Poster by I. Eeles for the unreleased film “Shantaram”

Very briefly: A man who escapes from Australia's most secure prison ends up in Bombay, where he becomes close to the head of a mafia group.

Part one

The narrator, who escaped from prison and is hiding under the name Lindsay Ford, comes to Bombay, where he meets Prabaker - a little man with a huge radiant smile, “the best guide in the city.” He finds cheap housing for Ford and undertakes to show the wonders of Bombay.

Due to the crazy traffic on the streets, Ford almost gets hit by a double-decker bus. He is saved by the beautiful green-eyed brunette Carla.

Her large eyes were striking with their intense green. Trees are so green in vivid, picturesque dreams. This is how green the sea would be if it could achieve perfection.

Carla often visits the Leopold bar. Soon Ford becomes a regular at this semi-criminal bar and realizes that Carla is also involved in some kind of shady business.

Ford begins to become friends with Prabaker. He meets Carla often, and each time he falls more and more in love with her. Over the next three weeks, Prabaker shows Ford the “real Bombay” and teaches him to speak Hindi and Marathi, the main Indian dialects. They visit a market where orphans are sold, and a hospice where terminally ill people live out their lives.

By showing all this, Prabaker seems to be testing Ford's strength. The final test is a trip to Prabaker's home village.

In the city you can live holding your wounded heart and soul in your fist, but in the countryside they should shine openly in your eyes.

Ford lives with his family for six months, works in public fields and helps a local teacher teach English lessons. Prabaker's mother calls him Shantaram, which means "peaceful person." Ford is persuaded to stay on as a teacher, but he refuses.

On the way to Bombay he is beaten and robbed. Having no means of subsistence, Ford becomes an intermediary between foreign tourists and local hashish dealers and settles in the Prabakera slum.

During an excursion to the “standing monks” - people who have vowed never to sit down or lie down - Ford and Carla are attacked by an armed man high on hashish. The madman is quickly neutralized by a stranger who calls himself Abdullah Taheri.

There is a fire in the slums. Knowing how to provide first aid, Ford begins to treat burns. During a fire, he finds his place - he becomes a doctor.

Part two

Ford escaped from Australia's most secure prison in broad daylight through a hole in the roof of the building where the guards lived. The building was being renovated, and Ford was part of the repair crew, so the guards did not pay attention to him. He fled to escape the brutal daily beatings.

Nothing hardens the human heart like the law enforcement system.

Ford dreams about prison at night. To avoid these dreams, he wanders around silent Bombay every night. He is ashamed that he lives in a slum and does not meet with his old friends, although he misses Karla. Ford is completely absorbed in the craft of healing.

During a night walk, Abdullah introduces Ford to one of the leaders of the Bombay mafia, Abdel Kader Khan. This handsome, middle-aged man, a respected sage, divided the city into districts, each of which is led by a council of crime barons. People call him Khaderbhai. Ford became close friends with Abdullah. Having lost his wife and daughter forever, Ford sees a brother in Abdullah and a father in Khaderbhai.

Friendship is also a kind of medicine, and the market where you can get it can also be black.

Since that night, Ford's amateur clinic has been regularly supplied with medicines and medical instruments. Prabaker doesn't like Abdullah - the slum dwellers consider him a hired killer. In addition to the clinic, Ford is engaged in mediation, which brings him a decent income.

Four months pass. Ford occasionally sees Carla, but does not approach her, ashamed of his poverty. Carla comes to him herself. They have lunch on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center under construction, where workers have set up a village with farm animals - the “Sky Village”. There, Ford learns about Sapna, an unknown avenger who brutally kills the rich people of Bombay.

Ford helps Carla rescue her friend Lisa from the Palace, Madame Zhu's notorious brothel. Due to the fault of this mysterious woman, Carla's lover once died. Pretending to be an American embassy employee who wants to ransom the girl on behalf of her father, Ford snatches Lisa from the clutches of Madame. Ford confesses his love to Carla, but she hates love.

Part three

A cholera epidemic begins in the slums, which soon covers the village. For six days Ford fights the disease, and Carla helps him. During a brief rest, she tells Ford her story.

Carla Saarnen was born in Basel, in the family of an artist and singer. The father died, a year later the mother poisoned herself with sleeping pills, and the nine-year-old girl was taken by her uncle from San Francisco. He died three years later, and Karla was left with her aunt, who did not love the girl and deprived her of the most necessary things. High school student Carla worked part-time as a babysitter. The father of one of the children raped her and said that Carla provoked him. The aunt took the side of the rapist and kicked the fifteen-year-old orphan out of the house. Since then, love has become inaccessible to Carla. She came to India after meeting an Indian businessman on a plane.

Having stopped the epidemic, Ford goes to the city to earn some money.

I adore money, but I can't stand the smell of it. The more I enjoy them, the more thoroughly I have to wash my hands afterward.

One of Karla's friends, Ulla, asks him to meet some person at Leopold's - she is afraid to go to the meeting alone. Ford senses danger, but agrees. A few hours before the meeting, Ford sees Carla, they become lovers.

On the way to Leopold's, Ford is arrested. He sits in an overcrowded police cell for three weeks and then ends up in prison. Regular beatings, blood-sucking insects and hunger deplete his strength over several months. Ford cannot send the news to freedom - everyone who tries to help him is severely beaten. Khaderbhai himself finds out where Ford is and pays a ransom for it.

After prison, Ford begins working for Khaderbhai. Carla is no longer in town. Ford is worried about whether she thought he had run away. He wants to find out who is to blame for his misfortunes.

Ford deals in smuggled gold and fake passports, earns a lot and rents a decent apartment. He rarely meets friends in the slum, and becomes even closer to Abdullah.

After the death of Indira Gandhi, turbulent times set in in Bombay. Ford is on the international wanted list, and only Khaderbhai’s influence protects him from prison.

When you live outside the law, the echo of lies is always heard in your laughter, every manifestation of love becomes partly theft.

Ford learns that he went to prison because of a denunciation from a woman.

Ford meets with Lisa Carter, whom he once saved from Madame Zhu's stash. Having gotten rid of drug addiction, the girl works in Bollywood. On the same day, he meets Ulla, but she knows nothing about his arrest.

Ford finds Carla in Goa, where they spend a week. He tells his beloved that he engaged in armed robbery to get money for drugs, to which he became addicted when he lost his daughter. On the last night, she asks Ford to quit his job with Khaderbhai and stay with her, but he cannot bear the pressure and leaves.

In the city, Ford learns that Sapna brutally killed one of the mafia council, and a foreigner living in Bombay put him in prison.

Part four

Under the leadership of Abdul Ghani, Ford is engaged in fake passports, making air travel both within India and abroad. He likes Lisa, but memories of the missing Karla prevent him from getting closer to her.

Prabaker is getting married. Ford gives him a taxi driver's license. A few days later Abdullah dies. The police decide that he is Sapna and Abdullah is shot dead in front of the police station. Ford then learns about Prabaker's accident. A handcart loaded with steel beams drove into his taxi. Prabaker's lower half of his face was blown off and he died in the hospital for three days.

Having lost his closest friends, Ford falls into a deep depression.

You can tell what’s in a person’s soul only after you begin to take away one hope after another.

He spends three months in an opium den under the influence of heroin. Karla and Nazir, Khaderbhai's bodyguard, who has always disliked Ford, take him to a house on the coast and help him get rid of drug addiction.

Khaderbhai is sure that Abdullah was not Sapna - he was slandered by his enemies. He plans to deliver ammunition, spare parts and medical supplies to Kandahar, which is besieged by the Russians. He intends to complete this mission himself, and calls Ford with him. Afghanistan is full of warring tribes. To get to Kandahar, Khaderbhai needs a foreigner who can pretend to be an American "sponsor" of the Afghan war. This role falls to Ford.

Before leaving, Ford spends one last night with Carla. Carla wants Ford to stay, but she can't confess her love to him.

In the border town, the core of Khaderbhai’s detachment is formed. Before leaving, Ford learns that Madame Zhu put him in prison. He wants to return and take revenge on Madame. Khaderbhai tells Ford how in his youth he was kicked out of his native village. At the age of fifteen, he killed a man and started an inter-clan war. It ended only after Khaderbhai disappeared. Now he wants to return to the village near Kandahar and help his family.

Across the Afghan border, through mountain gorges, the detachment is led by Habib Abdur Rahman, obsessed with revenge on the Russians who massacred his family. Khaderbhai pays tribute to the leaders of the tribes whose territory the detachment crosses. In return, the leaders provide them with fresh food and feed for their horses. Finally the detachment reaches the Mujahideen camp. During the journey, Khabib loses his mind, runs away from the camp and starts his own war.

People are divided into those who kill to survive and those who live to kill.

Throughout the winter, the detachment repairs weapons for Afghan partisans. Finally Khaderbhai orders preparations to return home. The evening before leaving, Ford learns that Karla worked for Khaderbhai - she was looking for foreigners who could be useful to him. That's how she found Ford. The acquaintance with Abdullah and the meeting with Karla were rigged. The slum clinic was used as a testing ground for smuggled drugs. Khaderbhai also knew about Ford's imprisonment - Madame Zhu helped him negotiate with politicians in exchange for his arrest.

Enraged, Ford refuses to accompany Khaderbhai. His world is collapsing, but he cannot hate Khaderbhai and Karla, because he still loves them.

Three days later, Khaderbhai dies - his squad falls into a snare set to capture Khabib. On the same day, the camp is shelled, fuel supplies, food and medicine are destroyed. The new head of the detachment believes that the shelling of the camp is a continuation of the hunt for Khabib.

After another mortar attack, nine people remain alive. The camp is surrounded, they cannot get food, and the scouts they sent disappear.

A good soldier is not one who can do God knows what, but one who can endure everything.

Habib suddenly appeared and reported that the south-eastern direction was clear, and the squad decided to break through.

