robbed and he doesn't have anymore money which he brought with him and the one that he earned in India (through showing foreigners where to buy hashish, marizuana etc). As he can't stay in the hotel he stayed previously (because his visa expired and he doesn't have money to stay in a hotel), he stays in a slum (Zhopadpatti). He starts his own clinic to treat the locals.

Linbaba (which he is dearly called by his friends), then falls in the eye of Abdel Khader Khan (who is an Afghan and a mafia leader in Mumbai). He slowly turns out to be his pet. They share a father-son relationship. Abdel Khader Khan takes Lin to Afghanistan to fight against Mujahideens. In that war, Khader gets killed and Lin returns with 2 or 3 people to Mumbai. During his stay in Afghanistan, he finds that Karla (the woman whom he loved) recruited Lin to do the dirty work for Khader. He stops loving her after knowing that truth.

In the meanwhile, his friend Prabaker is killed in an accident. He thinks his mafia friend Abdullah Taheri is also killed. But, Abdullah returns after an year of hospitalization. In the end, Lin gets prepared to fight in Sri Lanka.

Pros:

1. The novel had a very good English, keeping in mind that it came from an ex-convict on run.

2. The author definitely loves India (and I being an Indian like it when a foreigner loves India)

3. It had all the ingredients of a good novel (love, hate, passion, struggle, war)

4. Couple of philosophical lines are extremely good:

1. All horse good, All men not good

2. The universe has to move forward. What all can make it go forward is good and what all

that stops it going forward is evil (there are many more like this)

Cons:

1. The novel is too lengthy

2. The author gets out of focus every once in a while. Satyajit Ray (Oscar winning director) says that there should be no scene in the movie which doesn't have any purpose to story telling. I feel that even novels have to follow this. Once in a while, going out of focus might be okay. But, every now and then the novel goes out of focus.

3. It looks as if he was trying to fill in the pages rather than real content going into them.

4. At certain times, you will little boring because the topic at hand is not dealt properly and goes way too much out of focus.

5. Except for few things, the author seems to lose his chronograph. Paanch Paapi movie was released in the year 1989. He says this has happened first. After that, he says Indira Gandhi was shot dead. This happened on 31st October, 1984. Where is the chronograph???!!!!

6. It's certainly not as gripping as Papillon. Papillon is about a guy who gets sentenced and tries to get out of jail for 7 times and then succeeds. The story telling was absolutely gripping and entertaining.

Rating:

2.5/5

Recommendation:

I would recommend this to people who are willing to spend lot of time to read the book to know about someone who is an ex-convict on run. Otherwise, don't bother to waste your time on this.