Book : The White Tiger
Author : Aravind Adiga
Genre : Contemporary
The white tiger was a smashing debut from Indian author Aravind Adiga. and the year it debuted, it won the prestigious man booker prize( 2008-the fortieth Man Booker prize). Cool right!
I first saw this book in the hands of my friend while in school.I managed to read 20 pages or so before the bell rang and had to immediately return the book. But not before making a decision to search,find and read it.
But unfortunately like all good decisions, I couldn't follow it through.Whenever I used visit the library in hopes of finding this book( I visited three of them), my hopes always got shattered. Someone would have already taken it before me. In the end I gave up and turned my attention to other books.
Two weeks ago I college started and on my first visit to the library I found the book that has been giving me the slip for two years--The White Tiger.
So this is the review I have been waiting to write for two years.( Thanks for staying with me through all that rambling).
If you are a foreigner i'm sure you will love this book. It provides a rather fresh perspective of writing about the poor in India. This novel is coming together of people from various castes, regions and ideologies and is held together by the memories of the protagonist Balram Halwai.
But if you are Indian you won't necessarily agree with the way Balram ascends to power.And even though you know all the facts in the book to be true, something , something I don't know what ! Feels like undigested food in the stomach.
It maybe the lackluster of action (not suspense) , I love some action in stories because that's in almost all the books I read.
That being said however i admit that I Love the book. The story was a little slow paced for my taste but I loved the characters-so three dimensional, the plot-linear yet twisted and the setting-dark.
The story is of Balram halwai, who is from the caste of halwai-sweet makers,his ascension to the business worlds of Bangalore and his life in between which forms the crux of the story. And all this is written in the form of long( very long) emails to the Chinese premier who is scheduled to visit India soon.
RATING : 4.5/5
Indian Readers can click on this links to buy :
AMAZON
Others can buy from :
AMAZON
I reduced 0.5 because the pace is a little slow for me.But I think you might give it a five.Why don't you read it and tell me. I would love to hear your thoughts.
P.s : one of my favourite comments from Balram is about the sacred river Ganga. Sacred or not...Facts are Facts.
OR 