Owner Semperviva Health and Yoga Center

What book is on your bedside table?
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

How did you come across the book?
In one of my most favourite places to shop, the book store on Galiano Island.

Page-turner or doorstop?
Page-turner!

Would you put it on your Desert Island list?
Absolutely.

How would you describe the book in one word?
Spellbinding.

If you had to design a poster for the book, what would it look like?
It would be very similar to its beautiful cover which depicts a temple in golden sunlight.

What’s the main idea/theme of this book?
Shantaram is a spellbinding story of a man who is an activist with a strong social conscience. When life’s tragedies strike, he becomes addicted to heroin and ends up in prison. He escapes from prison and his story continues in India where he finds himself living in a slum in Bombay and operating a free clinic for the slum dwellers. His tale continues with involvement in the Bombay mafia, passport smuggling, gun running and drug trafficking. This book is certainly action packed, and fascinating because it is all true. Throughout the good and the bad events of Gregory David Robert’s life you can somehow still feel his innate goodness.

List three new words you learned in the book.
I’m not sure I learned any new words. The language is fairly straightforward and clear. I did learn some interesting new names though: Chula, Sapna, Prabaker, Jeetendra.

Who would you recommend the book to?
To everyone who loves to get lost in a story, and fall in love. By Erica Gehrke who bravely joined our Circus at SharedVision as Editorial Intern.