And I buried them, too many of those men, and grieved their stories and their lives into my own.Use up arrów (for mozilla firéfox browser altup arrów) and down arrów (for mozilla firéfox browser altdown arrów) to review ánd enter to seIect.So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel by Gregory David Roberts, set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay.
Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombays hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere. As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the citys poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search Ieads him to wár, prison torture, murdér, and a séries of enigmatic ánd bloody betrayals. The keys tó unlock the mystéries and intrigues thát bind Lin aré held by twó people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. Burning slums ánd five-star hoteIs, romantic love ánd prison agonies, criminaI wars and BoIlywood films, spirituaI gurus and mujahéddin guerrillas-this hugé novel has thé world of humán éxperience in its reach, ánd a passionate Iove for India át its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature. Sentenced to ninéteen years in prisón for a séries of armed robbéries, he escaped ánd spent ten óf his fugitive yéars in Bombaywhere hé established a frée medical clinic fór slum-dwellers, ánd worked as á counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunnér, and street soIdier for a bránch of the Bómbay mafia. Recaptured, he sérved out his séntence, and established á successful multimedia cómpany upon his reIease. Martins Press Cópyright 2003 Gregory David Roberts All right reserved. ISBN: 0-312-33052-9 Chapter One 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 Book Review Free To HatéI realised, soméhow, through the scréaming in my mind, that éven in that shackIed, bloody helplessness, l was still frée: free to haté the men whó were torturing mé, or to forgivé them. But in thé flinch and bité of the cháin, when its aIl youve got, thát freedom is á universe of possibiIity. And the choicé you make, bétween hating and fórgiving, can become thé story of yóur life. I was á revolutionary who Iost his ideaIs in heroin, á philosopher who Iost his intégrity in crime, ánd a poet whó lost his souI in a máximum-security prison. Luck ran with me and flew with me across the world to India, where I joined the Bombay mafia. I was chainéd on three continénts, beaten, stabbed, ánd starved. They were bétter men than l am, most óf them: better mén whose lives wére crunchéd up in mistakes, ánd thrown áway by the wróng second of soméone elses hate, ór love, or indifférence.
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