Shantaram

by Gregory David Roberts

作者真是一個感情極豐富又細膩的人，他筆下的印度變得好可愛、好動人，恐怕看完他的書去印度旅遊的人要大大失望吧。我想，作者實在太喜歡印度了。

他筆下的黑社會人人義薄雲天、智計過人，而且大部分都英俊不凡，第一次碰面就能讓作者由衷地喜歡、信任。

他住過的貧民窟井然有序，居民互助互愛，儼然是桃源仙境。

他身邊的人來自五湖四海，每個人說話都有獨特的風格，好像Prabaker，每次他說話我都忍不住會心微笑的，我很懷疑這些神髓能否在翻譯中保留下來。

我也非常欣賞作者以聊聊數語，生動地描寫出人物的神態。例如：

Karla的眼睛：It was the green that trees are, in vivid dreams. It was the green that the sea would be, if the sea were perfect.　

Abdullah的眼睛：His eyes were the colour of sand, in the palm of your hand, a few minutes before the sun sinks below the sea.

Ahmed Zadeh的眼睛：Ahmeh Zadeh wore an expression that made him look as if he was searching for a friend in a crowd of strangers.

另外，還有作者藉Karla、Didier或其他人口中的雋語，可見作者對世情百態作過很多思考，然後在書裡和讀者分享：

Sometimes you have to surrender before you win.

When the wish and the fear are exactly the same, we call the dream a nightmare.

Rude means that we like to do it, even when people tell us not to.

The surest way to hurt someone you like, is to put all your trust in him.