Point of View

The book is written from the first person point of view and told from Lindsay's perspective. He describes all of the settings, people and all of the action that takes place in the novel. Robert's love of India is evident in the attitude of his main character, Lindsay, and in many of the other characters.

Usually the use of the first person is limiting to the reader who is only knowledgeable about events that occur in the presence of the story teller. This is true of Shantaram also, but there is so much detail, dialogue and background information throughout the book that the reader isn't in any way deprived by the use of the first person. The reader doesn't miss much of anything with Robert's style of writing. The author has a positive attitude toward India and so do his characters.

Setting

The book has various...