Review of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

I recently wrote a review of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts here at zaadz. Not wanting to wax lyrical or be too overblown, for I am that and more in the review, I still can't help myself from recommending it to people as the best book I have read in years.

I should preface this with a disclaimer—I don't read a huge number of books, due to both business and extreme busy-ness, and these days I would rather be writing them than reading them—but Shantaram was the exception I willingly gave a week of my life to, and when I read it a second time, in alzheimers due course, will willingly give more.

I should also warn the prospective reader that it is a brutal, graphic novel, depicting torture and extreme violence, but in a way this is the inspirational part of Robert's tale, for his survival of quite remarkable circumstances to become an author, but courtesy of a quick Google image search, you'll see a man who was spiritually transformed—written not just on the pages of his book, but all over his face.

Read it if you are under the impression that the spiritual life is meant just for the faint heated.