Recommend: Yes.
A sprawling epic of 900 pages that is based, incredibly, on a true story of a criminal escaping an Australian jail and ending up in Bombay.
I knew nothing about this book going in other than it was a strong recommendation from a person I know through work. I would have never picked it up for myself, due to the ‘true story’ categorisation and for fear of its hefty girth, which is the perfect type of recommendation.
Having finally completed the book over a duration of six months, I second this as a recommendation.
The story is outrageous. The pacing is close to perfection – a feat for a book of this length. The writing style can get a little purple prose in places but it would only be for a page or two every hundred pages. There are some pretty funny sections too. A real success of a book.
It’s very much a book that can be read for a few chapters and put down again. There’s so much to get out of it at every point.
I finished it while travelling in South East Asia. As stressful as that can be, Shantaram did serve as a helpful reminder that at least I am not being subjected to the chaos of India.
[Brevity of review due to holiday in SEA]
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