On the eve of the breakthrough, a man from the detachment kills Khabib, having discovered chains on his neck that belonged to the missing scouts. During the breakthrough, Ford is concussed by a mortar shot.

Part five

Ford is saved by Nazir. Ford's eardrum was damaged, his body was injured and his hands were frostbitten. In the Pakistani field hospital, where the detachment was transported by people from a friendly tribe, they were not amputated only thanks to Nazir.

It takes Nazir and Ford six weeks to reach Bombay. Nazir must carry out Khaderbhai's last order - to kill some person. Ford dreams of taking revenge on Madame Zhu. He learns that the Palace was looted and burned by a crowd, and Madame lives somewhere in the depths of these ruins. He did not kill Madame Ford - she was already defeated and broken.

Nazir kills Abdul Ghani. He believed that Khaderbhai was spending too much money on the war and used Sapna to remove his rivals.

Soon the whole of Bombay learns about the death of Khaderbhai. Members of his group have to temporarily lie low. Civil strife related to the redistribution of power is ending. Ford again deals with false documents, and contacts the new council through Nazir.

Ford misses Abdullah, Khaderbhai and Prabaker. His affair with Carla is over - she returned to Bombay with a new friend.

In any life, no matter how fully or, on the contrary, poorly lived, there is nothing wiser than failure and nothing clearer than sadness.

Ford is saved from loneliness by his romance with Lisa. She says that Carla fled the United States, killing the man who raped her. After boarding a plane to Singapore, she met Khaderbhai and started working for him.

After Lisa's story, Ford is overcome with deep melancholy. He is thinking about drugs when Abdullah suddenly appears, alive and well. After an encounter with the police, Abdullah was kidnapped from the station and taken to Delhi, where he spent a year being treated for near-fatal wounds. He returned to Bombay to eliminate the remaining members of Sapna's gang.

The group still does not deal in drugs and prostitution - this disgusted Khaderbhai. However, some members are inclined towards drug dealing under pressure from the neighboring group's leader, Chukha.

Ford finally admits that he himself destroyed his family and comes to terms with this guilt. He is almost happy - he has money and Lisa.

Having reached an agreement with Sapna’s surviving accomplice, Chukha opposes the group. Ford participates in the destruction of Chukha and his henchmen. His group inherits the territory of Chukha with drug trafficking and pornography trade. Ford understands that now everything will change.

Sri Lanka is in the grip of a civil war in which Khaderbhai wanted to take part. Abdullah and Nazir decide to continue his work. There is no place for Ford in the new mafia, and he also goes to fight.

Fate always offers you two alternative options - the one you should choose and the one you choose.

Ford meets Carla for the last time. She invites him with her, but he refuses, realizing that he is not loved. Carla is going to marry her rich friend, but her heart is still cold. Karla admits that it was she who burned Madame Zhu’s house and participated in the creation of Sapna along with Gani, but does not repent of anything.

Sapna turned out to be indestructible - Ford learns that the king of the poor is gathering his own army. He spends the night after meeting Carla in the slums of Prabaker, meets his son, who has inherited his father’s radiant smile, and realizes that life goes on.

The theory of the complication of the Universe or how to lose everything and find it again according to the famous Indian philosopher and intellectual, guru of medicine, love strings, current member of the Bombay mafia council (shh..), darling of the slums, hero of the war in Afghanistan, who once escaped from an Australian prison drug addict and criminal (etc.)

Dedicated to those who value their time.

So, what will happen if you take the volume of two volumes of War and Peace, add the deep philosophy of Paulo Coelho, cut into the hopelessness and sadness of Remarque, flavor it with the spirit of adventurism and courage of Dumas and, finally, pour over the sauce of invaluable life experience? They guessed it, it will be Shantaram of G.D. Roberts, the man who “managed to get out of the abyss and survive.”

Unfortunately, I escaped from the abyss of this book too late, still hoping to find out why it deserved loud applause from critics and ordinary readers, as well as tons of paper spent on its publication.

Unfortunately, this book is more like a snake biting its own tail, because by the end of it you have forgotten half of the characters and events that took place at the beginning. If you remove most of the verbosity, pseudo-philosophy and repetitive descriptive-experiential-melodramatic emphasis (yes, that's the right word!) of the main character, it could turn out to be quite a good adventure novel against the background of bright Indian scenery. But either the greedy Indian publishers did not want to give Roberts his passport, or the Australian’s multiple personalities were inserted a couple of pages at a time, but the result was a literary vinaigrette in the worst sense of the word.

Rating: 5

I did not purchase the book “Shantaram” - my lawyer, and also a good friend, gave it to me.

I didn’t open it for some time, and then a trip to India arrived, and I finally decided to get acquainted with what the cool guy Roberts had created. After reading, I was left with a nasty aftertaste, because I consider this opus to be an ordinary literary hoax. I'll try to explain why:

Nowadays many people play literary and cinematic games based on political correctness. This means that there are many things that are taboo for the modern Western writer. You cannot write badly about women, about people of color, about “oppressed” peoples, about Muslims, about gays, etc. And how does Roberts, whose hero - a hardened criminal - have to show toughness, get around this problem?

It’s very simple: he sells drugs mainly to whites, and is friends with Muslim bandits, he does not say a bad word about women, who, in essence, are ordinary whores and drug addicts, he romanticizes all these prostitutes, making them look like beauties, smart people, and subtle connoisseurs of the arts. His brothers are bloody bandits, their leader is the “father” of the main character, whom he will love without remembering the whole affair of his real father and mother.

Do you believe this? Well, it's up to you. From some point on, “Shantaram” began to evoke despondency and melancholy for me, so much did this external severity and internal kindness of the hero, selflessly treating the sick in the slums of Mumbai, stick out. And then he sells drugs to Western suckers.

I was personally in those Mumbai slums, I was also in Leopold, where, probably, the writer gets a fair share (if anyone wants, I can send a photo from there, I would post it here, but there is no such option). The atmosphere and flavor of India are conveyed to a C grade; it reeks of Roberts’ descriptions of Marxism - the poor people in the slums are almost angels, and in the villages there are generally sages and gurus, instructing the GG and teaching him kindness.

And the kindness (carefully hidden from others) of the hero is about to kill him, but who will finish this “incredibly cool and honest” book? Therefore, don’t worry when the hero’s insides are repeatedly cut off, don’t worry when he donates almost all his blood to his terrorist friends and is left to freeze in the snowy mountains of winter Afghanistan. Level 80's natural health will heal him and return him to his beloved Mumbai.

And who is bad in the novel “Shantaram”? Well, of course, these are some white guards of an Australian prison, these are a few rats, traitors, informers, pimps, and finally, this is a man with a completely gone roof... Well, what did you want? Everything is politically correct, Western publishers love that.

By the way, I knew someone who was imprisoned in Sydney on a rather serious charge. He says that the Australian prison, compared to the Russian one, is a resort.

Rating: 4

Shantaram was a big disappointment for me. But let's take it in order and briefly. You've had enough of the heap of graphomania that will fall on you if you decide to read the novel.

Pros - the description of India is bright, colorful and interesting. Although this is not without a fly in the ointment - due to the nature of my work, I communicate with people from different countries. Including the Indians. And not by those who once left their country, or were just born there, but by those constantly living in this undoubtedly beautiful country. So, to my questions “Is it true?”, “Is it like this?” - based on information gleaned from the book Shantaram, in some cases I received puzzled looks in response, or the explanation that “It may have been like that before, but only if in the village.” Although to be fair, a lot of things really are a reflection of life there.

The second and last plus of the book is voluminous; if a nuclear winter begins, it can be burned and warmed up for a couple of refugees.

Among the disadvantages, which many have already named in principle, are the boring pseudo-philosophical arguments that ALL the characters conduct (and especially beggars, whores, bandits and other “highly intelligent” people - it really turns out to be a straight joke: “Once a prostitute, a drug dealer and a bandit got together and said: Please speak out on the topic of Feuerbach’s philosophical concept!”); and a sluggish plot; and the cardboard idealization of the main character (have you seen Robin Hood? Cross him with a pink pony and a fluffy angel and you will get a pale likeness of GG in Shantaram); and I don’t want to talk about the fact that each character’s eyes showed deep Wisdom/Pain/Kindness/Openness (underline as necessary); I will highlight the main thing for me - it seems that a teenager wrote the book. Knowing neither life nor people; who has not lived and has no worldly experience.

Most of it is written along the lines of “Cruel guards mercilessly beat everyone to death for talking loudly. When I entered the cell, I shouted at the guards and began throwing leaflets at them with printed paragraphs of the UN convention wrapped in stones. Because he could not tolerate injustice and horrors! The beast-like guards began to beat me. But I heroically endured and looked at them with a reproachful look. The guards saw this look and ran away in fear. For this, the main prisoners of the prison respected me very much, and the guards came for advice. And I... (here a “philosophical” argument about what conscience is is inserted).”

If it were not for the description of India, there would be 100% lost time. And so... No! I still regret my time. It would be better to spend it on something more interesting.

Rating: 4

What a beautiful name - Shantaram, unusual to the ear, exotic! It’s like there’s something magical, spicy and sunny in the air. I tormented this magically exotic book for two weeks, managing to read several more books along the way in order to somehow dilute the unpleasant aftertaste of such spices. And the day before yesterday I decided to take a desperate step - swallow it in one gulp, like a bitter medicine, so as not to suffer for a long time. And let the fans of this opus throw slippers at me now, but I will still speak out!

The main character is a drug addict who escaped from an Australian prison and came to India for a better life. But, apparently, life does not teach him anything, since he again makes acquaintances in the criminal world, is engaged in forging documents and delivering weapons to militants in Afghanistan. Moreover, all this crime is shown in an enthusiastic and romantic way. And the mafia leader is a kind of philosopher from the highway, and he spouts beautiful sayings. In general, it turns out that taking drugs, distributing them, killing people is very cool, it’s worthy of admiration!

There is an obvious overkill with philosophy; it is everywhere here, out of place and not so much. The heroes simply shake the air with beautiful phrases, trying to appear in the best light in front of others.

