Book Review: Shantaram

This may end up being the only post with a one worded title, and I think that it may be one of the only books that I read that requires one.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is widely renowned for being an epic, life-changing novel. Whilst reading I could hardly believe that the events in this book were in fact real and that the author had been honest and decent enough not to split them up into separate money making adventures. He could quite easily have made a whole franchise out of the main events in his life, but certainly this would not have captured the essence of his journey.

This brick of words begins with Roberts' arrival in then Bombay, and the introduction of honest, loyal Prabaker. Each of the people met and described seems to be perfectly suited to their moment, fulfilling unique and distinct roles in the testing of Roberts' morality, conscience and sometimes very being. Perhaps we as the reader are supposed to understand these qualities in terms of the author so that we can judge him, and perhaps that is exactly what he wants and therefore how he portrays them. Prabaker is the innocence and honesty Roberts craves. Karla is the love he desires and the distance he feels he should have from it. Living in the slum means that he cannot feel guilty for escaping prison, and opening the clinic provides a platform for redemption. The mafia is the gang he feels happiest in as he can be punished by telling himself that this is who he is and where he truly belongs and Khaderbhai is the father he longed for and the figure onto whom he can offload responsibility. Perhaps this is just my understanding of Roberts' journey, but I feel that we as the reader were meant to be a part of Roberts' process of self-exploration and ultimately forgiveness and this is why we are made to feel the way we do.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that this book is way beyond a critique or a judgement, especially mine. This is more than a novel or a memoir or a journal. This is literally a man's hopes, fears and life laid bare on paper. My copy of Shantaram certainly looks like it has been through Roberts' journey with him (it was so long that it took me a long time and a lot of mileage to read), but we must not forget the physical challenges that this book has endured as well as the author's own. I have no idea how it has emerged structured and flowing after supposedly being stolen and destroyed three times during the writing process, but this certainly helps to explain the thought and emotion that is clearly coherent throughout. With this much time, pain, adventure and emotional turmoil, there is more thought provoking material than most accomplished writers could ever hope to capture in one novel, yet this strangely poetic and charismatic criminal has won the hearts of millions.

But the main point must not be forgotten. Or the main point in my opinion anyway. For me this book seemed to cry out for approval. It implored me to see Roberts' flaws and his openness in admitting them yet forgive them. Every bone in my body, and indeed most people's, would instinctively judge this man a criminal, a drug addict and as violent. This is after all what he is, however much he tries to redeem himself by admitting it. And here I suppose is where I get stuck. I want to forgive him, and I want to feel sorry for him, yet the second half of the novel makes me do the opposite even though I can see his humanity and empathise with his pain. Perhaps this is what he wants?

It's YurtTastic!

It's true, I do heart Yurt. Yurt is Yurtilicious. It's Yurtastic. It's Yurtingly, Yurtotally Yurt. Ahhh Yurt.

So here is the gang that thoroughly enjoyed Bert the Yurt. As you can see, we all heart Yurt.

Ok enough of the Yurt related chat. But know that we all loved Yurt. Anyway, we arrived at said Yurt, which is located in the lovely countryside on the border of Wales and Shropshire. There was a nice lady who directed us to the middle of nowhere on the phone when we couldn't find the place, and then she continued to be nice for the rest of the weekend, which was nice.

Inside the Yurt there were some lovely things. I think the nice lady's husband or son or something was some kind of woodworker, which meant that there were lots of nice wooden things scattered around. I should think that he also built the outbuilding which housed the toilet, shower and sink, which were all nice and of good quality - not at all to the usual gross campsite standard. We made full use of this feature, as you can see below.

  So back inside the Yurt... There was a lovely log burner and a really comfy sofa bed in the main part of it, and then there was a second adjoining Yurt which housed the main bedroom. This was a lovely comfy bed complete with electric blankets and solar powered fairy lights! There was also electricity in the Yurt itself, which was mega handy, as well as a gas cooker on which you could make a lovely cup of tea. What more could you ask for?

On the area surrounding the Yurt itself was a beautifully made decking with enough chairs for all six of us around a table. There was also a sun lounger for when it didn't rain, and another log burner-come-bbq on which you could make some tasty sausages for dinner. The views were also spectacular. We had great fun naming the sheep in the surrounding fields and also playing on the swings and trampoline in the Yurt's garden.

As you can see in that picture, the weather wasn't the greatest...but the views were still stunning and the rain sounded heavenly on the Yurt's roof when inside. If anything the rain made the experience even better as we were able to enjoy the cosiness of the log fire inside the Yurt! Although none of us were complaining when there was bright sunshine on the last morning and we could all sit outside and eat breakfast!

All in all this was a fantastic place for a weekend gathering. We managed to fit six of us in there fairly comfortably, and found that the shops of Oswestry were close enough to make a few trips for food and drink. This Yurt trip has made us all fall in love with Yurt, and we are determined to come back or do a Yurt trip around the country!!

This Yurt costs £80 per night and sleeps 8 people, with 2 people sleeping in a tent outside. www.offasdykeyurts.com 

I guess it's been a while...

Well a while is probably an understatement. More like 6/7 months, but who's counting? (No one actually, because I'm the only one that reads this...)

I would like to make some kind of joke here about how I've just been away reading one book and it's taken me 6 months, but I kind of sort of have. And it wasn't War and Peace.

To be fair I have been on holiday (in September) and been back at uni doing a dissertation and the like, but I still have only managed to finish about three books in this time, which either says a lot about my reading abilities or the books themselves...

The first one I finished on holiday was none other than Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. I love this trilogy and I'm ploughing through the final one as we speak! After I'd finished this one though, I began to read The Kite Runner. I loved the film and I love Khaled Hosseini, but for some reason I took months and months to get through this book. I do think it was more me not having much time to read it rather than it being a bit of a rubbish book, but I do still think that says something! I remember reading A Thousand Splendid Suns in about a week because I couldn't put it down! But then maybe that is because there wasn't a film version to remind you of what was yet to come...

I found a similar thing occurred to me whilst reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. I know, I know! How can I slate Oscar Wilde?! But the thing is, I could 100% tell that this was the book that was made out of several short stories and put together to make a book, with a few added chapters in which ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED! The ones in which something did happen were of course fabulous, but I felt that I was reading this book for years! In the end I had to stop taking it to read at the hairdressers with me because she was beginning to question why I hadn't finished it yet! Although she agreed with me about the rogue chapters...

Anyway, I'm happily settled with The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, and I gather that my one reader is now content that I have informed them of what I've been reading these past few months, because what I read is obviously oh so important.

I would quite like someone to recommend me a good book for after I've finished this one, that way I can blame them if I'm still reading it when I'm 40.