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The White Tiger | 
| Author: Aravind Adiga
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 19
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.5
ISBN: 1843547201
EAN: 9781843547204
ASIN: 1843547201
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ironically -- the reputation of the prize itself was under siege a few years ago. Books that won the award were acquiring a reputation of being difficult and inaccessible, but those days appear to be over -- and unarguable proof may be found in the 2008 winner, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Apart from its considerable literary merit, the novel is the most compelling of pageturners (in the old-fashioned sense of that phrase) and offers a picture of modern India that is as evocative as it is unflattering. The protagonist, too, is drawn in the most masterly of fashion.Balram Halwai, the eponymous `white tiger', is a diminutive, overweight ex-teashop worker who now earns his living as a chauffeur. But this is only one side of his protean personality; he deals in confidence scams, over-ambitious business promotions (built on the shakiest of foundations) and enjoys approaching life with a philosophical turn of mind. But is Balram also a murderer? We learn the answer as we devour these 500 odd pages. Born into an impoverished family, Balram is removed from school by his parents in order to earn money in a thankless job: shop employee. He is forced into banal, mind-numbing work. But Balram dreams of escaping -- and a chance arises when a well-heeled village landlord takes him on as a chauffeur for his son (although the duties involve transporting the latter's wife and two Pomeranian dogs). From the rich new perspective offered to him in this more interesting job, Balram discovers New Delhi, and a vision of the city changes his life forever. His learning curve is very steep, and he quickly comes to believe that the way to the top is by the most expedient means. And if that involves committing the odd crime of violence, he persuades himself that this is what successful people must do. The story of the amoral protagonist at the centre of this fascinating narrative is, of course, what keeps the reader comprehensively gripped, but perhaps the real achievement of the book is in its picture of two Indias: the bleak, soul-destroying poverty of village life and the glittering prizes to be found in the big city. The book cleverly avoids fulfilling any of the expectations a potential reader might have -- except that of instructing and entertaining. The White Tiger will have many readers anxious to see what Adiga will do next. --Barry Forshaw
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 fab book December 3, 2008
recommended book. i loved it from start to finish. great author, i hope there will be more titles coming soon.
 Not a good book December 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not a good book. I read quite a bit and feel like the book world is going mad if it believes that this book is a prize winner. It reads like a high school students attempt at a novel.....
A brilliant bitter dystopia that leaves a sweet-and-sour taste November 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well, it has now won the Man Booker prize for 2008. But how good is it?
This is a book dowsed in cumin, the sour spice that provides the background to countless curries. The novel, as you probably know from other reviewers is about a young man from the 'Darkness', a metaphorical name for the ancient, rural, landlord-tyrannised, peasant India, who writes a series of letters to the premier of China in anticipation of his forthcoming visit to India. His aim is to tell the truth about an India bifurcated into darkness and light, but these letters largely succeed only in casting a grievous pall across both affluent, corrupt, urban India (the Light) and the Darkness, the traditional life of the villagers, painted as bigoted, often unpleasant and oppressed. If anything, the truth is an inversion: it is the darkness of the light that most shades this book.
This is not a funny or easy book, despite what others say and the amusing touches, whose gleam in my opinion only highlight the darkness. Consider it against the tradition of tragedy: e.g. Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe and Dostoevsky. Aravind Adiga's book is a subversion of the entire tragic tradition. Here, hubris wins and the Furies visit the chorus, not the protagonist. Crime is not punished: indeed the theme of the book is that entrepreneurial India has achieved its leg up by sidelining morality. There are two justice systems: for the rich and the poor. There are two lifestyles: for the rich and the poor. There are two worlds of opportunity: for the rich and the poor. And corruption and vice are praised, indeed recommended for China to encourage entrepreneurship.
Compare this contemporary dystopia with Shakespeare's Macbeth, an appropriate counterpoint since both works concern the killing of a master. Macbeth is indelibly touched; steeped in gore, he loses his way and ease of mind. In contrast, the brilliantly realised cynical protagonist, Balram Halwai, alias the White Tiger, basks in contentment and self-satisfaction.
I think the strength of this book is the way that it can be read on the one hand as a half serious, half satirical revelation of modern India and its corruption and vice - a dark cesspit that blots the view of 'saintly India'; while it can also be seen as a mythic account of the loss of innocence, with a twist. For centuries, we are used tales drawing on the archetypal tragic loss, the Fall of Man, or on the moral and economic destruction that accompanies loss of discipline, such as the Rake's progress, or the plain and simple evil come-uppance that has given shape to countless westerns and other literature.
So how should we read our times when this darkly subversive tale is so praised for its humour and refreshing outlook?
The fact that such analogies and questions seem valid seems to me to prove its literary worth and importance. And it is very readable, despite being dowsed in fenugreek, tamarind and cumin. A sad and tragic masterpiece.
 I Just Don't Get It November 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I do not know the basis for this book winning the Booker. While it is not a bad read, there is nothing about the book that sticks to the mind once you've dropped it. It certainly is NOT a compulsive page turner and the feeling one has is were the main character (Balram Halwai) to have been caught or even executed for his crimes, one would frankly not give a damn. Characters fail to elicit the passions and feelings a good book manages to evoke and I came away from this book feeling a little cheated. having just read Vikas Swarup's novel titled "Q & A" a couple of weeks ago, I cannot help but make comparisons, and while that book is far from a perfect read, I am of the opinion that it is the better book of the two and shows more of India.
 WHAT WAS THE POINT? November 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I felt cheated by this book - and by the judges who gave it the Booker. Yes, it was fleetingly funny - but no, it did not appear to have any original message other than the fact that India has a lot of problems. Oh really? I didn't empathise in any way with the narrator, whose sudden transformation from loyal servant was utterly unconvincing. By all means read this as a relaxing, if untaxing, diversion, but do not expect anything more.
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