I put this book on my list of biggest disappointments. Having read rave reviews about its masterpiece, I expected a beautiful story about India, but I got what I got. Maybe I’m an insensitive log and I don’t have a heart (at least, in the introduction it is stated that only such people may not like the book), but I didn’t understand at all why it deserved everyone’s admiration.

Rating: 3

At a certain point in my life, I turned into an introverted reader. I stopped trusting new authors, new books, especially those on the cover that say “bestseller, masterpiece, circulation +100500 million copies.” The two-line reviews of foreign newspapermen, which gradually allow the author to turn out to be another genius in mass literature, also do not inspire confidence. For this reason, it took me a long time to gather the courage to take on “Shantaram,” and when I did, I admit, I didn’t expect anything good. Especially from an author with such a “pop” name, which I kept getting confused about: either Robert Davids or David Roberts.

The first pleasant impression on me was made by the excellent literary language of the work - something that modern authors, especially those writing in the first person, pay less and less attention to. The first negative impression is the undoubted coolness of the experienced and seen-everything protagonist already at the beginning of the novel, and as a result, pathetic solemn maxims about life and the world in general. The first conclusion that emerged from these two opinions: “Shantaram” reminds me of “Steppenwolf” by Hermann Hesse and “Three Comrades” by Remarque - books in general are wonderful, but they make the greatest impression on young people aged 13 to 18 years. In this I agree with one of the previous reviews: Shantaram is a book for boys.

I admit that I was pleasantly disappointed. Roberts's Bombay is fascinating, and the main character, the alter ego of the author himself, is believable to the point of impossibility. In this case, it would be appropriate to compare the author with Jack London - a man who wrote only about what he met and experienced in life, about what he really knew and experienced himself. Shantaram is a book about everything in the world: about friendship and devotion, about love and war, about the mafia and murders, about poverty and honesty, and, as usual in a classic novel, about finding yourself. But this does not make the book boring and uninteresting. Despite its volume, “Shantaram” is constructed very harmoniously - tragic and comic, adventure and reflective are interspersed in moderate doses in the novel, and good literary language does not allow one to think about the artificiality of these constructions. It's nice that each chapter ends with a nice paragraph worth quoting.

I love getting lost in big novels - the kind that you live in for the two or three weeks you're reading. I fell in love with the inhabitants of Bombay slums and distant villages in absentia, I learned a lot about India in general, about Bombay, about the Marathi language, about prisons and war. And so, when the 26 thousand lines (in the e-book) came to an end, I wished there were more. Hot and multifaceted Bombay was almost home for me for three weeks, and I had no desire to return to dull, rainy Yekaterinburg.

It seems to me that Gregory David Roberts, like many modern writers, is the author of only one book. It is unlikely that he will write better or at least as well. But I am very glad that I had the courage to take on his only novel, which I really liked.

Rating - 8. Because I give 9 and 10 only to my favorite works. I sincerely recommend it to everyone.

PS: from one wonderful hero of this book with a childish, trusting smile, I borrowed the phrase “kind person,” which I now use everywhere. This combination allows you to talk about the interlocutor in the third person, and in such a way that he is pleased and at the same time creates a contradictory effect, as if we are talking about the inner essence of a person, although they are talking about purely material things. For example: “we will feed your good personality deliciously,” “your good personality will be very pleased.”

I wish Fantlab readers to please their kind personality by reading another good book!)))

Rating: 8

The book, which began as an adventure story, gradually turned into a kind of philosophical parable on the eternal theme of love and forgiveness. The problem is that because of this, Shantaram loses its drive and begins to be perceived by the reader not as an exciting read, but rather as a forced confession in the confessional, which one does not want to listen to at all.

If you are ready to forgive the editors of the book for their stinginess in reducing this work and just want to be on topic, read it.

If you feel sorry for wasting your time on petty consumer goods, but in literature the main thing for you is sophistication and intellectuality, pass by.

Rating: 6

Shantaraaam tarla-ta-tam. The review will be criticism.

A leisurely novel about the life of a man under the fictitious name of Lin Baba in Asia. If in the novel “Shogun” the events take place in Japan, where the culture, customs, mentality of the Japanese, etc. are described in a fascinating and strange way for you and me, then in this essay the narrative about the region in India is unfortunately very sparse, although the work is cumbersome in volume. Neither customs nor religion, only a passing Asian mentality is described from a 1m x 2m painting in the author’s studio. Bombay is a gathering from all over the world, and in this work it is a couple of Europeans, Iranians, Bombayans, a Palestinian and an Australian. Of the heroes, only Probaker was noted as positive - a simple and wonderful guy who died. GG is neither Rambo, nor Robin Hood, nor homo, he is just some kind of inexpressive Shantaram, but still a simple big guy who values ​​friendship above all else, including sex and love. With such qualities, all positive and neutral female heroines, of whom there are also few in the novel, like him. All the main actions: escape from an Australian prison, life in Bombay as a doctor, pleased and left an Indian prison, joined the mafia, went to Afghanistan for the “war” and returned, dealt with competitors and became firmly established in the mafia, accepted an offer to go to fight in Sri Lanka (probably the next part will tell the story, but I won’t know). The description is predictable: action-reaction, without any swing. Example: GG decided to go to Afghanistan - just one attack on his company in the mountains and he survived; decided to get out of Afghanistan - just one breakthrough with a fight and the GG got out; agreed to deal with the mafia's competitors - just one fight with the bandits in the house and the GG works, and he will be counteracted further once. The novel is filled with the stupidest philosophy: the universe, the big bang, the tendency of matter to become more complex (good/god), etc.; Russian scoundrels with Kalash and their war in Afghanistan; lonely Europeans, Karla with her “mysterious” (yes, he’s just muddy) character, committing some hidden actions, under the phrases: I have to, I won’t say why, you won’t understand, in fact, they turn out to be uninteresting.

The novel itself is boring and without drive, without numerous events but also without water, with beautiful names for the characters, so to speak, a restrained narrative that seems to be about something (in fact, about the life of the author)... It is not clear how the book came out so voluminous? probably because of kitchen dialogues and thoughts in a prison cell.

Rating: 5

I feel squeezed on a battlefield, where on the one hand there is a million-strong army of fans of the novel, on the other, a slightly less numerous, but, judging by the flow of negative reviews on the Internet, a more furious and not so tolerant crowd of people dissatisfied with this bestseller. And it's not that I waver between these sides - I just don't want to join any of the extreme opinions about the book.

I can understand why the life and adventures of a fugitive in India have won the love of readers around the world.

An exotic city in an equally exotic country, shown in great detail and from different angles. Temples, bohemian restaurants, slums, remote villages, vibrant Bollywood - all this is mixed in a bizarre and contrasting mosaic. Against the backdrop of this riot of colors and characters, a romantic hero who has gone from a drug addict hiding from the law to the favorite of almost all of Bombay. Reasonable, noble, generous, brave, faithful, hopelessly in love... - my goodness, a couple more epithets and I, too, will fall in love with Lindsay. But, probably, the main character does not captivate the reader as much as the people he meets along the way. And most of all, neither Lin’s friends from the Leopold restaurant, nor the mafia “brothers”, nor even the main and great love of our hero sunk into my soul. Without a doubt, the real stars of the novel are the ordinary Bombayites from the slums, where the main super-megastar is the charming Prabaker. Honestly, I am ready to re-read all the chapters where Prab is given significant attention more than once. And I think the same as the first time, somewhere I will laugh out loud, and somewhere I will shed tears bitterly. Episodes with a trip to the village by train and a visit to a prostitute are just small masterpieces.

What’s also captivating is that even without knowing that the book is based on real events, you understand that much of what the Author describes simply cannot be made up, and therefore, if you want, you can believe in the whole story, from beginning to end. . And it doesn’t matter that in retrospect you can find refutations and revelations on the Internet. This is not at all the main thing, the main thing is that Roberts gave the world a story and a hero in whom you want to believe, because such people and examples are needed. Even with all the ambiguity of his biography and the choice of some life paths. We see practically from a living example that a completely lost person always has a chance to raise his head and move on. And this applies to both the hero of the work and his prototype, i.e. Author.

But, unfortunately, what could have become an unconditional masterpiece in every sense has a lot of shortcomings. And first of all, this is a sense of proportion, which the Author has lost in almost everything. Describing his adventures, Roberts daydreamed so much that reality periodically slipped out from under his feet.

The dialogues in Leopold, devoid of philistine humanity and filled with metaphors, philosophical sayings and pompous slogans, make your cheekbones cringe. Sitting behind bars and writing my book for six years, it was not surprising to forget how ordinary free people communicate with each other. But obviously not like Carla Saaren, Didier Levy, Kavita Singh and other bohemian crowd.

The second thing that simply blows your mind is the inexhaustible stream of philosophical reasoning.

Not only is the philosophy extremely populist, narrow-minded and often dubious, but it is also obsessive. The author does not give the reader a chance to draw conclusions from this or that situation. No, for some reason he starts chewing on everything, trying to stuff it all into our heads. Sorry, but it seems like he didn't expect his readers to think a little more broadly than the typical housewife from an American television series.

In addition, all this ideological crap is burdened by the language and proprietary verbal constructions of the Author (possibly the translator, I cannot say). All these ridiculous metaphors, comparisons, poorly combined epithets at first seem like cute, inept steps of a novice writer, but when their number grows from chapter to chapter, there is no place for condescension.

As I already said, Roberts’ main character turned out to be simply sweet. So much love is directed towards himself and his inner world that one can simply choke. And everything would be fine if the Author did not describe himself. And this, you see, is at least not very modest and at most cloying to the point of nausea.

I forgive him for all his wonderful feats, his incredible stamina and vitality, bordering on the fantastic, his unimaginable generosity of heart, and then his illogical, sharp rejection of it. But narcissism and self-exaltation without any brakes is depressing.

