All that which can be said praising both of his books has been said in the review of Shantaram here. The Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts isn’t far away from being as great as the first book itself. However, it has its little quirks which I will discuss here in the blog post.

For whoever has read the first book, must definitely pick up the second, I reckon I don’t even have to mention that, because I am sure, right after you finished Shantaram, you wanted to know what happened next?

The events in this book unfold after 2 years where the first book left off.

A lot has changed, which I don’t want to spoil for you here. You be will be excited about a lot of things in this book as the story progresses and extremely sad about a few.

A thing which you will notice from the first chapter itself is that a foreigner entered Mumbai (Bombay) and now the person you are reading from, first-person perspective, is a complete Mumbaikar (Someone born and brought up in Mumbai).

All those distasteful memories, complaints, the irritation at its humid weather, crowded streets, and a lot of noise have faded away and what you now see is a man who has found harmony in the chaos of Mumbai. Accustomed to the rhythm of it and knows his way around its life like the back of his hand. Better than most locals would know even now.

So apart from what makes Shantaram, Shantaram, What’s so different about The Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts?

This book has a distinct spiritual tone to it from the very beginning itself. It’s more sentimental than the previous novel. A lot of emphasis has been put on understanding life, human relations, personal relationships, and how life comes and changes the course of every individual soul differently.

How one decision affects the direction of your life and what love and support really mean.

Also, a seeker’s, seeking of the infinite truth. Each unique thinker’s perspective on it and how each soul is striving endlessly to find solace, to feel belonged. To have a purpose for living. To continue with that purpose, even when life gets tough and even when you want to end it immediately.

How you cannot always save everyone and how you need to accept and live with the choices made by the people you love.

How one needs to understand their path in life, understand their sacrifice, and know, they did what they did because they saw the purpose of their life in it. The same goes on for you.

Living with the choices you made and forgiving everything else which does not serve your purpose now.

This book while being surrounded by action on each page, has a style of spiritual discourse added to it, every character is a teacher, every dialogue a deeper understanding into what made these people into who they are and why they choose to do what they do.

Emotionally gripping and with an extremely human touch. Don’t be surprised if you sometimes stain the pages with your teary eyes.

There are also 2 to 3 major characters with whom Shantaram has profound discussions and Q And A’s about all things life and its meaning. Those chapters are even titled like that, to let you know, that you are heading into a discussion and must pay attention.

That’s where the readers of the first book will feel a little awkward at, less story more discussions. This is its only quirk. And an ending, which simply feels like that life goes on, just another moment in the infinite space of time.

Nevertheless, it’s a great book after all. It’s a treat to read and a journey worth taking. Newer interesting characters, major character development for the people from the first book, and a story more personal than ever and an insight into the lives of the people who inhabit the world of  Shantaram.

We understand, after all, they were people just like us, who sometimes ate pizza on a Saturday night while watching a movie with their friends.

So who should read the Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts?

 

1. Anyone who finished reading the first book “Shantaram.”
2. Anyone who does not care about knowing the full story and can jump into a discussion from nowhere of it.

 

If you are a reader from the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and the UK then you can purchase this book from Amazon by clicking here.

Readers from India can purchase this book by clicking here.

Others can try clicking on one of the Euro stores and see if you land on your local Amazon store to purchase.

 

Conclusion

“Fear is a wolf on a chain,
Only dangerous when you set it free.”

 

“Anger, for all its fury, can be killed by a smile.”

 

“Only hope goes on forever….”

~The Mountain Shadow

 

I just personally hope that I get to meet Gregory Roberts sometime. From a book I am reading right now, the author says, you can know what kind of a man, the author is, by understanding how he writes, if you like what he wrote, personally you will love the person without a doubt and you will get along just fine.

I would like to have one of those profound discussions with him sometime.

While Roberts has retired from public life and has went into seclusion to work on his spiritual and personal goals, he has left off with a signing off message on his website, which is as genuine as all his writing. I will leave you with that. Also do not miss out to check on the entire message here.

For any further discussion about this book or anything else hit me up in the comments section, I will be happy to know what you have got to say. Peace!

The mountain shadow