Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Wow!!

Customer Rating:

I absolutely loved this book. It tells the story of a man, who after his marriage falls apart turns to a life of drugs and crime only to end up in a New Zeland prison. After he escapes from the prison, he finds his way to India where he meets some extraordinary people, sets up a medical clinic in the slum where he lives, and eventually works for the mafia. The vast majority of the novel occurs in India, with the New Zealand history revealed in flashbacks. The characters are vivid, and you both love and hate the lead character. I got hooked on this book from the first sentence, and loved it until the end almost 1000 pages later. Word is that Johnny Depp is planning on making this into a movie, but it's been delayed due to some other projects.

Extraordinary novel

Customer Rating:

Roberts writes like a god; the story is autobiographical, philosophical. Beginning with an escape from prison, the saga takes one into modern day India and from thence to Afghanistan. Our hero describes the different lives he led with the delicacy of a surgeon and the spiritual evolvement of a highly-evolved soul. Falling in love at first sight, the hero is led into a byzantine mist of cultural contradictions, crime and war. The issue of moral proximity is examined from every angle. Roberts is candid about how he fell from grace and how, in the end he found release from the demons that possessed him. I could not put it down and the story haunts me still.

The best book I've ever read	Customer Rating:
I started reading Shantaram without knowing exactly what to expect. Once I started, I literally could not put the book down. You really live through his stories. It is an unbelievable book that is without question the best book I've ever read. It is a great book for a long plane ride, as it is hard to put down.

See, smell, taste, explore Bombay	Customer Rating:
I loved the detailed feel of this book - it felt really authentic. I loved the character of Prabakar - he really made the book for me. I could hear his voice and see his head waggle as he talked. Really an amazing story. I kept flipping to the back cover to read that this was based on his true experiences. It's really unbelievable at times! Enjoyable read.

Holy Cow!	Customer Rating:
This book is beyond belief great! You will feel that you got physically drop-kicked into Mumbai and at the same time feel very relieved that you actually weren't.