Aravind Adiga's riveting, razor-sharp debut novel The White Tiger explores with wit and insight the realities of these two India's, and reveals what happens when the inhabitants of one collude and then collide with those of the other. Adiga has been gutsy in tackling a complex and urgent subject. His is a novel that has come not a moment too soon.
It describes the story of Balram a boy born in the Darkness - sold into indentured servitude to pay off the dowry debts associated with marrying of a daughter. Balram, told by a school inspector that he is a White Tiger - something born once a generation, rises through sheer ambition to become a driver for a local landlord. He is brought to Delhi to serve as driver for Ashok - the son of the landlord.
A pivotal moment of the book occurs when Ashok's wife demands to drive after a wild night out with her husband. On the way home, she hits and kills a young child. From this point, Balram begins a series of rebellions leading up to the murder of Ashok and the theft of millions of rupees. Balram runs away to the southern coast - to Bangalore, the tech capital - and sets up a taxi system for tech companies with the help of bribery of the police. When one of his drivers accidentally kills someone, he uses his connections in the police to sweep it under the rug. He protects his driver. Yet he insists on going to the family's house, paying his respects, giving them thousands of rupees, and hiring the killed boy's brother. The system is not dead, yet Adiga suggests it is changing as the few servants who free themselves change it from within.
Balram’s violent bid for freedom is shocking. What, we’re left to ask, does it make him -- just another thug in India’s urban jungle or a revolutionary and idealist ? It’s a sign of this book’s quality, as well as of its moral seriousness, that it keeps you guessing to the final page and beyond.
Other Booker Price Winner Books and nominees
* Sea of Poppies
* The secret scripture
* Clothes on their backs
It describes the story of Balram a boy born in the Darkness - sold into indentured servitude to pay off the dowry debts associated with marrying of a daughter. Balram, told by a school inspector that he is a White Tiger - something born once a generation, rises through sheer ambition to become a driver for a local landlord. He is brought to Delhi to serve as driver for Ashok - the son of the landlord.
A pivotal moment of the book occurs when Ashok's wife demands to drive after a wild night out with her husband. On the way home, she hits and kills a young child. From this point, Balram begins a series of rebellions leading up to the murder of Ashok and the theft of millions of rupees. Balram runs away to the southern coast - to Bangalore, the tech capital - and sets up a taxi system for tech companies with the help of bribery of the police. When one of his drivers accidentally kills someone, he uses his connections in the police to sweep it under the rug. He protects his driver. Yet he insists on going to the family's house, paying his respects, giving them thousands of rupees, and hiring the killed boy's brother. The system is not dead, yet Adiga suggests it is changing as the few servants who free themselves change it from within.
Balram’s violent bid for freedom is shocking. What, we’re left to ask, does it make him -- just another thug in India’s urban jungle or a revolutionary and idealist ? It’s a sign of this book’s quality, as well as of its moral seriousness, that it keeps you guessing to the final page and beyond.
Other Booker Price Winner Books and nominees
* Sea of Poppies
* The secret scripture
* Clothes on their backs
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