Dan's Reading Journal

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Gregory David Roberts (GDR) has a backstory that should rank up there with all the phonies you have read about, but does not because it is (unbelievably, unfortunately, and incredibly) real.  So real is the experience and so overwhelming, that it provokes quotes like the following in response to a question about Hannah Arendt's observation regarding "the banality of evil" (first used to describe Adolf Eichman sitting in the dock during his trial in Israel); "a phrase like “the banality of evil” doesn’t mean anything. That phrase is typical of a lot of the philosophy of the 20th century in my view; it is the philosophy of appearance, the philosophy of phrases that look more clever than they actually are. The second thing is, if you’ve actually been chained to a wall and tortured, the last thing it is is banal."
See Interview with Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram is an epic in the style of the great adventure stories and I will not take anything away from GDR's story by telling you that the outline of the novel is completely biographical, yet is fiction.  Typically, a novelist's first (and sometimes second, third and every) book is based on their personal experiences, and in GDR's case, it appears he had enough for a dozen books, but fit a lot into the almost thousand pages of his first.  It is worth the reading on a couple of levels.  First, it is a hell of a story.  If you liked Papillion, you will like Shantaram.  If you liked The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask, you will like Shantaram.  It is a rollicking story of success, failure, adventure, lost loves, betrayal, brutality, and redemption. It has prison breaks and all too real descriptions of third-world incarceration and corruption.  It has murder, mayhem, and the mafia. Second, it is a fascinating look at India.  If you read and liked A Fine Balance or City of Joy, you will find the insights that GDR has to offer of equal interest. Want an idea of what it is like to live in a Bombay slum, here it is as vivid and compelling as I have found anywhere.  Want a picture of village life, here it is, with wonderful detail and insight. The city of Bombay and the village of Sunder are major characters in this novel. Geography or place plays a large role in the shaping of events, thoughts, and behavior.  Where you are from matters and GDR does a very good job of weaving that reality into his story.  Third, it is a credible (with a few incredible moments) story of personal journey and the contrasts that make us the personalities that we are.  Drug runner, mafia enforcer, black market currency operator vs. slum medical clinic founder/operator, anti-Soviet mujahadeen in Afghanistan, slum dweller. Do opposites really attract?  I do not know the answer, but do know that they combine fantastically in the personality of Gregory Roberts. Finally, in many ways, it is a story of redemption, and I will let Gregory Roberts tell you about that.

At the end, Shantaram is a lot of things, but most interestingly, it is a window into a most unusual man - an intellectual criminal, a philosophical freedom fighter, a modern samurai to his modern mafia master, a great and caring friend, with an incredibly strong and flexible psyche.  I highly recommend Shantaram.

Everyman by Philip Roth

Philip Roth is revered, and I suspect he should be.  Philip Roth did not (according to the New York Times Review of Books) write the best work of American fiction in the last 25 years.  That honor went to Toni Morrison's Beloved.  Roth was runner up with American Pastoral, but also received votes for 5 other novels.  Interestingly, out of the 20 odd books nominated with multiple votes, Roth wrote 6 of them.  So I do believe he might be termed the best American novelist of the past 25 years.

Everyman returns to a common Roth theme, the common human theme of diminished vitality due to aging. We follow our protagonist from child of immigrant father and younger brother to young man rising in the business world, to husband and father, to illness and recovery, to health and then illness, decline and then death. Roth has the knack of creating and explaining entire relationships in a few sentences -- with a few, brief phrases we recognize the situation, the drama, the complexity, and the frustrations and joys.  It is truly the work of an artist at the top of his game. True, Roth's common themes (this is his 27th book) are still there -- his Jewish upbringing (both the plusses and minuses from Roth's perspective, family ties (and the lack thereof); sex (never enough)....these will be familiar to the Roth reader.

Roth has a memory for detail and situation that rings true - sometimes so true it is unbelievable.  Perhaps that is the mark of artistry - to take an event and make it ring true to so many, for each individual reader to say, "oh my, that is exactly how I felt" when we all know that all of us could hardly have felt the same....and yet, there it is.  Roth did that for me as he described the young boy's trip to the hospital to have a hernia repaired.  I would have believed that he was describing my experience, the fear, the anticipation, the fascination with what was going on with the child in the bed next to mine - all of it seemingly my life, not Roth's character.  In that lies genius and for that alone it is worth reading Everyman, for I have no doubt that many of us will find the moment of our unique experience that Roth has captured so incredibly well.  Whether it is accomplishment or loss; the relationship you had with your father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, son; the thoughts of envy or superiority; winning or losing; or elation or depression; I am betting one or more of those emotions/feelings come alive for you from Roth's pen.

