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by Boomert - Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts 09 Jan 2010
With the grand sweep and scale of a Bollywood movie, Shantaram is unlike any other Australian novel for quite some time. It recounts the experiences of Lin, a loosely fictionalised character based on the author, the so-called Building Society Bandit who escaped from a Victorian maximum-security prison in 1980 and fled to India. Lin moves in different circles in steamy Bombay, from indolent expats on the run from reality to ever-smiling slum dwellers who cannot escape from their plight. His adventures take him to the homes of Bombay Mafioso, through the hellhole of the Colaba police station and into Afghanistan running guns to the mujaheddin. Although at times Roberts' text is over- written and his dialogue stilted, this is a rip-roaring read. At 933 pages the book stands out, but it is all the more remarkable because it is based on second-to-none, first-hand experience. Full of jailhouse philosophy, human frailty and resilience, Sufi wisdom and street-fighting tactics, Shantaram is by turns inspiring, hair raising and poignant. This warts-and-all Indian epic details the myriad struggles, triumphs, heartbreaks and joys of life on the subcontinent-- expect it to become a must-read for backpackers and long-haul airline passengers, as was The Beach.

C. 2003 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors

Author Biography: Gregory David Roberts
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