It's good that everything changes immediately when Roberts stops writing about himself and begins to describe the adventures of his friends. Otherwise I would hardly have read the book to the end.

These are the contradictory feelings that “Shantaram” gave rise to in me. And as a peaceful person, I don’t want to fight for more than one side, especially since, by and large, I don’t regret reading the book. I’ll just advise others with some caution, so as not to accidentally make enemies for myself :)

Rating: 7

I didn't master it. The poor literary component often turns out to be an insurmountable barrier for me. Yes, the history of man itself is extraordinary and interesting, and the descriptions of India are very informative. But.. boring. The characters, except for the main character, are not convincing. Beloved speaks entirely in quotes and aphorisms. Has anyone met such people in real life?

Separately about the translation: it is frankly bad, stylistic errors occur regularly. It hurts the eye. At least for me.

Verdict: some people will like this, but if you really want adventure, it’s better to read Dumas, honestly.

Rating: no

Yes, this book really has interesting places - the main character's first acquaintance with India, a lot of interesting information about this country and very good humor. The image of Prabaker is, in my opinion, the author’s greatest success. Actually, it was because of these brilliant humorous scenes that I read “Shantaram” to the very end, despite the large volume and the abundance of boring, for my taste, passages. Unfortunately, all the humor is concentrated in the first half of the book, and then the main character is so persistently looking for adventure in one place that he constantly finds himself in very sad circumstances. In the second half of the book there are too many depressing descriptions of the working life of Indian and Afghan bandits, multi-page retellings of tedious philosophical discussions for which these bandits have some kind of perverted passion, and melodramatic showdowns between the protagonist and his enemies in the traditions of Indian cinema. Perhaps someone will be interested in reading about the main character’s time in an Indian prison and the Afghan war, but I personally don’t like reading about war and prison, so the second half of the book did not grab me at all.

Plot? Yes, it could be fit into a story, and not a very voluminous one. He was completely lost in multi-page, tedious philosophizing about the vicissitudes and difficulties of life.

The hero is a handsome man, so noble, honest, smart, and saves everyone around him, helps everyone. And he ended up in prison solely because of the mistakes of his youth. He fled from there unable to withstand the injustice of life and security. In general, he is innocent, it just so happened. And so, just straight away into armor and onto a white horse, to save the princesses. Boring and not alive at all.

The language of the book is so primitive, flat and with many completely standard sets of phrases and descriptions that you get lost whether I’ve already read it or whether it’s new. Constant feeling of déjà vu from the text.

Minor characters - they are minor, the author clearly did not want to write them, so, tags, here is a guide-friend, here is the main one in the slums, here are the slum residents, here is the European “bohemia” with prostitutes, drug dealers, and who didn’t find a role, just mysterious person. The characters are not written down at all, just some shadow functions.

I made it about halfway through. I admit that I stopped at the most interesting thing, or rather just before the most interesting thing, and because of this I didn’t understand all the charm of the book, but I didn’t have the strength for it anymore.

Rating: no

This is a book for boys. And for boys in their mid/late 40s. When questions of love, honor, values ​​and goals turn into sharp edges in the lives of many men. Yes, it is clear that the book was written by a non-professional. In some places - very strong, in others - what was it all about. But each person has their own pain points and their own experiences. It is impossible to read the story of half a life in a week or two and experience all the details of the evolution of this life and the worldview of a particular person over many years. Moreover, a person living a very difficult and eventful life. This is the contradiction in the rating for this book. I have never regretted spending my time, and I am very likely to spend it again someday. But be prepared to periodically give up reading for a week or two out of boredom and then return again.

As for the images and characters, the vast majority of them are written superbly, starting with the main characters and ending with the most insignificant ones. Yes, the last ones in the book can be said and not - each is appropriate, each clearly and neatly fits into the overall picture.

As a result, the book is worthy of being read, but it left behind the impression of a bright, flawlessly shot film from a cinematographic point of view, the script of which in some places does not quite fit into this “picture”.

Rating: 7

Gregory David Roberts

"Shantaram"

Part one

Bombay greeted me with heat, exotic smells and people of various nationalities. Two years ago, I escaped from a maximum security prison in Australia with a fake passport, so I joined two good-natured Canadians in the hope that I would be mistaken for one of their company and my passport would not be subject to strict scrutiny. Freely leaving the airport, I boarded a bus to Bombay.

The bus was met at the hotel by hundreds of guides and merchants. Right at the door stood a little man with a huge radiant smile that immediately captivated me. The little man's name was Prabaker. He took me to a cheap hotel, occupying a floor of a multi-story building, and introduced me to the manager Anand. Having found me shelter, Prabaker began to entertain me. Calling himself the best tour guide in Bombay, he decided to show me the wonders of this city.

Due to the crazy traffic on the streets of Bombay, I almost got hit by a double-decker bus - someone's hands brought me back to the sidewalk in time. My savior turned out to be a beautiful green-eyed brunette named Carla. She interrupted my feeble attempts to speak by hinting that she often visited the Leopold bar. I soon became a regular at this bar, where illegal transactions were made. Karla was also involved in some kind of shady business.

After some time, Prabaker and I became friends. He shortened the name Lindsay Ford, under which I was hiding, to Lin, adding to it the respectful prefix “woman.” I saw Karla often, and each time I fell more and more in love with her. I also met Carla’s friends: gay Frenchman Didier Levy, German prostitute Ulla, her pimp Modena, Indian Vikram, who had recently returned from Denmark, and Carla’s friend, handsome Maurizio. Like all ugly people, I envied Maurizio and disliked him. I told everyone that I was writing a book. Before prison, I was actually a writer. This craft justified unexpected absences.

Over the next three weeks, Prabaker showed me the “real Bombay” and taught me to speak Hindi and Marathi, the main Indian dialects. During one of the excursions, due to the fault of our taxi driver, we had an accident, and for the first time I saw a crowd lynching the culprit of the accident. We were saved thanks to Prabaker - at the last moment he pulled me out of the wrecked car. For him it was an ordinary incident, but for me it was a shock. We visited many seedy and mysterious places, such as a slave market where orphans were traded, and a hospice where terminally ill people lived out their lives.

By showing me all this, Prabaker seemed to be testing my strength. The final test was my trip to his home village of Sunder. I lived with the Prabaker family for six months, worked with everyone else in the public fields and helped the local teacher by teaching English lessons. Prabaker's mother gave me the name Shantaram, which means "peaceful person." They tried to persuade me to stay on as a teacher, but I refused.

On the way to Bombay I was beaten and robbed. Now I had no money to rent a room at the Ananda hotel. Quite by accident, I found a source of income - I became an intermediary between foreign tourists and local hashish dealers. I moved to live in the Prabaker slums, where I was given a separate hut. Prabu arranged for Karla and me to take another excursion to the “standing monks” - people who have vowed never to sit down or lie down. There we were attacked by some half-mad man, high on hashish. He had already raised his saber over my head when the stranger, who called himself Abdullah Taheri, very quickly disarmed the madman.

On the evening of my move to the slums there was a fire and people were injured. With little first aid experience, I dove headfirst into burn care. During the fire, I met the main man of our slum, Kazim Ali Hussein. That night I found my place - I became a doctor.

Part two

I escaped from prison through a hole in the roof of the building where the guards lived. The building stood near the gate and was being repaired at that moment. My friend and I were part of the repair crew, so the guards did not pay attention to us. We managed to escape from Australia's most secure prison in broad daylight. I escaped to escape the daily brutal beatings. I dreamed about this prison at night, but I didn’t want to return there even in my dreams, so every night I wandered around silent Bombay. I didn’t see my old friends, although I missed Karla. I was completely absorbed by the craft of healing. Besides, I was ashamed that I lived in a slum.

During such a night walk, Abdullah approached me and invited me into a car parked nearby. This is how I met one of the leaders of the Bombay mafia, Abdel Kader Khan. This handsome, middle-aged man, a respected sage, introduced a system that divided the city into districts, each of which was led by a council of crime barons. People called him Khaderbhai. That evening I became closer to Abdullah. My wife and daughter were lost to me, and in Abdullah I saw a brother, just as in Khaderbhai I saw a father.

Since that night, my amateur clinic has been regularly supplied with medicines and medical instruments. Abdullah made an agreement with a doctor in one of the Bombay hospitals, and now I could send especially seriously ill patients to him. Prabaker didn't like my brother-in-law. He and other slum dwellers told me that Abdullah was Khaderbhai's assassin and a very dangerous man. I believed them, but I still liked Abdullah - we were too similar.

In my spare time when I was not sick, I was engaged in mediation, which brought me a decent income. Despite extreme poverty, people in our slums lived together like one family. Rare quarrels were settled by Kazim Ali, making very wise decisions.

Four months have passed. Occasionally I saw Carla, but I never approached her, because I was poor and lived in the slums. My knowledge of the Marathi dialect, which I perfected in the village of Prabakera, helped me a lot. Marathi is not as widely spoken as Hindi and Indians loved that I learned the language.

Carla came to me herself. That day we had lunch on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center under construction, around which our temporary slums grew. The workers set up a whole village there with farm animals, which they called the “Heavenly Village”. It was there that I first saw the word “Sapna” written on the wall in English. I was told that Sapna is the name of an unknown avenger who brutally kills the rich people of Bombay.

Carla needed my help to rescue her friend Lisa from the Palace, Madame Joux's notorious brothel. Due to the fault of this mysterious woman, Carla's lover and her friend once died. Karla did not want to use force - Madame could take revenge by splashing acid in Lisa’s face. I had to pretend to be an American embassy employee who wanted to ransom the girl on behalf of her father. Our scam was a success - we snatched Lisa from the clutches of madam. Later I confessed my love to Carla, but she didn’t want to hear about it. She hated love.

Some time later, Khaderbhai asked me to give some English lessons to his eleven-year-old nephew Tariq. The boy had to live with me in the slums to learn a life lesson. I didn’t need such responsibility, but I couldn’t refuse Khaderbhai - I respected him too much.

