Moreover, I just like reading longer books. It made me want to pack my bag and leave immediately to India, even after all I read about Mumbai. I have never been to India, however, I think that out of all books I have read that have been set in India, this is definitely the most beautiful one. I think this book paints a very alluring picture of Bombay (official name of Mumbai until 1995), even if it also describes for example Bombay’s crime, drugs, mafia, slums and prisons. Of course, you soon get that not everything could have happened but as the author has said in numerous parts that some parts are true and other parts he has invented. First time reading this it seemed to me that this was a memoir rather than a novel.

Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.” “Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. To summarize, it’s very long book and and the plot is very rich. He also falls in love and becomes a slum doctor and also ends up in Afghanistan in the middle of war. Later on, Lin finds a profound inner peace and he is given a name ‘Shantaram’ – a man of peace. He puts his faith in local guide Prabaker and later becomes a good friend of his. Soon, Linbaba or “Lin” arrives in Bombay. “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.” Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict escapes from Pentridge Prison flees to India. Some things are so sad that only your soul can do the crying for them.” Some truths are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. “Some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again.

Shantaram goodreads