Shantharam

After a very long time I've finally finished Shantharam, and it left me a little unsatisfied. It is the actual story of an Australian who escapes from a high security prison and comes to Bombay in the 80's. He then learns Hindi and Marathi, lives in a slum for 2 years, starts a free clinic for the slum dwellers, joins the mafia, gets in and out of a heroin habit and even fights with the Mujaheddin. It is as action packed as you could ask for, and it is all based on a true story!

I really liked the first half of the book (around 500 pages of a 936 page book), where it focused on things we take for granted in India. It was nice to see how a foreigner takes them. But then the amount of action in the book just put me down. So is a foreigner living in the slums the only thing amazing about the book? No! It is much more and I would really recommend this book to anyone. It must be because I am reading The Kite Runner, another great book and comparing with it that I'm feeling this way.