This massive work is challenging, not just because of its size but because of the wildly colourful life led by the protagonist. Linbaba has come to Bombay on a false passport and visa to escape authorities from Australia. Escaping over the wall from prison in Australia, he disappears into a slum of Bombay. Becoming part of the community, learning to speak the languages and participating in the life of the slum, he develops lasting friendships built on survival and trust. He allows himself to be loved and taught by his new community. His life moves into criminally lucrative involvement with the Bombay mafia where he learns forgery, money laundering and the skill of creating false passports and identification. A strange discontinuity of morals, philosophy and crime are taught by his mentor and boss, Khaderbai. Unrequited love mingles with Linbaba’s longing to belong, to be loved, while he desperately misses his home and family in Australia.
Within the first twenty pages I could smell and hear the sounds of Bombay and was drawn into the colourful chaotic spirit of the story that is many times joyous and tender. Later, there were times when I was tempted to put down the book, but the writing and story telling kept me intrigued about the next charming or the next dangerous adventure. Was Linbaba adventuring, searching or just surviving in a foreign land?
“I don’t know what frightens me more, the power
that crushes us, or our endless ability to endure it.”
~ Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
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