Book Review: "Shantaram"

Has anyone else read this book? I really enjoyed it. It is a novel based on the life of its author, a guy called Gregory David Roberts, who escaped from a Melbourne jail, went to NZ, and then flew to India and made a life for himself in Bombay. He is a pretty smart guy and I think pretty charismatic, and he has had an amazing life filled with regrets and his attempts at redemption. In India, he firstly lived in a slum working as a "slum doctor" using his basic first aid training to (try) to treat rat bites, cholera, etc. He then goes through a lot of other crap which I wont go into as it would give the plot away. The main character, Lin, is based on the author. It is a really interesting as well as engaging read I found.

Other than the interesting story itself, the other thing that pulled me in with this book is some of the great characters, especially Prabaker the awesome tour guide who meets Lin when he first gets to Bombay. I laughed and cried my head off with this book and I've even joined an online forum (www.shantaram-forum.com) to chat about it more as it moved me quite a bit.

Some people may not like this novel as it is a thick, long book with a few rambling bits and a few (only a few) cheesy bits during a love scene and in relation to Lin's love interest. But overall I would recommend this book. It is going to be made into a movie I think, which may be a good or bad thing, with Johnny Depp playing Lin as far as I know.