I continuously hear good thing about "Shantaram", a largely autobiographical novel by Gregory David Roberts, so I just thought that I might drop by and ask for opinions about it :-)
On a tangent: I was browsing readers' comments on the Amazon.com website and I bumped into this sentence:
"Shantaram is one of those books that you wait to find for five years, even a decade. You know how it is. You read a really great book and, on coming to the end page, immediately want to find another book just as good to fill its place. So you go out looking for such a book, but cannot find it. You look for a week, then a month, then months turn to years, and finally,5 to 10 years later, you finally find a book that is a really great read."
While I don't know if the author's enthusiasm is fully justified, those words brought to mind a feeling that I have experience myself many times before.
Which novels did the same thing for you?
― spleen_till_eleuthera, Tuesday, 17 January 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)
two months pass...
G'day, My name is Chris and I am currently living in perth. I found a hard back copy of Shantaram at a second hand book store for only $4.99. That was about 2-3 weeks ago. I am not a reader as such I have only read maybe 3 or 4 books from cover to cover in my adult life and 2 of those books were written by Chopper Read. Well let me tell you I have just finished the book last night, in only 2 weeks, I could not put it down. Wow what a book! Totaly ingrossing and unputdownable, I would love to recommend this book to anybody out there especially if you are thinking about it. It covers everything from love to murder and thensome. Greg David Roberts is a genius in the way he explains everthing in layman terms if you like which for people like me is great. All in all what I'm trying to say is I don't read much even to the point where i can't stand books but this book has completely changed that. I loved this book and now find myself in bookstores all time searching for that new unreal story. If you get the chance read it. Thanks for listening take care and be safe, Chris.
― Christopher Peter Gooding, Thursday, 30 March 2006 03:41 (nineteen years ago)
five years pass...
I'm finding the book fascinating. Found it in a charity shop toward the end of last year started reading it on the coach home then lost it into the mess beside my bed. Have now refound it and find it difficult to put down.
I know I had it recommended some time ago, not sure by who. & now think it is pretty essential reading. Chris above gives one of the reasons in that explaining in layman's terms thing.
Writing can get pretty florid in places but in most places its really well written and compelling.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 4 February 2012 13:30 (thirteen years ago)
Having read all three of the glowing recommendations posted in this thread, I find I have absolutely no desire ever to read Shantarum, nor to seek it out, nor to even take the trouble to remember its title or author's name. It sounds suspiciously like it was written for the same audience as Dianetics.
― Aimless, Saturday, 4 February 2012 19:10 (thirteen years ago)