Reoprt - Book Report/Review Example

He became a bandit, to finance his increasing drug addiction and was convicted, spending over 19 years in prison. In July 1980, Roberts escaped from the Pentridge Prison in broad daylight, fleeing to India. The entire novel revolves around the fascinating, tumultuous and incredible journey of life from the time he entered the city of Bombay (Mumbai). Roberts is human and flawed. We are told of his escapades on the jacket of the book about his past as an armed robber and prisoner, gun-runner, improvised doctor, and drug dealer.

His journey in life was entwined with characters like Prabakar, Karla, Abdullah, Didler, Khaderbhai, Qasim Ali and peppered with a myriad of local experiences such as love, loss, brutality, drama, honesty, turmoil, action, serendipity, loathing, betrayal, suffering and finally hope is what you can bargain for in this exhaustive, exhilarating encounter with our author- protagonist Shantaram. Describing himself in his own words Shantaram states -“I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum security prison.

”(Roberts, 2003) ‘Shantaram’ is based on the true-life incidents of the Australian author Gregory David Roberts. . While returning from the village back to Mumbai, misfortune dawns on them and all of Lin’s belongings are stolen. Having no other choice he decides to dwell in the slums which gave him shelter from the authorities since he was a convict. The day he arrived in the slums, a fire broke out and he helps all of them to cope with the tragic situation. This experience served to help him learn all about the local customs and cultures amidst chaos.

He learned how to resolve ethnic and marital conflicts amidst catastrophe and how to speak the language of the locals (Marathi), amidst the most disastrous outbreaks of firestorms and calamitous outbursts of cholera. Lin is put in the most radically different settings from what he had known and the culture that he was brought up with, but yet he finds a thread of similarity between him and the locals. He seemed to want to purify himself after all his wrong doings, by helping these people in whatever way he could “Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.

Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.”(Roberts, 2003) Lin floats into love with Karla, a Swiss-American woman who is mysterious in her ways and who is also steeped in deep turmoil. The following lines show us just how badly she is betrayed by life and now is in search of peace. Describing her situation she says- "The world and I are not on speaking terms," Karla said to me once in those early months. "The world keeps trying to win me back," she said, "but it doesn't work. I guess, I'm just not the forgiving type.

"(Roberts, 2003) It seems that Lindsay is drawn towards this woman as he sees himself in her. He too cannot imagine that his life has turned out to be what he has always loathed and he has become someone that