Shantaram, A romantic take on everything

I love this book because:

• Its set almost entirely in Bombay. Salaam Bombay.
• It gives a very heart-felt view of India, Indians, and everything Indian.
• It reminds me a lot of Godfather (the book). It also reminded me of my first read of Godfather, which, sadly, happened only once.
• It also reminded me of Harold Robbins’s Never Love a Stranger. There is something about the first person narrative that Nabokov abuses in Lolita to trick the reader, but Roberts uses with elan. I have rarely liked a first person narrative more than this.
• I love sweeping sagas.
• I loved the trivia: on knife fighting, on the Automatic Kalashnikov assault rifles, the inner workings of the Bombay Underworld, the Afghan War, Colaba, gritty slum life in Bombay, and a whole lot more.
• The terrific one liners. There are so many of them, a few brilliant, a few corny, and a few unbelievably true.
• Made me introspect on aspects of my life which I had buried for a long time.
• Brought tears to my eyes more than once.
• Is a gripping page-turner. 900+ pages in 3 days?!?
• Celebrates the human spirit.
• The romantic in me is happy and content; the cynic in me smiling.

Shantaram will be one of my favorite books for a long time to come.