The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)

The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)
by Aravind Adiga

The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Aravind Adiga
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-14
ISBN: 1416562605
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Free Press

Book Reviews of The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)

Book Review: Move over slumdog millionaire
Summary: 5 Stars

This is the best insight into the realities of life in the Sub-continent. The analogies used in the book are witty and powerful at the same time and perhaps the one that appeals to the reader the most is that of the chicken coop. This book is brutal, detailed, witty and an absolutely brilliant piece of literature. To me it has become a classic in modern literature and puts to shame the previous winners of the Booker Prize like the rather insipid "The Gathering". It will not take you long to read this book but you will, through its course, traverse both the glitzy roads of a fast developing India and its much-less-talked-about under belly. The novel is written in the form of a letter composed by the proverbial Indian villager. The narrative is full of sharp wit, emotion and brutal honesty that moves you to the edge of your seat. This has to be one of the finest books to come out in the last few years.

Summary of The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)

Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen.

Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.

Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.

Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation -- and a startling, provocative debut.

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