Everyman also reminds me of either how far away from normal I have come, or how far away Roth and his experience are from my notion of normal.  Roth's character marries thrice by choice (that is, no spouse dies); is estranged from his children by the first marriage; has numerous affairs including one with a women half his age and is invited to engage in sexual practices that are, shall we say, unusual.  Reality?  Fantasy?  Or is this some strange combination of the above?  Most of us do not marry three times.  Most men do not have affairs with women half their age, do they?  When did I veer off so far from this so-called normality?

With that, however, many of the Roth's other observations continue to ring true - the wistfulness of past virility/energy/power; the regret at having not said what should have been said to both loved ones and enemies; the loss of friends and family, all this Roth has nailed down beautifully.  Certainly, there is as much, if not more, to dislike in this man's life as there might be to admire but just as certainly there are those things -- good and bad -- that we recognize as true of and for ourselves.  That is indeed what Everyman set out to do and did indeed accomplish.

The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter

This is definitely not a case of unbiased objective reporting.  Jonathan Alter (a Newsweek senior editor) is a fan, an interpreter, and on occasion, a bit of an apologist. However, he also looks at Roosevelt with a clear eye and does not gloss over or ignore that which is unpleasant about the man, his motives, and his actions.  Alter is also a very good writer and The Defining Moment is an easy, interesting read.

Alter focuses on the first 100 days of FDR's Presidency with heavy references to influences, incidents, and intrigues that preceded his inauguration.  A bit of childhood, a bit of college, and a bit of early politics are used to explain (or introduce) a number of character traits that are viewed later (with perfect hindsight) as productive virtues.  These include FDR's easy going style that avoided confrontation, his uncanny ability to seem to agree with his discussion partner while committing to nothing specific, his tendency to delay decision-making, and then when forced, to be a broad and vague as possible, and his tendency to pit his advisors against each other when wrestling with a problem.  There are also those that can be seen as virtues from the beginning  -- including FDR's ability to talk with almost anyone from any background, his ability to be a "long-rifle" (i.e., to see into the future, what Alter calls "longheadedness"), his incredible courage and stamina, his bias for experimentation and action, and ultimately, his caring for, and faith in, "the people".

Alter also rehashes a lot of well-trod ground in recounting FDR's privileged background, his close relationship to his mother, his marriage to Eleanor, his philandering, and his polio.  All of this is readable, but adds little to what most of us already know.

Alter shows us an FDR who was a consummate politician with all the ugly ramifications thereof - making the case that FDR might have well allowed the economy to sink even lower than it might (by his withholding of agreement with Hoover) prior to his inauguration so that he might look even better upon entering office. 

Perhaps what Alter does add to the body of FDR knowledge, interpretation, and mythology is his illumination around FDR's willingness to experiment and fail - his bias for action.  Whether that be the Civilian Conservation Corps (successful) or his attempt to pack the Supreme Court (an unmitigated failure), Alter shows us an FDR whose modern day mantra would have been "lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way".  Alter shows an FDR with supreme courage and confidence in his own convictions, a man who held his views relatively close to the vest but who also wanted, encouraged, and devoured outside opinions.

Alter also tends to put great weight behind the emotional and psychological impact that FDR had on the country -- the spiritual "lift" that was created by his actions, his fireside chats, and his obvious engagement (as opposed to Hoover's perceived aloofness from "the people").  FDR's bias for action and experimentation did a lot to create this "lift" -- politically, action was almost as good as result.  In truth, Alter is also left with having to explain that beyond the appearance of progress, the actuality of progress was not so much until war production started to impact the economy.  Some really good things happened -- a strengthened banking system, more controls on robber-barons, social security and others. But there was nothing like producing guns, tanks, and munitions for getting ourselves back on our feet and Alter does not shrink from this conclusion.

In all, Alter's FDR is a more human version of the myth, but unlike some reviewers, I believe that FDR is not diminished by that humanity (with all of its attendant failings) nor is he diminished by fact that many of his actions did nor produce the immediate result of ending the depression.  Many of those actions have stood the test of time.  Moreover, Roosevelt did the one thing that must have been the hardest thing not to do -- he refused to become a dictator and he could have done so.  Many encouraged him to do so, Congress was ready to pass extraordinary legislation mandating great powers to the President.  While occasionally lamenting his decision (mostly tongue-in-cheek), FDR, for whatever combinations of faith and personality, refused to take that road.  Alter, in his analysis of both the man and the moment, show us that this alone would have been enough to make Franklin Delano Roosevelt a great President -- and this makes The Defining Moment worth the time.