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Shantaram

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Shantaram is a riveting novel inspired by the extraordinary life of Gregory David Roberts. Fleeing imprisonment in Australia, Roberts finds refuge in the bustling slums of Bombay, where he embarks on a gripping journey filled with daring exploits. From establishing a free health clinic to navigating the underworld of the Bombay mafia and acting in Bollywood films, his tale weaves thrilling adventure with profound reflections on good and evil.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is well suited for readers interested in intense, character-driven narratives that explore themes of redemption, morality, and the complexity of human nature, especially those drawn to stories set in vibrant, culturally rich environments.

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Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Shantaram is a novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts. In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to nineteen years imprisonment as punishment for a series of robberies of building-society branches, credit unions, and shops he had committed while addicted to heroin. In July 1980, he escaped from Victoria's maximum-security prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia's most wanted men for what turned out to be the next ten years.

For most of this period, he lived in Bombay. He set up a free health clinic in the slums, acted in Bollywood movies, and worked for the Bombay mafia as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler. As a gun-runner, he resupplied a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. This is the setting of Shantaram.

Apart from having this highly unusual personal background, Greg Roberts is a very gifted writer. His book is a blend of vivid dialogue, unforgettable characters, amazing adventures, and superb evocations of Indian life. It can be read as a vast, extended thriller, as well as a superbly written meditation on the nature of good and evil.

It is a compelling tale of a hunted man who had lost everything—his home, his family, and his soul—and came to find his humanity while living at the wildest edge of experience.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781742611075

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 November 2011

Country: Australia

Imprint: Picador Australia

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 63.0mm

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 211.0mm

Weight: 787g

Pages: 944

About the Author

Gregory David Roberts is now a full-time writer, film producer, and international public speaker. In Bombay he has established a charitable trust to care for the poorest of the poor slum-dwellers. He divides his time between Geneva and Bombay.

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    The author of the international bestseller Shantaram takes us on a gripping personal journey of wonder and insight into science, belief, faith, and devotion. Drawing on sacred traditions, rigorous logic, and the six-year instruction of his spiritual teacher, Roberts describes the step-by-step process he followed in search of spiritual connection—a process that anyone, of any belief or none, can benefit...
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    '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 novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts....
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