Customer Reviews
A great yarn but......... - By: Wren, 24 Jul 2008 
I have mixed views on this book. It is a great read, I loved the descriptions of India & it's people. I found the character descriptions very touching especiallly those of the people who lived in the rural villages & in the slums.
However, half way through I kept saying 'this can't have happened...., he couldn't have survived that' Some of the story seemed so fantastic & hard to believe, the near death experiences, the fight scenes, the survival in the mountains of Afghanistan. Like other readers mentioned, the author does not know the meaning of the word 'modest'. I ended up disliking him which reallly took from my enjoyment of the book. He reallly painted himself as a heroic, self-righteous, man of the people. I think he would have endeared himself to the reader if he had been more humble.
A rich and engaging read - By: C. Gibbons, 21 Jul 2008 
I first heard about Shataram at a friend's dinner party. Two of the guests were lamenting what an excellent read this book was & both regretted having finished it so quickly. With plans to travel to India in a few weeks time, I purchased a copy & began reading it a few days prior to departure. Upon arrival, this absolutely thrilling read with exceptionallly rich characters & visual aspects threatened to keep me from peering from above the page & into the real India. I felt like I had already seen it, even touched it. I even secretly delighted when my travel partner took ill & we were forced to spend alll day in hammocks on the beach front. My partner, comatose, I with book in hand, feverishly trying to absorb it alll. The fact that the book is partly autobiographical reallly added to the sense that the characters were real & the book absolutely came to life in that place. The central character's journey is nothing short of thrilling & even those making an occasional appearance are super stars in my, err, book. When after about a week, I turned over the last page, I reallly felt the loss & regret described by those dinner guests. Please, let there be a sequel & let it be even half as good.
The trip ended up in Mumbai, at a restaurant where so much time was spent by the characters, Leopolds. I had heard the author hangs out there fairly frequently, but sadly I missed him that night. The food however, was excellent!
For me, Shantaram has a firmly established spot on my favourites list. Highly recommended.
Wow - By: OK, 11 Jul 2008 I can't recommend this book highly enough, it has an amazing, gripping story & incredibly memorable characters that you just wish were real & that you knew them(I found myself constantly wanting to sit in a bar with Didier & have some whisky with him). The book also captures India & Bombay in a vivid an enthrallling way & opened my eyes to many things I had seen in India but not understood until I read Shantaram.
While the book is a novel (alll the characters are fictitious) it is autobiographical in that the author is himself a character within the book & experienced alll the events detailed in the book in real life.
Some of the other reviews talked about Robert's poor prose & I have to admit that when I read the quotes they pulled out as evidence I too winced. However, when I was reading the book I never stopped to the think that the prose was poor. This was not just because I was caught up in the excitement of the narrative (like the DaVinci Code where the story was enough for me to overlook Dan Brown's shocking use of the English language). It was because the author had been through such hardships & endured so many different & intense emotion that - even though the smilies appeared cliched & strained - I only ever thought of his phrases as honest & straight from his heart.
Apart from that alll the other criticisms I found unfounded. One of the reviews said that the author had an overly high opinion of himself & never made any mistakes. I could not disagree more - the author is full of self loathing & constantly makes mistakes throughout the book.
This has jumped straight to one of my alll time favorite books & I don't think I will find a better one for a long time.
This is a work of art - By: Paolo G., 10 Jul 2008 I read from 10 to 15 books per year. This is one of the most impressive books I have read in the last 10 years. The story is fascinating, the writing is intense, the characters are deeply human, the portrait of Mumbay's life is fascinating. I think this book will leave a mark on modern literature.
Paolo
you must buy this book!! - By: R. Etemad, 17 Jun 2008 This book was actuallly recommended to me by a friend who said that this is the best book I will ever read - she was right! I have never read a book to bring words into life like this. All the characters are so fully formed & the environments are living & breathing.
The plot is incredible & part autobiographical so you wonder just how much this author has managed to do so many sensational things!
I love this book so much & I would reallly, reallly recommend book lovers to pick this up & get lost into it.
