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This is the first paragraph in the dust jacket of the book "The White Tiger." Balram is a young man from the "Darkness" who is determined to step in to the light and as time goes on, we find he will do whatever it takes to do so. This tale is told by Balram himself in letter form to ... Read review
Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ... more
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...
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Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ... more
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...
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Meet Balram Halwai the 'White Tiger': servant philosopher entrepreneur and murderer. ... more
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 ...
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Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor ... more
for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: in stock
Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Gritty, a character that is easy to empathize with, excellent writing Disadvantages: The first half is a tad slow moving
'''"Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepeneur, murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells his story..."'''
This is the first paragraph in the dust jacket of the book "The White Tiger." Balram is a young man from the "Darkness" who is determined to step in to the light and as time goes on, we find he ... ...He then cottons on to the idea that drivers of the rich in earn lots of money and so pushes himself and learns to drive. Becoming the driver of a rich landlord, he soon seeing a different world starting with seeing Delhi and all it offers.
This story shows the struggle that Balram has when Delhi finally corrupts him - he wants to be a good servant, work hard and be loyal to his master, but his need to better himself leads to him committing ... more
"Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepeneur, murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells his story..."
This is the first paragraph in the dust jacket of the book "The White Tiger." Balram is a young man from the "Darkness" who is determined to step in to the light and as time goes on, we find he will do whatever it takes to do so. This tale is told by Balram himself in letter form to a powerful Chinese man visiting China. Balram starts out a boy who is mostly innocent and honest, good at his schoolwork - until that is he is pulled out of school to work. He then cottons on to the idea that drivers of the rich in earn lots of money and so pushes himself and learns to drive. Becoming the driver of a rich landlord, he soon seeing a different world starting with seeing Delhi and all it offers.
This story shows the struggle that Balram has when Delhi finally corrupts him - he wants to be a good servant, work hard and be loyal to his master, but his need to better himself leads to him committing murder to getting to where he wants to be.
My Thoughts
This is a satiracle account of the two sides of India. I particularly liked the story being told by Balram himself, in letter form to an important person visiting India from China.
The character of Balram is a truly unique and interesting one. Due to Balrams early admissions of corruptions to the recipient of his letters, the reader immediately knows that he is a conniving murdering thief. Yet as he begins his story, I couldn't help but be drawn to his plight. Balrams honesty is also refreshing and the way in which the story is told is so real. The other characters he meets along his way are also colourful and interesting and the relationship he had with his master Ashok.
Ashok is an interesting character, weak and selfish but someone who doesn't mean any great harm. It was interesting reading how Balram both loved his master and hated him, and ultimately Ashok's weakness was Balram's weapon. Ashok and the other members of his rich family often refer to Balram as stupid and this is what interested me the most. In Balrams world, he is not stupid, he showed promise, but moving to a big City teaches him things that he never knew about. The basic life that Balram has had up until this point means that he is naive rather than stupid. He is clever and conniving and soon learns that the only way to get on in life is to listen in and learn from other people - this is exactly what he does do.
Ashok on the other hand believes he is a smart man, but he does the opposite to Balram, doesn't listen and is not wise to the world in which he lives. These two characters were most interesting, coming from two different worlds, slowly becoming corrupted with all that surrounds them in Delhi. There was a mutual likeness for each other, but whereas Balram firstly started out having a lot of respect for Ashok, this soon turns to contempt and this is where the story divides.
The descriptions of the slip in Indian culture is what really made this story interesting, and ultimately what made me "side" with such an amoral character such as Balram. The rich that live in Delhi being so corrupt, where blackmail, bribes and prostitution rule. The fact that Balram learns that to get ahead and be like the rich is to cheat and lie is no surprise, but it WAS a surprise when I almost willed him on when it came to his time to tell the story of the murder he committed.
Obviously, I don't promote murder of someones employer to get ahead, but I felt his despair and his need to better himself. And so Balram escapes the "Rooster Coop" and lives his life as a White Tiger. (This isn't plot spoilers, the fact that he admits he is wanted for murder of his employer and that he is now a successful entrepeneur is a fact given early in his narrative).
I found it difficult writing this review to be honest, and I am not quite sure why, I literally couldn't find the words to convey what I felt about reading this. I did enjoy this book, but I didn't get me as hooked as others have in the past. I started reading it about a week before Christmas and I only finished it a couple of days ago. I think it was because the author spends a lot of time setting up the scene in India without at first developing the character of Balram and although this is colourful and interesting, I felt that the story wasn't progressing as much as I had hoped.
However, once you get about half way through, I felt the story really kicked in and you could actually feel with Balram why his mind becomes corrupted by his surroundings. A Booker Prize Winner? I can see why, it portrays India in an honest light with an interesting character who fights his destiny to achieve better things for himself, even if it is at the cost of his Employer, and his family which he leaves behind. Balram is sarcastic, honest angry at his lot in life but determined to better himself and expose a side of India that is little thought of. A book that can make you side with a murderer and a liar like Balram and makes you feel like he feels - well thats got to be a winner surely.
Advantages: Magnificent social commentary and imagery. Dry sardonic wit. Disadvantages: Focuses totally on the negative aspects of Indian life.
The White Tiger penned by first-time novelist, Aravind Adiga, debuted to very positive acclaim winning the 2008 Man Booker Prize. I was given a copy of the book by my daughter who said that she was unable to get into the book. I, on the overhand, was immediately hooked by the book unable to put it down. Let me begin by telling you a little about the style of the book. It is written in epistolary (letter) format. It is in fact one long letter penned ... ...China on the eve of his state visit to India. The letter-writer is Balram Halwai, who describes himself as “the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur, murderer.” Balram’s aim in writing his letter is to help the premier understand what life in India is really like as compared to the false pictures the politicians he meets might paint. And so Balram tells the story of his life. Balram Halwai grows up in "the Darkness" of northern India. ...
MAFARRIMOND 08.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Advantages: A thrill-a-minute rollercoaster ride through India's dark side. Disadvantages: Can't put down - need time to dedicate to whole book!
...debut novel, Aravind Adiga explores the dark underbelly of contemporary Indian society. I picked this book up one afternoon on holiday and finished it the following morning. Sleep and eating became annoying necessities: preventing me, as they did, from getting on with this gripping book. I think the technical term for that is ‘page-turner’. Adiga’s prose is beautiful and richly descriptive. He has a real knack for painting vivid pictures in the imagination, ... ...the various sites. One could almost smell Delhi's smells, and see the glistening towers of the powerful, contrary to the atrocious slums of the poor. In spite of Adiga’s mastery of language, he is careful not to let the central message of the book fall hidden behind an aesthetic veil. The premise for the book is as follows: Indian entrepreneur, Balram Halwai, excitedly hears that Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, is visiting India “on a mission: he wants ...
Timi_Hendrix 15.09.2009 (16.09.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Advantages: A great read Disadvantages: Not for everyone - challenging at times
If the American Dream has been about money, power, success, making it (and big shoulder pads) then the Indian Dream, for me at least, has been something far more spiritual, ethereal and mystic. In this stunning, thrilling and shocking debut novel author Aravind Adiga exposes an altogether harsher, completely un-mystical world, something more primal and more raw and more brutal by far. The white tiger of the title plays on this theme. We learn that ... ...use their talent, but for the majority – the great majority – of Indian society it is clear that you need influence/money (interchangeable) to get anywhere. The main protagonist of the book, the strangely voluble Balram Halwai who dictates the book in the form of a never-to-be-sent-letter to the Premier of China (due shortly to visit India) is told he is one such white tiger: Of course, tiger also references the aggressive growth countries with the ...
andyk910 20.10.2009
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