The White Tiger

I watched the film before I read the book and I'm impressed that the film didn't deviate much from the book and that the actors chosen for the film fit the characters in the book. This book is very entertaining and it kept me glued to the pages, even when I read the book fully knowing what happened (after the film, of course) and that the fact that I read it in Danish (I only managed to reserve from the library). So five stars from here, especially if you like to read about India and the life over there.

This book is all about the setting it portrays, the one which we inadvertently ignore because someone from our family made it out of the murk. The book, and a lot of movies/books create the assumption that most of the Indians were deep into murk, a swamp (the rooster's cage or something, Adiga calls it), four decades after independence and people have been trying to get out of it, by hook or by crook. It's this murk that the book describes by the means of an interesting character who waddles through it, and a barebone plot that guides the character and tries to keep the reader hooked. I find the plot, passable but the setting (this swamp) is nothing short of surreal. Personally, it's the description of the setting which kept me going ahead with the book. The tone of the book is a grim Indian noir (you know what I'm talking about, right? No? Go read this book right about now) which doesn't feel refreshing or original but fitting for the setting.

I haven't until this book read any fiction by Indian authors. I wanted to remedy this and so asked for recommendations of which I got plenty. I decided to start with The White Tiger because it is an award-winning book and a short read. I was a little suspicious at first mainly because of the dark theme. Once I got into the book, however, the story just flowed. The narrator is somebody you will care about and that drives the book. You want to know what he thinks, how he'll respond to the lemons life thrusts at him and how he eventually gets out of servitude. Even though it is a work of fiction I loved the commentary on society and life in India especially the relationship between a master and their servants. I'm glad I started with this book and can't wait to try more fiction by Indian authors.

I don't have much to say about this rags to riches story, other than it actually deserves a 2.5/5.

This is one of my favourite books of all time. It is such a beautifully written, strong book.

I heard about this book many moons ago and unfortunately, I never could find it on the Kindle store. Over the weekend I spot it in a small book shop in Oxford and I got it straight away. The White Tiger is a raw, dark story about what the unseen India is like. This is the story of a Bangalore entrepreneur who came out off a village in the middle of nowhere, drop out of school, became a driver, moved to Delhi with his master and...got his heart poisoned by the capital of India. The book is a page turner, the life of Balram Halwai is complex yet simple. His mind is convoluted, ambitious, twisted, innocent and cold. All at once. The letters Balram writes the PM of China (the whole book is made out of the letters he writes) are absolutely raw and visceral; there's nothing hidden, nothing is really pretty and he pours his heart out here. I read the book in 2 days and I wished the story was longer, more detailed, with a sequel. Something. As a former inhabitant of India and Bangalore, I did not see this reality, but I sort of glimpse it thorough the people I met during my time there. An amazing debut novel. Loved every page of it.

This book is undoubtedly well written, let no one tell you otherwise. It really makes you feel the struggle of the narrator - but I cannot say I liked it. The fact is, I hated the narrator, and his descriptions of the Ganga river made me almost throw up several times. I would've probably abandoned it if I didn't have to read it for school — it's good because I learnt something I wouldn't know in my everyday life without it, but it still felt like a punch in the stomach: which was probably the point of it all. Maybe I just didn't like the narrator; maybe the descriptions were so vivid they made me feel sick; maybe the system made me feel sick, or all these at once: dear Mr. Aravind Adiga, you did a very good job with this book. Very good. Because I can smell the stench and feel the dirt of the Indian streets, its "paradises" and its smog-filled big cities, and never want to pick up your book again, but I won't forget about it.

Someone might have to explain the ending of this one to me.

Review not available for now. *Haven't got time to write one; hopefully i will, someday.*

I wasn't expecting a lot from this book, even though it was just longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. But it turned out to be one of my frontrunners for the prize. For my complete review: http://mookse.wordpress.com/2008/08/0...

"Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of 7 days, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how we came to be a success in life - having nothing but his own wits to help him." 📖 After seeing the movie and reading " Last Man in Tower", I knew I had to read this one. And like the other, I had to take my time. We know from the beginning what is going to happen, so most of the time we are thinking maybe it will be now, but never is. This is an interesting idea to show the general public more about the rapid change that has happened to India's economy, how politics work, and how the caste system is in some places still applies. Adiga shows us how a "sweet-maker" transcends his caste and becomes an entrepreneur, in a nation with a history of poverty and underdevelopment, he can represent the tomorrow of India. Or he could if he didn't murder someone. While I loved the perspective around Indian society, I almost hated the main character. Balram, for me, is just an artificial and inconsistent character, and while humans can be both of these things, something just didn't add up for me. But I do recommend this book if you would love to see a new perspective on Indian society.

A good read overall. The author tells us about India as it really is. The only weak aspect was the primary motivation behind the characters' one main action.

a view of india - that we in the west don't appreciate. maybe because we view the world a little too much through those rose coloured spectacles, blinkers or even ignore. There is a good humour - and later I will find a great quote from it.

The White Tiger, also known as Balram Halwai, is an entrepreneur (and murderer) and this book is his story. Growing up in poverty, he works in a teashop and dreams of a better life with more money. An opportunity presents itself and he finds himself working as a chauffeur for a landlord. Once he starts this work, he’s exposed to a different side of India, one with more opportunity but also a seedy underbelly. But as he learns every day, if he takes advantage of this underbelly, he might be able to succeed and buy his ticket out of the life he was born into, but he may have to break the law along the way… A big element of this book was the juxtaposition of the dark and the light. Especially towards the beginning of the novel, this dichotomy is one that Balram often mentions and one that helps the reader understand how he sees this divide in India. What he witnesses are two extremes – the poverty he was born into with schools in which the teacher was stealing the money, to the wealth of his boss and the regular shopping trips he and his wife indulge in. This class divide becomes the crux of this book and its story and I like how Adiga used his book to show this. I listened to The White Tiger as a audiobook and while I don’t regret this decision, there are elements of this book I think I would have rather skimmed over than heard crudely spoke in my ear! The book’s main allure is its dark humour, but that often manifests itself in very visceral descriptions of things such as body parts and bodily fluids which is something I’d rather not dwell on! I do think however, this technique did help reinforce the poverty that Balram lives in – yes it’s not comfortable, but there are people living it every day. As I listened to this as an audiobook, I feel less aware of specific quotes and writing, however, a line I wrote down as soon as I heard it was: “But to be called a murderer by the police, what a fucking joke.” This felt particularly poignant because the whole book deals so deeply with issues of class and injustice, and this sentiment not only can be applied to Balram’s story, but also to many occasions in real life. Police brutality is unfortunately very real and there’s a lot to be said for one man taking justice into his own hands, after all, isn’t that what law enforcement do every day? So why are they any more right than he is? From banal traffic jams to repeatedly mentioning the 4 great poets (but always forgetting the last) there’s such a unique humour to Balram’s narration and one which is certainly not forgettable. This tone and humour was cemented even more for me by the audiobook narrator’s Indian accent which made The White Tiger even more immersive. If you’re looking for a book that’s unexpected and totally different, then read this and I promise you won’t be disappointed!