Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts (4)
‘Shantaram’
is said to be a fiction version of the author’s life. This book is remarkable
due to the multitude of dramatic events in the book, and thus, in his life. The
protagonist, Lin, is an Australian man who does drugs, gets put in jail for
armed robbery, escapes from jail, flees to India, starts a medical clinic in a
slum, works for a branch of the Bombay mafia and eventually travels to
Afghanistan to support his mentor’s personal war (and that is just a sample of
the crazy events in his life). The novel mainly covers his time in Bombay,
which in itself is quite extraordinary. At nearly 1000 pages, the drama in
Lin’s life is constant. Most impressive
was Mr. Robert’s ability to take some of the most horrible conditions of poverty
in a slum and allow the reader to see the grace and charm. This book has many
lyrical passages and scenes of beauty amongst bad people and terrible
circumstances. Interestingly, I believe the strength of this book come from the
real characters and events. Often the author’s writing style got in the
way, but the drama was strong enough to break through the sometimes-awkward
prose.
No comments:
Post a Comment