The White Tiger

The White Tiger

Aravind Basu's brilliant debut is a tale of suspense and questionable morality which takes you on an unexpected journey into the heart of India through Balram Halwal aka 'The White Tiger'.Born in the fictional village of Laxmangarh, near the famous village of Bodh Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment, Halwal is the son of a rickshaw puller. After seeing his father die a painful death, neglected by the hospital authorities, he is forced to drop out of school and ends up working in a tea shop wiping tables. All he dreams of is escape. He manages to find his way out of the dreaded tea shop when a rich village landlord hires him as a chauffeur for his son who has returned from the United States. Things change rapidly for Halwal when he has to move to the Indian capital New Delhi with his new master. Here he comes face to face with the two Indias: As Adiga aptly puts it: 'The dreams of the rich, and the dreams of the poor - they never overlap, do they? See, the poor dream all their lives of getting enough to eat and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of? Losing weight and looking like the poor.' Living in a big city with bright lights on the one hand and teeming poverty on the other, Halwal starts questioning many things he has taken for granted while growing up in his small village. Things get murky when his master attempts to frame him for an accidental murder committed by his wife. Halwal is forced to question his undying loyalty. His awakening eventually turns him into a successful entrepreneur. But does the road to success justify spilling blood? Read this riveting page-turned, written in epistolary form, to find out.

9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Disturbing look into one characters life in India

This was a book that was selected by my book club, not one that I would have chosen to read on my own. The author's intent was to bring to light some of the atrocities that seems to still exist today about life in India. The storytelling is a bit slow for my taste, so I found myself easily distracted as I tried to read this book on my train commute. The main character is not very likable, and the overall story does not leave you feeling satisfied. This is not a book I enjoyed reading, and I would not recommend it to others.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

A Trumpet Blast of a Literary Voice

Ripped from the dark heart of modern-day India, comes debut novelist Aravind Adiga, a hip Gunga Din for the millennium, blowing a hot, Ornette Coleman riff of a novel, from the top of a dirty golden dome, that is at once visceral, witty, irreverent, bloody, and untimately satisfying. By the first few pages of his book, 'The White Tiger,' the reader quickly forgets about finding a lyrical, fragrant India, similar to the novels of M.M. Kaye, and Vikram Seth. This is a down and dirty India, much like it's mother of a river, the Ganges. The story as put down by it's narrator, the complex, Balram Halwai, who has risen from desperate poverty, to become a chauffer for two rich Poleranians, rails against India's class system and corruption, with a searing and damning sarcasm. Halwai's haunting trumpet blast of a literary voice lingers with the reader long after the final page, but will India be ready for his next book? I know I will. This is one hell-of-a read.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

A Insightful Novel about Modern Day India

A well written novel about aspects of India that are not universally known. A clear light upon the almost schizoid caste saystem and the very new intermingled with the ancient and traditional life styles within India. A good read and a stimulating insight into an unfamiliar life force, different from the Western lifestyle.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

what?

Did I read the same book as everyone else?

2 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

The White Tiger will go down as one of the best books I've read in 2009!

Balram Halwai started life poor and dirty, belonging to a low servant caste and living in a small poverty-stricken village in India. Today he is a successful entrpreneur living in the big city and running his own company. White Tiger is the story of his journey out of the darkness and into the light.
By turns hilarious and horrifying, this book held me absolutely transfixed all the way to the end. Balram is such a complex and interesting character! He is loving and cruel, devoted to his family yet unwilling to be beaten down by them, and most of all I loved the contrast between his innocence and biting sarcasm. I listened to the audio version and the narrator is absolutely fabulous. His voice puts you right on the streets of India, in the rural schools, fancy nightclubs, and the homes of the landlords.
The White Tiger will go down as one of the best books I've read in 2009! I am anxiously awaiting Aravind Adiga's next novel and I will be searching out other audio books read by Joh Lee.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Gritty India

A portrait of India and Indians that one doesn't see so much of today. There is not much fable, middle class alienation, end-of-Raj pathos, history or magic in this story of the kind we have come to expect from Rushdie, Chandra, Lahiri, Roy et al - as much as I love their work. There is however the magic of a writer who strips away an all too hackneyed image of India to reveal the brutalities, incongruities, hypocrisies and yes, humor, of the modern day caste and political system. Like last year's Animal's People, The White Tiger is a refreshing blast of realism and provocative story telling delivered in a cocky, pacey style. This is an exceptional novel and a worthy Booker Man winner.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Brilliantly dark, dirty, honest and sarcastic

