Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

Recommended by a number of people on my Central Asia trip last year, I finally managed to get my teeth into this 900 page monster… and flew through it. It’s an epic story, with plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll, Mumbai-style, based on the author’s eight years there.

Through Gregory David Roberts’ eyes we see daily life in the slum where he lives, the criminal underworld he joins and the melting pot of nationalities that comprise Mumbai and their involvement in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

But it’s also the story of one, fallible, man’s journey to redemption, and the part that man’s love for fellow man plays in that.

Amazon.co.uk link: Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
Wikipedia link: Shantaram (novel)