Book Review: Shantaram

Shantaram

by Gregory David Roberts

Reviewed by Sarah Grant

This story will stay with you!

Shantaram is an intricately woven masterpiece based on the life of the author after escaping an Australian prison in 1980. With nowhere safe to go, he eventually finds himself in India and this is where most of the story takes place. On the dirty, sordid, but often beautiful and so very human streets of Bombay, Greg finds himself immersed in a world of slum-dwellers who become like family, smugglers, gunrunners and counterfeiters who take him under their wing and the Bombay Mafia who become his safe haven.

A story of love, life, grief, battle, spiritualism and everything in between, set in what you will come to appreciate as one of the world’s most charismatic places. There are so many amazing and sometimes terrifying adventures to be had and you are along for the ride through it all. A thorough examination of the good and evil in all of us and what we will do to survive. I could not put this book down and spent many a sleepless night entranced by the world so magically created by the author.

Recommend it?

Yes absolutely! Don’t be daunted by the size of the book, you will become so immersed in the world within the story, the pages will fly by and you will finish desperate to visit again!

Rating

4.5 stars out of 5

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