Fatima Mahamed

Gregory is the best writer ever! No book comes close to Shataram and Mountain Shadow. I couldn't put them down, and read them both twice. Lin makes you like or dislike the same people he does by his character analysis. Shataram was deeper in a sense that it made you live in the slum and meet Khaderbhai and go through the wars in their shoes, and freeze and starve. There is a little less "India" in Mountain Shadow but the writing is definitive and takes you through full, intense scenario in each chapter. I love the philosophies that end each chapter.

Best book ever. You are taken through such diverse plots, become part of the characters. The writing is magnificent. I'm reading it the second time and its even better. Gregory writes with depth, you feel every moment as if you are in the book, you feel the charaters emotions and experiences. The fact that its set in India makes it so much more colorful. Excellent read, with no other book ever coming close to Shantaram!