Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Has anyone on here read this? I decided to read it after I saw someone on Travel Board raving about it, which got my attention. I understand this book was like the hippie Bible back when it came out. For those who don’t know, it’s the story of a guy who escaped from Australian prison to Bombay India, and his subsequent involvement with Indian slums and the mob in Bombay. It’s a true story but I believe it was embellished. I think it has 1 season as an Apple TV show.

The Good:
The descriptions of India/1980s Bombay are really vivid. GDR made me feel like I was there and that the setting as also almost a character in the story. This especially goes for the depictions of slum life, prison life, city life and rural life. He did a really good job of making you feel like you were in that world.
GDR’s description of his time in Arthur Road Prison was really striking. The conditions were so appalling to read about but it kept me turning the pages.
I loved any time Prabaker appeared, that guy was an amazing character.

The Bad:
Sometimes the prose was great and sometimes it was horrible. I don’t need 5 pages of sappy flowering mystical bullshite to describe a person we’ve already met 10 times in the story.
The pseudo-spirituality bullshite. GDR’s character constantly has these “deep” conversations with people where he acts like it’s profound, but doesn’t actually say anything of substance. It gets old.
GDRs character is a miraculous action hero who always beats up and seriously injures his opponents with ease but never kills people because he’s a noble mafioso. It felt unrealistic and kind of silly.
The Afghan War section was interesting to read about, but probably wasn’t really needed. Also, when GDR comes home from Afghanistan, that would have been a great place to end it but we get like 150 more pages of random shite with all new characters we’ve never met.
The character of Karla just pissed me off. GDR’s weird infatuation with her with the above mentioned terrible prose, the mystery surrounding her and the fact that she can’t make up her damn mind on anything.

Overall, I thought it was decent, but if he had an editor to cut it down to like 700 pages it would have been an amazing book.