Shantaram (Library Edition)

Product Description [This is the MP3CD audiobook format in vinyl case.] *One of AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of 2007 * This mesmerizing first novel tells the epic journey of Lin, an escaped convict who flees maximum security prison in Australia to disappear into the underworld of contemporary Bombay, a hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, actors and exiles. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The keys to unlock the mysteries that bind Lin are held by two people: his mentor Khader Khan, mafia godfather and criminal-philosopher, and the beautiful, elusive Karla, whose passions are driven by dangerous secrets. Based on the life of the author, this extraordinary debut has the world of human experience in its reach. Review ''Shantaram is a novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art, a thing of exceptional beauty. If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, every thing in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond: He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world.''- Pat Conroy''Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-round performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of the likes of Henri Charrière, Rohinton Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full.'' - Moses Isegawa, author of Abyssinian Chronicles and Snakepit ''Shantaram is, quite simply, the 1001 Arabian Nights of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life. Anyone who walks away from Shantaram untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years.''- Jonathan Carroll, author of White Apples''Shantaram is dazzling. More importantly, it offers a lesson...that those we incarcerate are human beings. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Some of them, after all, may be exceptional. Some may even possess genius.'' --Ayelet Waldman, author of Murder Plays House''[A] sprawling, intelligent novel . . . full of vibrant characters . . . Bombay itself is Shantaram's strongest performance and Roberts' love of India and the people who live there is unmistakable and a joy to read about.'' --Washington Post ''Utterly unique, absolutely audacious, and wonderfully wild, Shantaram is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard.'' --Elle ''Shantaram had me hooked from the first sentence. It is thrilling, touching, frightening . . . a glorious wallow of a novel.'' --Detroit Free Press''Few stand out quite like Shantaram . . . nothing if not entertaining. Sometimes a big story is its own best reward.'' --New York Times ''[A] massive, thrillingly undomesticated potboiler . . . Roberts, who wrote the first drafts of the novel in prison, has poured everything he knows into this book and it shows. It has a heartfelt, cinemascope feel . . . A sensational read.'' --Publishers Weekly (starred review) ''Elegantly written, page-turning blockbuster . . . An extraordinarily rich scene . . . splendidly evoking an India few outsiders know.'' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)''Vivid, entertaining. Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly impresses.'' --USA Today ''Roberts