Shantaram

I just finished a totally amazing book: Shantaram. Basically, it's the story of this Australian guy who broke out of a maximum security prison and somehow arrived in India. He ends up living in the slums, getting involved in the mafia, fighting in Afghanistan...and it's just the most amazing story.

The MOST amazing part, though, is that the story is true, but the characters are not true. The characters are what I fell in love with in the book. He must be a serious genius because these characters are all so amazing, and the dialog that they have is brilliant. When I thought it was real, I was impressed that he was able to remember it so well - since it's so creative, but now that I know he made it up, it's really unreal.

Apparently there is a movie being made of this book, but please don't wait until then to learn the story and meet Prabakar. READ THE BOOK!!!

I'm not sure what I should say about the fact that I have read TONS of books since I moved to Singapore, and my two favorites have been about life in India (and the one about gay guys in Sri Lanka came in a close third). A Fine Balance was the other. (and Funny Boys was the Sri Lanka one).