Part three

During the three months I lived with Tariq, I managed to become attached to an intelligent and courageous boy. He reminded me of the daughter I would never see. While returning from Khaderbhai, I witnessed an accident. The car collided with a cart, and the angry crowd almost tore to pieces two blacks - the passenger and the driver of the car. I helped them fight off and escape. The black man's name was Hassan Obikwa. Didier later reported that in the city, Obikwu is called the “Body Snatcher.”

Some time later, one of my friends’ wife became seriously ill. Paravati, Prabaker's beloved, also fell ill. These were the first signs of the cholera epidemic, which soon swept through the village. For six days Kazim Ali and I fought this disease, and Karla helped us. During one of the brief respites, she told me her story.

Carla Saarnen was born in Basel, in the family of an artist and singer. The father died, a year later the mother poisoned herself with sleeping pills, and the nine-year-old girl was taken by her uncle from San Francisco. He died three years later, and Karla was left with her aunt, who did not love the girl and deprived her of the most necessary things. High school student Carla worked part-time as a babysitter. The father of one of the children raped her and said that Carla provoked him. The aunt took the side of the rapist and kicked the fifteen-year-old orphan out of the house. Since then, love has become inaccessible to Carla. One day on a plane she met an Indian businessman, and her life changed forever. I didn’t ask who this businessman was, which I regret to this day.

When the epidemic subsided, I went to the city to earn a little extra money. The day turned out to be stormy. At first, while helping Anand, I saved a young drug addict from an overdose, then Ulla intercepted me. She needed to meet some person at Leopold's. She was afraid to go to the meeting alone and asked me for help. I felt danger, but agreed.

A few hours before the meeting, my feet led me to Carla's house. We made love for the first time, so I had to run to Leopold. On the way, the police stopped me, pushed me into a car without explanation and took me to the police station. I lived in a room of four cells, which could accommodate 40 people and housed 240, for three weeks. I was then taken to Arthur Road Prison.

Regular beatings, blood-sucking insects and hunger exhausted my strength over several months. I could not send the news to freedom - everyone who tried to help me was severely beaten, and soon my cellmates began to avoid me. Khaderbhai himself found out where I was and sent Vikram for me with a ransom.

Having recovered from prison, I began to work for Kader at his request. Karla was no longer in town. We parted too suddenly, and I was very worried: did she think that I had run away. I wanted to know by whose will I went through this hell.

By dealing in smuggled gold and fake passports, I earned good money and was able to rent a decent apartment. I rarely met my friends from the slum, and became even closer to Abdullah. I no longer tried to heal people - in prison I lost this ability along with my self-confidence.

Soon Bombay was rocked by the news of Indira Gandhi's death. These are turbulent times. I was on the international wanted list, and only an unpaid debt to Khaderbhai kept me in the city, and his influence protected me. I learned from Didier that I was put in prison on the denunciation of some woman. Kader transferred me from one type of activity to another. He wanted me to explore all the branches of his underground empire.

I met again with Lisa Carter, whom I had once rescued from Madame Zhu's stash. The girl got rid of drug addiction, and now worked in Bollywood, looking for foreigners to act as extras. On the same day I met Ulla. She again had problems with Modena and Maurizio, connected by common affairs, and I promised to help her in exchange for information about Karl. Ulla knew nothing about my arrest.

I found Karla in Goa, where we spent a week. I told my loved one that I was involved in armed robbery to get money for the drugs I became addicted to when I lost my daughter. On the last night in Goa, she asked me to stay and gave me a choice between love and work for Kader. My life could have completely changed, but I was stubborn and couldn't handle pressure. In the morning I left for Bombay

In the city, I learned that Sapna had brutally killed one of the mafia council. I had to come to grips with counterfeit passports, which I succeeded in doing. Dillier discovered that the woman who put me in prison was a foreigner living in Bombay.

It soon became known that three Africans wanted to kill me. Abdullah and I tracked down these people. This turned out to be another of Maurizio's evil tricks. He owed them a large amount of money and turned the tables on me. The Africans had to be sent home. I found Maurizio with Ulla, who lived with Lisa. I didn't kill him, which I soon regretted.

Part four

Under the leadership of Abdul Ghani, I dealt with false passports, making air travel both within India and abroad. For Lisa, I provided foreigners for filming and even starred in several episodes myself. I liked her, but memories of the disappeared Karla prevented me from getting closer to her.

Soon I had to deal with Mauricio again. Having met Modena, Ullya took money from him for safekeeping. Mauricio followed them to Ulla's apartment, and she killed him. Hassan Obikwa helped dispose of the body. Maurizio deceived a Nigerian by robbing him of money, which Modena subsequently stole and gave to Ulla. It happened in a cheap hotel. Mauricio tortured Modena for a long time to find out where the money was, and at that time Ulla was in the next room. She left without untying the unfortunate Modena. I sent a messenger to this hotel, but Modena disappeared. I used the money to buy Ulla a German passport, rent Lisa a new apartment and pay Obikwe.

Prabaker's wedding gift was "a transfer giving him ownership of the taxi." A few days later, my adopted brother Abdullah died. The police decided that he was Sapna, and Abdullah was shot in front of the police station. Before I had time to come to my senses, I was informed about the accident in which Prabaker had been involved. A handcart loaded with steel beams drove into his taxi. The lower half of his face was blown off and he died in the hospital for three days.

Losing my closest friends devastated me. I spent three months in an opium den, high on heroin. Nazir, Khaderbhai's faithful bodyguard, who used to dislike me very much, and Karla took me to a house on the coast. There I recovered for several months, trying to get rid of drug addiction. Kader assured me that Abdullah was not Sapna - he was slandered by his enemies. My named father told me about his intention to deliver ammunition, spare parts and medicine to Kandahar, which was besieged by the Russians. He intended to carry out this mission himself, and invited me with him. Afghanistan was full of warring tribes. To get to Kandahar, Khaderbhai needed a foreigner who could pretend to be an American “sponsor” of the Afghan war. This role fell to me.

Before leaving, I was able to say goodbye to Carla. This was our last night. I could refuse the dangerous journey if she admitted that she loved me, but I could not love Karl.

Posing as single travelers, we reached the border city of Karachi, where we had to hide from Russian spies - someone had betrayed us to local counterintelligence. The core of Abdel Kader Khan's detachment was formed in this city. Before leaving, Didier gave me a letter from which I learned that Madame Joux had put me in prison. Now I knew that I was going to war for the love of Khaderbhai and would return to take revenge on madam.

We spent a month in the Pakistani border city of Quetta. Kader told me how in his youth he was expelled from his native village. At the age of fifteen, he killed a man and started an inter-clan war. It ended only after Kader disappeared. Now he wanted to return to his native village, located near Kandahar, and help his relatives.

To cross the Afghan border, we went deeper into the mountain gorges. We were led by Habib Abdur Rahman. The Russians slaughtered his family and he became obsessed with revenge. From time to time we crossed the territories of warring tribes, paid tribute to the leaders, and they supplied our already large detachment with fresh food and feed for horses. The journey was dangerous because we walked at night. After the first shelling, I had to return to the profession of a doctor. Finally we reached the Mujahideen camp. During the journey, Khabib became completely mad. He slaughtered one of our wounded, ran away from the camp and started his own war.

We spent the entire winter repairing weapons for the Afghan partisans who controlled the area around Kandahar, which had been captured by the Russians. Finally Khaderbhai ordered preparations to return home. The evening before leaving revealed many secrets to me. Kader said that he had known Karla for a long time. She worked for him, looking for foreigners who could be useful to Kader. That's how she found me too. Everything was a set-up: both our meeting and our acquaintance with Abdullah. My makeshift clinic in the slums was being used as a testing ground for smuggled drugs. Kader also knew about my imprisonment. Madame Zhu helped him negotiate with politicians in exchange for my arrest. Caught up in a wave of rage, I refused to accompany Khaderbhan to his village, where he wanted to deliver the horses. The world I created in Bombay has disappeared. I lost my father, brothers and lover. However, I could not hate Kader and Karla. I still loved them.

Three days later, Nazir brought Kader’s corpse to the camp. On the same day, the camp was shelled, destroying supplies of fuel, food and medicine. After the funeral of Abdel Kader Khan, a council was held, which was chaired by the eldest Afghan, Suleiman Shahbadi. Nazir said that their detachment fell into a snare set to capture Habib, who committed atrocities, horrifying everyone. Suleiman believed that the shelling of our camp was a continuation of the hunt for Khabib.

After another mortar attack, nine people remained alive. We survived for four weeks on the meat of the only surviving goat. The camp was surrounded, and we could not get food, and the scouts we sent disappeared. Khabib suddenly appeared and said that the south-eastern direction was clear, and we decided to make our way.

On the eve of the breakthrough, one of the people from our detachment killed Khabib - he saw chains on his neck that belonged to the missing scouts. During the breakthrough, I was shell-shocked by a mortar shot.

Part five

Nazir pulled me out from under fire. In addition to a damaged eardrum, I received several minor wounds in my legs, chest and stomach. My hands were severely frostbitten, and they were not amputated only thanks to Nazir. We were saved from under fire by the people of Shah Massoud, who also fired at us, mistaking us for Russians. The survivors were transported to a Pakistani camp hospital.

It took us six weeks to get to Bombay, hiding from the Pakistani police. My blond hair and blue-gray eyes were too noticeable, and I had to change my color and wear dark glasses. Nazir aspired to Bombay more than others. He had to carry out Khaderbhai's last order - to kill some person. I was drawn by the desire to take revenge on Madame Zhu.

I did this after getting some money. Didier told me that the Palace was looted and burned by a crowd, and Madame lives somewhere in the depths of these ruins. Didier came with me. Madame Zhu was guarded by twin eunuchs. I would have had a hard time if it weren’t for Didier, who arrived at the scene of the battle with a pistol in his hand. I did not kill Madame - she was already defeated and broken.

