The White Tiger (Paperback)
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Short Description for The White Tiger Balram, the White Tiger, was born in a backwater village on the River Ganges, the son of a rickshaw-puller. He works in a teashop, crushing coal and wiping tables, but nurses a dream of escape. When he learns that a rich village landlord needs a chauffeur, he takes his opportunity, and is soon on his way to Delhi behind the wheel of a Honda.
Full description- Publisher: ATLANTIC BOOKS
- Published: 17 January 2009
- Format: Paperback 336 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Contemporary Fiction
- ISBN 13: 9781843547228 ISBN 10: 1843547228
- Sales rank: 3,739
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Reviews for The White Tiger
- Top review
Quality Literature from the Commonwealth
In this extraordinary debut Adiga tells an enthralling story about one man's efforts to overthrow his destiny of a life of poverty and hardship laid before him as a result of India's ancient caste system.
Balram Halwai, a poor farm boy, hits the big time when he lands a job as a driver and servant for a rich Indian man who has returned to Delhi from America, apparently no small feat for a man who is meant to be a "sweet maker" as his name suggests. At first the job seems a blessing, a ticket out of a poor, labourer's life in the countryside, but life in the city soon opens Balram's eyes to the chasm of inequity between masters and servants as he is exposed to the obscene riches city folk have access to every day and he is forced to live in squalor in his employer's apartment building basement. In response Balram, who has always considered himself somewhat entrepreneurial fellow who received his greatest education on the streets of India, schemes to oust his employer in a bid to get ahead in an exciting city of vast opportunity which is growing economically at a rate every bit as fast as any of China's business hot-spots.
The White Tiger is cleverly delivered as an extensive letter written by the protagonist to the Chinese Premier who will be visiting India in the near future, the intention being for the protagonist to inform the Premier of the "real India" by telling the story of his rise to success. The narrative effectively delivers an extensive commentary on the developmental and social disparities between China, India and the Western world which forms the basis for the novel's underlying theme. The White Tiger is therefore not limited to social commentary about India, rather it extends itself to India relative to the wider world.
Adiga presents readers with alarming juxtapositions of extreme wealth living alongside extreme poverty, images of economic disparity between regional and city areas and an emerging economic superpower struggling to overcome its age old caste system in order to service the needs of its wealthy developed counterparts.. and gives us a vast cast of characters rife with corruption and rich with cultural identity. reveals a historical context India's caste system of social and religious class and is a brilliant insight into the darker nature of Indian culture delivered in an endearing yet unmitigated voice. The best book I've read in years, it is surely worthy of its Man Booker winning status and catapulted itself to the top of my all time favourites list.
A book this good and a writer of such quality is very rare. Praise for The White Tiger! by Richard Brandt
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