Oh boy.......I did not anticipate taking such a long break from the books!
But hopefully now that summer is upon us and the hours of daylight are extended, I'll be able to get back on track!
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Book Description: "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.
Sitting down to write out my thoughts about Shantaram has made me realize that I have a love/hate relationship with this book. It took me through a whole slew of emotions ranging from giggling at the ridiculous behavior of Prabaker to quiet crying at the fate of some of the men in the mountains of Afghanistan. Unfortunately the further away from having read the book, the more I seem to dislike the story even though as a whole, I enjoyed the book. Confused yet?
My first reaction when asked what I thought about the book is that it was long. Really, really long. When the description of this books reads "So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay." they were not kidding. In all honesty I felt like this title was too long. At 900+ pages, there were times where I felt like I was reading on auto-pilot and didn't really retain much of what I had just read. Part of me feels like it would have been better served had it been broken up in to two books so we could really digest what we were reading.
To keep this review from following in the same footsteps of being epic, I'm going to stick with bullet points:
- The style of writing was a bit "odd" in my book. Most of it felt like we were reading the heros journal, which would have been a brilliant way to tell this story but there were times where it felt like the author tried too hard to be lyrical (especially during the intimate scenes between the characters) and it just didn't flow.
- The star of the book was India herself. The way the author wrote about the country and her cities made it feel like she was a living, breathing soul.
- The characters of this book were just slightly eccentric enough to make you believe you were reading an autobiography. While the book was "based" on Roberts life, there were times it felt almost too real which for me is the sign of a great storyteller.
- The number of characters was a little ridiculous. I just don't feel like we needed to be introduced to every single person he encountered, especially when they weren't all needed to work with the flow of the story.
I think my biggest "issue" with this book was my own inflated expectation of what I would get from having read it. It had been on my "to read" list for a very long time and came highly recommended by a friend whose opinion on books I value immensely I wanted to feel different for having read it. I wanted to feel changed. Neither of those things happened and it was obviously, disappointing. Plus, it is not a book I could recommend to just anyone to read. It got to be pretty heavy at time, tedious even, but worth the challenge if you are up to it.