Nazir also fulfilled Kader's last wish - he killed Abdul Ghani. He believed that Khaderbhai was spending too much money on the war and used Sapna to remove his rivals. It was because of Ghani's denunciation that the Pakistani police persecuted us.

Soon the whole of Bombay learned of Kader's death. I and the rest of his group had to temporarily lie low. When the civil strife associated with the redistribution of power was over, I again began to work on false documents, and contacted the new council through Nazir.

Despite being busy, I was lonely and longing for Abdullah, Khaderbhai and Prabaker. I had not met Carla, although I knew that she had returned to Bombay with a new friend. An affair with Lisa saved me from loneliness. She told me that Carla fled the United States by killing the man who raped her. After boarding a plane to Singapore, she met Kader and began working for him. This didn't change my attitude towards Carla. I still loved her, but my once warm feeling turned into cold adoration.

After Lisa’s story, I was overcome with deep melancholy, I thought about drugs, and at that moment Abdullah appeared in front of me, alive and well. After an encounter with the police, Abdullah was kidnapped from the station and taken to Delhi, where he spent a year being treated for near-fatal wounds. He returned to Bombay to eliminate the remaining members of Sapna's gang.

The new mafia council was headed by Salman Mustan, and Tariq was being groomed to replace him. The group was still not involved in drugs and prostitution - this disgusted Kader Khan. However, some members were inclined to drug trafficking under pressure from one of the leaders of a neighboring group named Chukha.

Soon I met Modena. Mauricio disfigured his face. Modena secretly followed Ulla's acquaintances, hoping to meet his beloved. He knew that Ulla had gone to Germany, but he was still waiting for her. Modena believed that I killed Maurizio, and was grateful to me. I didn't try to dissuade him. Modena managed to cope with the pain that Ulla and Mauricio caused him. After our meeting, I was also able to admit that I was to blame for the breakup of my family and come to terms with this guilt. During this peaceful period, I was almost happy - I had money and Lisa.

Having reached an agreement with Sapna’s surviving accomplice, Chukha decided to oppose our group. We had to destroy Chukha and his minions. I participated in the operation because I could not leave Abdullah alone. We won, inheriting the territory of Chukha with drug trafficking and pornography trade. I understood that now everything would change.

Abdullah went to Sri Lanka, where at that moment there was a civil war. Kader was going to take part in it, and Abdullah and Nazir decided to continue his work and invited me with them. I agreed - there was no place for me in the new mafia. Our last meeting with Carla was peaceful. She invited me to come with her, but I refused, realizing that they didn’t love me. Carla was going to marry her rich friend, but her heart was still cold. Karla admitted that it was she who burned Madame Zhu’s house and participated in the creation of Sapna along with Gani, but did not repent of anything. I also learned that Ulla has reunited with Modena.

Sapna turned out to be indestructible - I was told that the king of the poor was gathering his own army. I spent the night after the meeting in Prabaker's slums, where I met his son, who had inherited his father's wide, beaming smile. Life went on. Retold Yulia Peskovaya

The first part tells the story of the protagonist's arrival in Bombay, where he went after escaping from an Australian prison with a false passport. There he meets Prabaker, who later became his friend, who finds the hero a cheap hotel and shows him the city. On the street of Bambay, the hero meets the brunette Carla, who is engaged in shady business.

The hero takes on a new name - Lindsay Ford (Lina for short). He meets Carla often and falls in love with her. Meet her friends. Lina appears to them as a writer, which in fact he was even before prison.

Prabaker teaches Lina Indian dialects and introduces him to the real Bambay, testing his strength. The last test for Lina was a trip to Probaker’s home village of Sunder, where they lived for six months, working together in public fields.

While returning to Bombay, Lina was beaten and robbed. Without money for a hotel room, he settles in the slums of Prabaker, where on the night of his move there is a fire. There, Lina meets the main man of the slum, Kazim Ali Hussein, and becomes a doctor.

The second part begins with Lina's memories of the prison escape. He managed to escape from prison in broad daylight. Lina decided to escape due to daily brutal beatings. Living in the slums, he stops seeing Carla and her friends. He was ashamed of his place of residence. The hero was fascinated by the practice of healing.

One day he met the head of the mafia, Abdel Kader Khan. He divided the entire city into districts, each of which was led by a council of crime barons. The main mafioso was respected by everyone and was called Khaderbhai. The main character got along with the head of the mafia. This new alliance was not approved by Prabaker and other slum residents. However, Lina's clinic was now well supplied with medicines and medical instruments.

Lina sometimes saw Karla, but did not approach her, ashamed of his poverty. One day she came to him herself. While having lunch at the Mall, Leena notices the word "Sapna", which means an avenger who kills the rich people of Bambay. Carla asks Lina to rescue her friend from Madame Zhu's brothel. They succeed.

One day Khaderbhai asked Lina to teach English to his nephew Thorik. The boy had to live in the slums with Lina.

The third part begins with Lina's memories of her daughter, who was very reminiscent of Torik. A plague began in the village. Lina, Karla and Kazi Alim are trying to overcome the disease. When the epidemic passed, Lina breaks out into the city. Where the police grab him without any explanation and put him in a cell where he spent three whole weeks. He is then transferred to Arthur Road Prison. Khaderbhai buys Leena out of prison.

The main character began working for Khaderbhai, dealing in smuggled gold and false documents. Stops treating people.

A year later, Lina finds Carla in Goa, who asks him to make a choice between his beloved and his job. Unable to bear the pressure, Lina returns to Bambay.

The fourth part tells about Lina's illegal business in counterfeit passports under the leadership of Abdul, who was soon shot by the police, who mistook him for Sapna.

Khaderbhai takes Leena on a dangerous journey to Afghanistan. Knowing that he was imprisoned by Madame Zhu, Lina decides to go to war for the love of her adopted father with the intention of returning and avenging herself.

Throughout the winter they help repair weapons for the Afghans who control the area around Kandahar. There, Lina learns from Khaderbhai that Karla is working for him, looking for foreign agents, that contraband drugs were tested in his clinic, and Khaderbhai also knew about the imprisonment. After this, Lina refuses to accompany Khaderbhai from the village, where he is killed. Breaking out of the encirclement, Lina was shell-shocked.

The fifth part begins with a description of Lina's injuries. Returning to Bombay, he changes his appearance. Regretting revenge on Madame Zhu, he looks for her in the ruins of the palace. But Lina did not kill her.

The news of Khaderbhai's death caused a new redistribution of power. The mafia was led by Salman Mustan. Lina met Abdul, who had been treated for a whole year from fatal wounds, who wanted to destroy Chukha, a member of Sapna’s gang. Friends won this confrontation. Sapna himself turned out to be indestructible.

Haven't you read "Shantaram" yet, which has the most positive reviews? Perhaps, after reading the summary of the work, you will want to do this. A description of the famous creation of Gregory David Roberts and its plot are presented in this article.

Briefly about the novel

Surely you have already heard something about such a novel as “Shantaram”. Quotes from the work are increasingly appearing on social media pages. What is the secret of his popularity?

The novel "Shantaram" is a work whose volume is about 850 pages. However, this does not stop numerous readers. "Shantaram" is a book that is recognized as one of the best novels of the early 21st century. This is the confession of a man who managed to escape from the abyss and survive, to survive. The novel became a real bestseller. It has earned comparisons with the works of such famous authors as Hemingway and Melville.

"Shantaram" is a book based on real events. Its hero, like the author, hid from the law for many years. After divorcing his wife, he was deprived of parental rights, then became a drug addict and committed a series of robberies. An Australian court sentenced him to 19 years in prison. However, in the second year, Roberts escaped from a maximum security prison, like Shantaram. Quotes from his interviews often appear in the press. Roberts' further life is connected with India, where he was a smuggler and counterfeiter.

In 2003, Shantaram was published (by G. D. Roberts, pictured below). The work impressed reviewers at the Washington Post and USA Today. A film adaptation of the book "Shantaram" is currently being planned. The producer of the film should be Johnny Depp himself.

Today many people advise reading "Shantaram". Reviews about it are the most positive. However, the novel is quite large in volume, and not everyone can handle it. Therefore, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the retelling of the novel "Shantaram". The summary will give you some idea about this work.

The story is told on behalf of a man who escaped from prison. The setting of the novel is India. Shantaram is the name of the main character, also known as Lindsay Ford (this is the name he hides under). Lindsay arrives in Bombay. Here he meets the “best guide in the city” Prabaker, who finds him cheap accommodation and also volunteers to show him the city.

Ford almost gets hit by a bus due to the heavy traffic on the streets, but Carla, a green-eyed brunette, saves the main character. This girl often visits the Leopold bar, where Ford soon becomes a regular. He understands that this is a semi-criminal place, and Carla is also involved in some kind of shady business.

Lindsay makes friends with Prabaker, as well as with Carla, with whom he often meets and falls more and more in love with her. Prabaker shows the main character the “real Bombay”. He teaches him to speak Marathi and Hindi - the main Indian dialects. Together they visit a market where orphans are sold, as well as one of the hospices where terminally ill patients live out their lives. Prabaker, showing Ford all this, seems to be testing his strength.

Ford lives with his family for six months. He works with others in the public fields and also helps one teacher who teaches English classes. Prabaker's mother calls the main character Shantaram, which means "peaceful man." They persuade him to stay and become a teacher, but he refuses.

Ford is robbed and beaten on the way to Bombay. Having lost his funds, he is forced to become an intermediary between hashish dealers and foreign tourists. Ford now lives in the Prabaker slum. During the hero’s visit to the “standing monks”, who have vowed never to lie down or sit down, Carla and Ford are attacked by a man with a weapon, stoned on hashish. The stranger, introducing himself as Abdullah Taheri, neutralizes the madman.

Then a fire breaks out in the slums. Ford, knowing the basics of first aid, begins to treat burns. During the fire, Shantaram finally decides to become a doctor. The author then proceeds to present the second part of the novel.