You may not like the main character... He is, after all, a murderer. But from his life in the village to his eventual million dollar business, he will keep you engaged in what is one of the most honest yet delightfully and hilariously page turning depictions I have ever read of the life of a common Indian man. A definite keeper. I recommend it to anyone interested in travelling to India, literally or figuratively.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

writing style excellent

It is a scathing review of what India is all about (caste system, politics, how to get to the top, treatment of different people in different caste groups, etc.). It starts out with the main character, sometimes called The White Tiger, telling the premier of China in seven letters he wrote to the premier, he murdered someone. The rest of the story is his autobiography about how he started out, who he killed and why, how he got to the top, etc.. The main thing that ruined the book for me was that none of the characters had any redeeming qualities. The writing was excellent, and I enjoyed the history lesson of how India works. However, it is hard to totally enjoy a book when you have all characters with no redeeming qualities. This is why I only gave it three stars.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Would you be a White Tiger?

What a great read! A voice to the servant class and how one man made it out. When I visited India, I was quite uncomfortable with all the servants around me and had a very difficult time accepting it. The poverty in India is heartbreaking and I imagine that working as a servant is better than living on the street but everyone deserves to be treated as a human being. Even though The White Tiger is a work of fiction, it offers the readers an insight into how millions of people live in India and poses the questions, what would you do and how far would you go to change your place in society?

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a controversial read.

Cynicism abounds in this novel--humor, no. The White Tiger is not easy to read. It evokes violence, corruption and power among the classes which is all too common in today's poverty stricken India.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright But With an Awful Smell

This clever journalistic device came ready made for popular success. The shock is that it attained literary award. It is a well told, well plotted work, but how that won over the Man Booker committee is a mystery.

The writing is competent, but no better. Every event could have been gathered--and may have been--from India's vigorous free press.

If it is meant to be a corrective for the ills of India, that has value. If meant to be satire, it fails for there is nothing funny about it.

It is an ugly work, nasty. "Tiger" left me feeling soiled and exploited.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Today's India in realistic, but informative prose.

Everything about this book signals the extreme differences between cultures and politics. I now understand the significance of the "darkness" and "lightness" in Indian culture. It is a devastating culture - one is seldom mobile or encouraged to move from his caste/family. Those who do try are often rewarded with the reality of the culture - politics/wealth/power is vain and dirty. The police and government officials are the problems. Creativity and intelligence may be the only tools effective in this country. I do enjoy a story where the "little man" triumphs!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Read it...if you want the truth about the human condition

This is on one level a send up of the social and political vagaries of modern India. It is a worthwhile read on that level alone. It is also an unflinching account of the power of the human will to survive and even prosper under the most oppressive circumstances. This is Indian-flavored noir at its best.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent

Brilliantly written book based on a letter from an Indian to the Premier of China who will soon be visiting his country. Wry humor and insight into the world of this young man who rises from low class "Darkness" into an entrepreneur.

A look at the other side A powerful book packaged in a short, f

A look at the other side

A powerful book packaged in a short, fast read. Adiga's novel gives you a glimpse of a smaller, meaner India than you might be used to from other Indian literature. India is such a large country, with many distinct cultures, it's nice to get away from the setting of Bombay/Mumbai. With this novel Adiga explores the themes of social subjugation, economic classism, and human value. Your "lessers" may often be forgotten and ignored, and yet they are every bit as complexly human as you. Adiga also shines a light on the underbelly of the Indian "economic miracle", showing that it's not all saffron and roses in the emerging superpower state. This book belongs alongside Roy's THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, Mistry's A FINE BALANCE, and Rushdie's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN in the cannon of great Indian literature.

This is an excellent book! Fast paced with great main character

This is an excellent book! Fast paced with great main characters. My book club read it and everyone liked it.

Nice voice

I love the sardonic voice in this book, it really makes you laugh sometimes

Highly recommend

This book was recommended to me by 2 people and was a great recommendation. It is written in a fun, quirky style and engages the reader from the start. It paints a vivid picture of modern India from the viewpoint of someone in the lower caste who wants to move up in society but finds that it is impossible to do by following the rules of society.

A Hilarious and Revealing Story about Capitalist Greed!

A crushing attack of capitalism in the form of satire. A must read. I loved the humor as well as the details about life in India. The author took me right to the heart of the place and explained why much of it is the way it is.