Shantaram

“every human heart beat is a universe of possibilities.”

This is inspired storytelling by someone who values words, voices and experiences; the stuff that goes in making our lives cherishable. The narrative voice is reliable and the style original.
Thoroughly vivid and profound in parts, the story takes on hell of a journey, and I have to say that I find candid honesty in the voice as far as portrayal of India; the life in places, the values of people, strands of cultural fabric, if you will, human first, then Indian, Afghan, European or Australian, is concerned.
A page-turner as it is, the text renders equal justice in character build-up and the way the city breathes through the pages, you end up giving the author credit for seeing with a keen eye. I had to, initially, placate a concerned reader's voice inside me as to where it is going and the almost impossible gestural magnanimity being projected and displayed towards most things, most characters that the narrator ends up bumping in. But as the world of Lin opens up through the crevices of a city's underbelly as well as the whiff of its island-beauty, you find yourself excitedly taking a stroll with the characters. Eventually, it turns into an infectious and irresistible tale you don't want to take your mind's eyes off.
Having learned that the book is a part of a planned quartet, I would look forward to another book by Gregory Roberts. On of the many reasons why I liked the book is that irrespective of an overtly conscious effort to build upon literary styles much dominated by fashion, the tale unfolds and embraces without inhibitions. The reader starts, breathes and walks, takes a plunge, and is back. Home; enriched with words from some world.