Second part

Ford escaped from Australia's most secure prison in broad daylight. He crawled through a hole in the roof of the building in which the guards lived. The prisoners were repairing this building, and Ford was among them, so the guards did not pay attention to him. The main character ran, trying to escape the brutal beatings he suffered every day.

At night, the fugitive Shantaram sees prison in his dreams. We will not describe the description of his dreams. To avoid them, the hero wanders around Bombay at night. Ford is ashamed of living in a slum and not seeing his old friends. He misses Carla, but is focused on his craft as a healer.

Abdullah introduces the main character to one of the leaders of the local mafia named Abdel Kader Khan. This is a sage and a respected person by all. He divided Bombay into districts, each ruled by a council of crime lords. Residents call Abdel Khaderbhai. The main character gets along with Abdullah. Ford has lost his daughter and wife forever, so he sees him as a brother and Abdel as a father.

Ford's clinic, after meeting Khaderbhai, is supplied with medical instruments and medicines. Prabaker doesn't like Abdullah because the slum dwellers believe he is an assassin. Ford is involved not only with the clinic, but also with mediation. This brings the hero significant income.

So 4 months pass. The hero sometimes sees Karla, but does not approach the girl, fearing his own poverty. Carla comes to him herself. They have lunch, and Ford learns about a certain Sapna - an avenger who kills the rich people of the city.

The main character helps Carla rescue her friend Lisa from a brothel. This Palace, owned by Madame Zhu, is notorious in Bombay. Once upon a time, due to Madame’s fault, Carla’s lover died. Ford poses as an employee of the American embassy, ​​on behalf of the girl's father, who wants to ransom her. The hero explains to Carla, but she says that she hates love.

The third part

A cholera epidemic sweeps through the slums, and soon the entire village. Ford fights the disease for 6 days, Carla helps him. The girl tells the hero her story. She was born in Basel, her father was an artist, and her mother was a singer. The girl’s father died, and a year later her mother poisoned herself with sleeping pills. After this, 9-year-old Carla was taken in by an uncle who lived in San Francisco. Three years later he died, and the girl remained with her aunt. She did not love Carla, and she did not even receive the most necessary things.

When Carla became a high school student, she began working as a nanny. One day, the father of the child she was visiting raped her and announced that Carla had provoked him. The aunt sided with the rapist. She kicked Carla out of the house. At this time she was 15 years old. Since then, love has become inaccessible to Carla. She came to India after meeting an Indian businessman on a plane.

Ford, having stopped the epidemic, goes to the city to earn money. Ulla, one of Karla's friends, asked him to meet someone at Leopold's, since she was afraid to go alone to meet him. Ford senses impending danger, but agrees. Shortly before this meeting, the hero meets Carla, they become close.

Ford goes to jail

Ford is arrested on the way to Leopold. He spends three weeks in a police station, in an overcrowded cell, and then ends up in prison. Constant beatings, hunger and blood-sucking insects deplete Ford's strength in just a few months. He cannot send word to freedom, because those who want to help him are beaten. However, Khaderbhai finds out where Ford is. He pays a ransom for him.

Long-awaited freedom

After prison he works for Khaderbhai Shantaram. A summary of his further misadventures is as follows: he tries in vain to find Carla, but does not find her in the city. The hero thinks that the girl may have decided that he ran away. Ford wants to find out who is responsible for his misfortunes. The hero deals with fake passports and smuggled gold. He earns decent money and rents a good apartment. Ford rarely sees his friends in the slum and becomes closer and closer to Abdullah.

In Bombay, after the death of Indira Gandhi, a turbulent period ensues. The main character is on the international wanted list. Only Khaderbhai's influence saves him from prison. The hero learns that he went to prison following the denunciation of a woman. He meets with Lisa, whom he once saved from a brothel. The girl got rid of drug addiction and works in Bollywood. Ford also meets Ulla, but she does not know anything about his arrest.

Meeting with Carla in Goa

The main character finds Karla, who has gone to Goa. They spend a week together. Ford tells the girl that he committed an armed robbery in order to get money for drugs. He became addicted to them after losing his daughter. On the last night, Karla asks the hero to stay with her and not work for Khaderbhai anymore. However, Ford does not tolerate pressure and is sent back. Once in Bombay, the hero learns that Sapna killed one of the members of the mafia council, and also that he went to prison on the denunciation of a foreigner who lives in Bombay.

Fourth part

Ford, under Abdullah Ghani, is dealing with fake passports. It operates flights within India as well as abroad. He likes Lisa, but he does not dare to get close to her. Ford is still thinking about the missing Carla.

Later in the work, Gregory David Roberts describes the marriage of Prabaker, to whom Ford gives a taxi driver's license. A few days later, Abdullah dies. The police believe that he is Sapna and they shoot him outside the police station.

After some time, the main character learns that Prabaker had an accident. A cart with steel bars drove into his taxi. Prabaker was missing the lower half of his face. Within three days he was dying in the hospital. Ford, having lost his close friends, becomes depressed. He spends 3 months in an opium den, high on heroin. Karla, together with Khaderbhai's bodyguard Nazir, who has always disliked the protagonist, take him to a house on the coast. They help Ford get rid of his addiction.

Khaderbhai is convinced that Abdullah and Sapna are different people, that Abdullah was slandered by his enemies. He decides to deliver medicine, spare parts and ammunition to Kandahar, besieged by the Russians. Khaderbhai intends to personally carry out this mission, he calls Ford with him. Afghanistan is filled with tribes at war with each other. To get there, Khaderbhai needs a foreigner who can pretend to be an American "sponsor" of the war. Ford should play this role. Before leaving, the main character spends his last night with Carla. The girl wants him to stay, but cannot confess her love to Ford.

The core of Khaderbhai's detachment is formed in the border town. Before leaving, Ford learns that Madame Zhu is the woman who put him in prison. He wants to return to take revenge on her. Khaderbhai tells the main character how in his youth he was expelled from his native village. At the age of 15, he killed a man, thereby starting a war between the clans. Only after the disappearance of Khaderbhai did this war end. Now he wants to return to his native village, located near Kandahar, and wants to help his relatives. Habib Abdur Rahman leads a squad across the border into Afghanistan. He seeks revenge on the Russians who slaughtered his family. Before the squad reaches the Mujahet, Habib loses his mind. He escapes from the camp to start his own war.

The unit spends the winter repairing weapons for guerrillas from Afghanistan. Before leaving for Bombay, Ford learns that his lover worked for Khaderbhai. She was looking for foreigners who would be useful to him. So Carla found Ford. The meeting with Karla, the acquaintance with Abdullah - all this was a set-up. The slum clinic was used as a testing site for smuggled drugs. Khaderbhai, as it turned out, also knew that Ford was in prison. For the arrest of the main character, Madame Zhu helped Khaderbhai negotiate with politicians. Ford is furious, but cannot hate Karla and Khaderbhai, since he still loves them.

Gregory David Roberts further writes that after 3 days Khaderbhai dies - his detachment ends up in a snare that was set to capture Khabib. The camp is shelled, and supplies of fuel, medicine and provisions are destroyed. The new head of the detachment believes that his shelling is part of the hunt for Khabib. Only 9 people remain alive after the next raid. The camp is surrounded, there is no way to get food, and the scouts sent by the survivors disappear.

Khabib appears and reports that they can try to break through through the south-eastern direction. On the eve of the breakthrough, Habib is killed by a man from the detachment, since the chains that he sees on his neck belong to the missing scouts. During the breakthrough, Ford was shell-shocked by a shot.

These events end the fourth part of the novel "Shantaram". A summary of the final part is presented below.

Fifth part

Nazir saves Ford. The main character's hands are frostbitten, his body is injured, and his eardrum is damaged. Only Nazir's intervention saves him from having his arms amputated in a Pakistani hospital, where the squad was sent by people from a friendly tribe. For this, naturally, Shantaram thanks him.

Heroes Ford and Nazir take 6 weeks to reach Bombay. Ford wants revenge on Madame Zhu. Her Palace was burned and looted by a mob. Ford decides not to kill Madame, since she is already broken and defeated. The main character is again dealing in false documents. He contacts the new council through Nazir. Ford misses Khaderbhai, Abdullah and Prabaker. As for Carla, the affair with her is over - the girl returned to Bombay with a new friend.

His relationship with Lisa saves Ford from loneliness. The girl says that Carla left the United States after killing the man who raped her. On the plane she met Khaderbhai and began working for him. After this story, Ford is overcome with melancholy. The main character is thinking about drugs, but then Abdullah appears alive and well. He was abducted from the station after an encounter with the police and was then taken to Delhi. Here Abdullah was treated for serious wounds for about a year. He returned to Bombay to deal with the remaining members of Sapna's gang.

Ford eventually admits to himself that he himself destroyed his own family. He comes to terms with his guilt. The hero is almost happy, because he has Lisa and money. Civil war begins in Sri Lanka. Khaderbhai wanted to participate in it. Nazir and Abdullah volunteer to continue his work. Ford has no place in the new mafia, so he also goes to fight.

The main character sees Carla for the last time. The girl invites him to stay with her, but Ford refuses. He understands that she doesn't love him. Carla marries a rich friend, but her heart is still cold. The girl admits that it was she who burned down Madame Zhu’s house.

Finale of the work

Ford learns that Sapna is gathering her army. The main character, after meeting Carla, goes to the Prabaker slums, where he spends the night. He meets the son of his deceased friend. He inherited his father's smile. Ford understands that life goes on.

This ends Shantaram. The summary of the work, as we have already said, should become the basis for the upcoming film. After its release, we will have another opportunity to get acquainted with the plot of the novel without reading it. However, numerous reviews indicate that Shantaram is still worth reading. A film adaptation or summary of a work cannot convey its artistic value. You can fully appreciate the novel only by turning to the original.

Surely you want to know when the film "Shantaram" will appear. Its release date is unknown, and the trailer has not yet appeared. Let's hope that the film will still be made. Numerous fans of the novel are waiting for this. "Shantaram", the chapters of which we briefly described, certainly deserves a film adaptation. Well, wait and see!

