I took up reading Shantaram, when a friend recommended it to me...Shantaram talks about freedom - the freedom to think, the freedom to believe, the freedom to trust and the freedom to love.
Its about the dark side of life - the hard truths of surviving in the financial capital of India- Mumbai.
The characters in this book are real and so is the plot. It contains the author’s real-life experience in the Arthur Road prison and his experience in the Mumbai underworld.
Teh broad theme of this book is dark - a darkness comparable to that found in Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) - but with a difference. Oryx and Crake was fantasy - fantastical darkness, like that induced by certain intoxicants. Shantaram, on the other hand, is REAL- the real description of the conversion of Lin- to Linbaba- to Shantaram...
Ths book is a must read- especially if u have liked Oryx and Crake