A book that is unputdownable and has blown my mind?
Without a second thought it would be- Gregory D Robert’s Shantaram. So what if this is nearly a 1000 page book? So what if it is too lengthy to finish? Once you start, you would not be able to put it down.
This is no ordinary book. This is just no telling a tale. This book is a saga of thrilling adventures of the author himself(as he would want us to believe) or the central character across countries and hearts of people. Shantaram- the book has all elements of thriller, romantic and tragedy. It gives the readers and out of the world experience. While you are going through it, you begin to live it and when it ends, it makes you want more.
It is written in that manner that the reader will be forced to think, rethink and change perspectives on life and many other things. It is like going into deep meditation- you wake up and realize that things have changes from within, transformation has taken place already.
The platform where this novel is woven up has to be Mumbai- the busiest city in India. The lead character escapes his native land from prison and lands here in Mumbai to pursue his life. There he makes friends, lovers and also foes as well. He is popularly called Linbaba by his close ones.
Prabhakar, the honest taxi driver and layman becomes his best friend and his heart falls for Karla, a German woman. It is on a tour to Prabhakar’s village he is offered the name Shantaram- which means the Man of peace.
India, especially the city of Mumbai offers him everything that he didn’t expect in his life. Most importantly, the city and life in India taught Shantaram that love and fate were something very intangible. He was enlightened as he was getting thrashed in the prison and was running amidst bullets in the vicious underworld fights. A man without a family or a permanent home- he consciously made some choices and the choices made him. Life of course took some dangerous turns and carried him to the whirlpool of events that shook up the entire philosophy he had acquired so far. From slums to five star hotels, from a cup of coffee to bullet wounds- this book is packed with action, romance, thrill and what not. Go for it!