It took the author 13 years to write this 900 page bestseller. An autobiographical book , it is packed with excitement - everything from prison drama to Bollywood acting
The main character, an Australian known by the name on his false passport as Lin, (Lindsay) is an escaped convict, who makes his way to India. This magnificently written book opens with its own review of the story. Author, Gregory Roberts writes, “Luck ran with me and flew with me across the world to India where I joined the Bombay mafia. I worked as a gunrunner, a smuggler and a counterfeiter.” Roberts goes on to say that he was jailed, beaten and shot at, but he survived.
So far you might think the only thing missing in Shantaram is the love interest, but then we meet the beautiful enigmatic Karla, from Basel, who journeys through the book in unexpected ways, keeping Lin going through the worst situations.
Early in the story, he meets Indian guide, Prabaker:
“My short name is Prabu. It’s meaning the Son of Light….Is good name, yes?”
“And your name, Mr Lindsay is really not so good………I don’t like this long and kind of a squeaky name, for India people speaking.”
After shortening his name to Lin, which “is a very good name” meaning penis, Prabu enthusiastically shows him all sides of the city, from a slave market, to Leopold’s Beer Bar. Prabu becomes Lin’s close friend and it is in Leopold’s that Lin meets some of the most important characters in the book including Didier Levy. Didier quietly drinks himself to oblivion each night but not before observing all that is happening in the bar. A bar that is full of foreigners trading everything imaginable.
Lin’s life hurtles through the pages as he moves from running a free health clinic in the slums, using his rudimentary first aid skills, to gunrunning for a unit of mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan. Along the way we read horrific accounts of torture and sadism in the Indian prison system. We meet Prabaker’s family in their remote village which is also touched by violence and tragedy. We are caught up in the hell of heroin addiction, and the mystery of evil Madame Zhou, and when we think it is all to much, we find light relief in the rescue of a loveable circus bear, and the glamour of Bollywood.
Life isn’t all bad for Lin, and Shantaram also shows his tenderness, generosity, and philosophical intelligence, offering an opportunity for the reader to ponder the true nature of right and wrong. We are left with the question: Does the end justify the means?
Note: Johnny Depp stars in Shantaram, due for release in 2008.
