The White Tiger: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008

Aravind Adiga

Oct 2008 · Atlantic Books Ltd

About this ebook

***NOMINATED FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY***

***NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX PRODUCTION STARING PRIYANKA CHOPRA AND PRODUCED BY AVA DUVERNAY***

'As angry, smart and dark as Parasite.' Standard
'The anti-Slumdog Millionaire' Hollywood Reporter
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Here's a strange fact: murder a man, and you feel responsible for his life - possessive, even. You know more about him than his father and mother; they knew his foetus, but you know his corpse.
Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur... murderer. Balram 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 at the wheel of a Honda. Amid cockroaches, call-centres, thirty-six-million gods, slums, shopping malls, and crippling traffic jams, Balram comes to see how the Tiger might slip the bars of his cage.

Ratings and reviews

I was recommended this book by my geography lecturer since it relates to the inequality and deprivation seen in a developing country. The format and structure of the book is very unique and feels very personal. I really enjoyed the storyline and I continually anticipated the climax since you are given hints towards it. You gain a great insight into the life of the average Indian man and the workings of the caste system, so the book had educational values in a way. A great read and one that I'd recommend.

I couldn't wait for it to be over. I think it deserves the Man Booker but I never even want to be near it again. I loathed every one these characters and it was horrifying that they seemed so real.

Was addicted to this! Describes rural, and urban, India so beautifully

About the author

Aravind Adiga was born in Madras in 1974 and was India correspondent at Time magazine. The White Tiger, his debut novel, won the Man Booker Prize. Adiga has gone on to write Last Man in Tower and Between the Assassinations.