(Scribe Publications, Australia)

Plot

The main character is a former drug addict and robber who escaped from an Australian prison, where he was serving a nineteen-year sentence. After some time spent in Australia and New Zealand, he arrives in Bombay using a false passport in the name of Lindsay Ford. Thanks to his personal qualities, he quickly makes acquaintances and friends among local residents and foreigners living in Bombay. The peasant woman, the mother of the hero’s Indian friend, gives him the Indian name Shantaram, which means “peaceful man” or “a man to whom God has granted a peaceful fate” in translation from Marathi. He makes a living by acting as an intermediary in small illegal transactions. Settles in slums, where he provides medical care to their residents. Makes many acquaintances in criminal circles. Following a denunciation, he ends up in prison, where he spends 4 months in terrible conditions. After his release, he begins to work for the major Bombay mafia Abdel Kader Khan, who treats Shantaram like a son.

Lindsay is involved in the illegal trade of currency and gold, then counterfeit passports. In a short period of time, two of his closest friends die; Unable to recover from the tragedy, Lindsay spends 3 months in a den, using heroin. Kader Khan gets him out of there and helps him overcome his drug addiction. Then he offers to go together to Kader’s homeland in Afghanistan, where there was a war at that time. Lindsay agrees. Their caravan is carrying tools, weapons and medicine to a detachment of Mujahideen fighting near Kandahar.

Kader Khan and most of his squad are killed in Afghanistan. Lindsay manages to return to Bombay, where he continues to collaborate with the mafia.

The action of the novel is interspersed with descriptions of the protagonist's experiences and philosophical reflections. Characters often express their thoughts in aphoristic form. All the characters in the novel are fictional, but the events described are real. Thus, in Bombay there is a cafe “Leopold” with marble halls, there is indeed a Bollywood film “Paanch Papi”, in which the main character appears (and Roberts himself is easily recognizable in it). In addition, there is a tour bureau named after Prabaker in the city, opened by his brother, and if you wish, you can find yourself in the slums where Lin lived and see Rukhmabai - the woman who gave him the name Shantaram.

Characters

• Lindsay Ford, aka Lin, Linbaba, aka Shantaram, the main character on whose behalf the story is told.
• Prabaker is Lindsay's friend. An outgoing and optimistic young Indian born in a village and living in a slum, the first person Lin meets in Bombay dies as the story progresses.
• Carla Saarnen is a beautiful young Swiss woman with whom Lin falls in love, but who has many dark secrets.
• Abdel Kader Khan is the head of the local mafia clan, an Afghan. A wise and reasonable, but tough man, whom Lin begins to love as a father. Dies in battle in Afghanistan.
• Abdullah Taheri is an Iranian who fled the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini mafia. Becomes a close friend of the main character. He dies during the development of the plot, but turns out to be alive.
• Vikram Patel is an Indian friend of Lin's. Lover of Westerns and cowboy style. In love with Letty.
• Lisa Carter is a young American prostitute in Madame Zhu's palace, freed by Carla and Lin.
• Nazir - Kader's taciturn bodyguard, initially treats Lin with hostility.
• Maurizio Belcane - Italian, swindler. Very handsome in appearance, but a vile and cowardly person. Killed by Ulla.
• Ulla is a German prostitute released from the Palace. Lover of Modena.
• Modena is a Spaniard, Maurizio's accomplice, Ulla's lover.
• Didier Levy - a regular at Leopold, French, gay, swindler, hedonist. Lina's friend.
• Letty is English and works in Bollywood.
• Kavita Singh is an independent Indian journalist and feminist.
• Khaled Ansari is a Palestinian member of the Mafia council whose entire family was killed by the Israelis. Carla's ex-lover.
• Abdul Ghani is a Pakistani and a member of the mafia council. Subsequently he turns out to be a traitor. Killed by Nazir.
• Johnny Cigar is a young Indian man living in the slums. Orphan. Friend of Lin and Prabaker.
• Madame Zhu is the owner of the "Palace", an elite underground brothel. Perhaps she is Russian, leads a secretive lifestyle, is cruel and ruthless.
• Kishan and Rukhmabai - Prabaker's parents
• Parvati - Prabaker's wife
• Kazim Ali Hussein - elder in the slums
• Hassan Obikwa - Nigerian, mafioso who controls the Bombay area where people of African descent live
• Sapna is a mysterious character who commits brutal murders in the city.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Shantaram

Princess Marya looked at her friend, not understanding what she was saying.
“Oh, if only someone knew how much I don’t care now,” she said. - Of course, I would never want to leave him... Alpatych told me something about leaving... Talk to him, I can’t do anything, I don’t want anything...
– I talked to him. He hopes that we will have time to leave tomorrow; but I think that now it would be better to stay here,” said m lle Bourienne. - Because, you see, chere Marie, falling into the hands of soldiers or rioting men on the road would be terrible. - M lle Bourienne took out from her reticule an announcement on a non-Russian extraordinary paper from the French General Rameau that residents should not leave their homes, that they would be given due protection by the French authorities, and handed it to the princess.
“I think it’s better to contact this general,” said m lle Bourienne, “and I’m sure that you will be given due respect.”
Princess Marya read the paper, and dry sobs shook her face.
-Who did you get this through? - she said.
“They probably found out that I’m French by name,” said m lle Bourienne, blushing.
Princess Marya, with a paper in her hand, stood up from the window and, with a pale face, left the room and went to the former office of Prince Andrei.
“Dunyasha, call Alpatych, Dronushka, someone to me,” said Princess Marya, “and tell Amalya Karlovna not to come to me,” she added, hearing the voice of m lle Bourienne. - Hurry up and go! Go quickly! - said Princess Marya, horrified by the thought that she could remain in the power of the French.
“So that Prince Andrei knows that she is in the power of the French! So that she, the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky, asks Mr. General Rameau to provide her with protection and enjoy his benefits! “This thought terrified her, made her shudder, blush and feel attacks of anger and pride that she had not yet experienced. Everything that was difficult and, most importantly, offensive in her position, was vividly imagined to her. “They, the French, will settle in this house; Mr. General Rameau will occupy the office of Prince Andrei; It will be fun to sort through and read his letters and papers. M lle Bourienne lui fera les honneurs de Bogucharovo. [Mademoiselle Bourien will receive him with honors in Bogucharovo.] They will give me a room out of mercy; soldiers will destroy their father's fresh grave to remove crosses and stars from him; they will tell me about victories over the Russians, they will feign sympathy for my grief... - Princess Marya thought not with her own thoughts, but feeling obligated to think for herself with the thoughts of her father and brother. For her personally, it didn’t matter where she stayed and no matter what happened to her; but at the same time she felt like a representative of her late father and Prince Andrei. She involuntarily thought with their thoughts and felt them with their feelings. Whatever they would say, whatever they would do now, that is what she felt necessary to do. She went to Prince Andrei’s office and, trying to penetrate his thoughts, pondered her situation.
The demands of life, which she considered destroyed with the death of her father, suddenly arose with a new, still unknown force before Princess Marya and overwhelmed her. Excited, red-faced, she walked around the room, demanding first Alpatych, then Mikhail Ivanovich, then Tikhon, then Dron. Dunyasha, the nanny and all the girls could not say anything about the extent to which what M lle Bourienne announced was fair. Alpatych was not at home: he had gone to see his superiors. The summoned Mikhail Ivanovich, the architect, who came to Princess Marya with sleepy eyes, could not say anything to her. With exactly the same smile of agreement with which he had been accustomed for fifteen years to respond, without expressing his opinion, to the old prince’s appeals, he answered Princess Marya’s questions, so that nothing definite could be deduced from his answers. The summoned old valet Tikhon, with a sunken and haggard face, bearing the imprint of incurable grief, answered “I listen with” to all the questions of Princess Marya and could hardly restrain himself from sobbing, looking at her.
Finally, the elder Dron entered the room and, bowing low to the princess, stopped at the lintel.
Princess Marya walked around the room and stopped opposite him.
“Dronushka,” said Princess Marya, who saw in him an undoubted friend, the same Dronushka who, from his annual trip to the fair in Vyazma, brought her his special gingerbread every time and served her with a smile. “Dronushka, now, after our misfortune,” she began and fell silent, unable to speak further.
“We all walk under God,” he said with a sigh. They were silent.
- Dronushka, Alpatych has gone somewhere, I have no one to turn to. Is it true that they tell me that I can’t leave?
“Why don’t you go, your Excellency, you can go,” said Dron.
“They told me it was dangerous from the enemy.” Darling, I can’t do anything, I don’t understand anything, there’s no one with me. I definitely want to go at night or early tomorrow morning. – The drone was silent. He glanced at Princess Marya from under his brows.
“There are no horses,” he said, “I told Yakov Alpatych too.”
- Why not? - said the princess.
“It’s all from God’s punishment,” said Dron. “Which horses there were were dismantled for use by the troops, and which ones died, what year it is today.” It’s not like feeding the horses, but making sure we don’t die of hunger ourselves! And they sit like that for three days without eating. There is nothing, they are completely ruined.
Princess Marya listened carefully to what he told her.
- Are the men ruined? Do they have no bread? – she asked.
“They’re dying of starvation,” said Dron, “not like the carts...”
- Why didn’t you tell me, Dronushka? Can't you help? I will do everything I can... - It was strange for Princess Marya to think that now, at such a moment, when such grief filled her soul, there could be rich and poor people and that the rich could not help the poor. She vaguely knew and heard that there was master's bread and that it was given to the peasants. She also knew that neither her brother nor her father would refuse the needs of the peasants; she was only afraid of somehow making a mistake in her words about this distribution of bread to the peasants, which she wanted to dispose of. She was glad that she was presented with an excuse for concern, one for which she was not ashamed to forget her grief. She began asking Dronushka for details about the needs of the men and about what was lordly in Bogucharovo.