Shantaram

I enjoyed reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts which has been sitting unread on my bookshelf since 2004.  It's a "doorstop" book with 936 pages.  It's the author's story based on his life after he escaped from an Australian prison and lived in Bombay (Mumbai) for many years as a member of the Bombay Mafia.  He chooses to live in one of the slums and makes a number of close friends there as he works as a "doctor".  He falls in love with another "foreigner" and then becomes a member of the "mafia" led by a man who becomes like a "father" to him.  At this time the Russians are fighting in Afghanistan and he goes with his "father" and others to smuggle guns to a village there.  Roberts immersed himself in to the culture of Bombay and becomes one of them.  He has many "adventures" along the way including being put in prison without trial and going to Afghanistan.  Some of the stories seem incredible.  I began to lose interest about two thirds of the way through the book but I still had enough interest to want to find out what happened to him.  Almost every chapter I thought - how is he going to get out of this?  And then he did.  As some of the people close to him died, there was much "gnashing of teeth" and then later some surprises about that. I tired of the philosophizing, some of which was cringe-worthy.  The writing is excellent.  I really liked the descriptions of people and places.  31/2/5