An Odyssey of Crime, Misery, Love and Compassion

What a ride, this is one of the most remarkable books I read lately.

First of all, Humphrey Bower does an incredible job in narrating this story. I do not know, how he does it, but the story gets so much more alive with his perfect replication of the different dialects in India, it is an outstanding achievement. He is not overdoing it, he just gives it the slight touch to make it recognizable.

The story is an incredible odyssey of modern times. Lin, the narrator, escapes from a prison in Australia and finds refuge in a slum in Mumbai. He learns to adapt to the new and unusual environment and earns the respect and friendship of the other slum dwellers. After a while his unusual situation gets the attention of the local Mafia and very soon he works his way into the inner core of the crime syndicate in Mumbai.

This sounds like the setup for an exciting thriller, but it is not that. It is a story about love and friendship, suffering and compassion and finally the meaning of life.

The story offers a lot of insight into everyday life in India, the blend of different cultures, the conflicts, the clash of extreme poverty with the carefree life of the wealthy and rich. Sometimes the story creates the impression of beautifying the squalor in the slums a little bit too much, but overall it sounds accurate and true.

Gregory David Roberts created a wonderful saga and shared a lot of insight and wisdom with his readers. The deep love for humans, he reveals in every little detail of the story resonates very strongly with me. Although sometimes he overdid it a little bit with having all the answers and while most of what he said, sounds true and valuable, it turned the story into the reflections of a Guru now and then. Other readers might see this differently, but this is the reason, why I could not give him the full 5 stars.

3 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Genial!

Es gibt einfach Bücher die man gelesen haben muss, Shantaram ist eines davon!
Wer mehr über den Inhalt wissen will, es ist ein Buch über Abenteuer, über Indien, über Mafia, aber allem voran über die Liebe in allen Formen.
Ich kann es wirklich jedem empfehlen, für mich waren die 45 Stunden nie langweilig, ganz im Gegenteil, es hätte mehr sein können! ;o)

2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Fantastic piece of Art XD

Was hat Ihnen am allerbesten an Shantaram gefallen?

The philosophy in between

Welcher Moment von Shantaram ist Ihnen besonders im Gedächtnis geblieben?

Prison time, celebration in the slum !

Hat Ihnen Humphrey Bower an der Geschichte etwas vermittelt, was Sie vielleicht beim Selberlesen gar nicht bemerkt hätten?

Love ...

Wenn Sie dieses Hörbuch verfilmen könnten wie würde der Slogan dazu lauten?

A western Stone in the heart of India

Was wäre für andere Hörer sonst noch hilfreich zu wissen, um das Hörbuch richtig einschätzen zu können?

You will be thinking, laughing and then sudden to crying ...
It's a very nice piece of Art!
It shows the worth of little pieces in this cruel wold we all live in ...

Thanks for this nice escape... Once in a while XD

2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW !!!

Was hat Ihnen das Hörerlebnis von Shantaram besonders unterhaltsam gemacht?

Dieser Specher ist unvergleichbar ! Er schafft es jeder Person in diesem Hörbuch einen bestimmeten unverwechselbaren Charakter zu geben. Der mit Abstand beste Hörbuchsprecher den ich je gehört habe. Zum Buch: Unvergleichbar, Spannend, Tragisch Lustig. Einfach Phenomenal.

1 Person fand das hilfreich

Bester Sprecher

Das Buch wurde vom besten Sprecher, den ich jemals bei einem Hörbuch gehört habe, vorgelesen!

1 Person fand das hilfreich

Great story performed magnificently

I wasn't so sure to start such a long book but after some friends recommended it to me I took the plunge and boy I'm happy I did. The story grabs you from the first chapter and never let's go, it made me laugh out loud, anger and cry with the author. Humphrey Bower's performance is out of this world, he gives every character life in such a unique way that you can see them, feel them and almost have them standing right there in front of you white they talk. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes adventure novels.

A masterpiece!

A masterpiece! A long book, hard to put down (or turn off, for this matter)!

Incredible

It's been a long time since I've been this emotionally invested in a book!

One of the best audio books I ever listened to

The beautiful and honest writing made me commit to the story and feel with the characters as they evolved. There was no boring part and I could go on listening for hours.

Utterly boring and way too long

The entire story could easily be told in a few sentences. I did the mistake to finish this audio book, which was only bearable by fast forwarding through the chapters. Now I regret having wasted so many hours of my time, hoping the story will become somewhat interesting eventually. It won't. Absolutely not worth listening in my view